Oil Smoke from SE at Phillip Island
Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2017 10:50 am
I would appreciate if someone recognises the situation below and gives me some advice.
It was the cars first few laps at a circuit. I noticed plumes of whitish/blueish smoke after exiting Southern Loop (turn 2) on the first hard lap. I backed off immediately thinking it was a broken turbo. Into Honda the smoke was less but still there. I continued on at gentle throttle towards Siberia (another left hander)to get more diagnostic information. Lots of smoke on exit and again at Lukey Heights. I brought it back to the pits.
On the track the turbo (stock SE) was still boosting ok but with just a tad less power and lots of smoke. In the pits I noticed the alternator belt was chewed about so I replaced it and continued to look around at the engine bay and hoses. There was oil spitting traces from the electronic boost controller, so oil is coming from the inlet plenum via the vacuum hose. I disconnected the breather hoses from the head and they all showed oil. The breather pipes are all plummed back to the turbo inlet and showed oil. Before the event, the oil level was just over the "f" line (about the width of the line and after driving to Phillip Island from Melbourne and five hard laps and 3 slow laps the oil level was three quarters full.
I suspect, that under hard cornering, oil blow by is finding its way into the turbo air inlet, through the turbo, intercooler and piping and being burned in the engine making a lot of smoke. In addition, it's possible that a thrust washer is shot in the turbo. At the end of the day I took a straight back road and hammered it. Plenty of boost, acceleration but no smoke. Power was also better than earlier in the day on the track. (Maybe not a turbo problem).
The car has the standard oil return system from the factory and does not have an external catch can. I'm thinking an open to atmosphere catch can system may fix the problem. I'm not worried about legality. What do you think? Is there another explanation?
Also, what do you think is going on with the alternator belt. The new belt is showing some stress already. Is there a fix for track cars doing high revs? It "chirps"on start up when cold.
It was the cars first few laps at a circuit. I noticed plumes of whitish/blueish smoke after exiting Southern Loop (turn 2) on the first hard lap. I backed off immediately thinking it was a broken turbo. Into Honda the smoke was less but still there. I continued on at gentle throttle towards Siberia (another left hander)to get more diagnostic information. Lots of smoke on exit and again at Lukey Heights. I brought it back to the pits.
On the track the turbo (stock SE) was still boosting ok but with just a tad less power and lots of smoke. In the pits I noticed the alternator belt was chewed about so I replaced it and continued to look around at the engine bay and hoses. There was oil spitting traces from the electronic boost controller, so oil is coming from the inlet plenum via the vacuum hose. I disconnected the breather hoses from the head and they all showed oil. The breather pipes are all plummed back to the turbo inlet and showed oil. Before the event, the oil level was just over the "f" line (about the width of the line and after driving to Phillip Island from Melbourne and five hard laps and 3 slow laps the oil level was three quarters full.
I suspect, that under hard cornering, oil blow by is finding its way into the turbo air inlet, through the turbo, intercooler and piping and being burned in the engine making a lot of smoke. In addition, it's possible that a thrust washer is shot in the turbo. At the end of the day I took a straight back road and hammered it. Plenty of boost, acceleration but no smoke. Power was also better than earlier in the day on the track. (Maybe not a turbo problem).
The car has the standard oil return system from the factory and does not have an external catch can. I'm thinking an open to atmosphere catch can system may fix the problem. I'm not worried about legality. What do you think? Is there another explanation?
Also, what do you think is going on with the alternator belt. The new belt is showing some stress already. Is there a fix for track cars doing high revs? It "chirps"on start up when cold.