Ka24det burning oil at idle only

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rojomojo
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Ka24det burning oil at idle only

Post by rojomojo »

There was a big car meet today so there was alot of stop and go and idling around waiting for parking spots and people to move out of the way. After the meet on the way to go eat somewhere, my car decided to burn oil at idle, I went through about 1/2 of a quart just from idling, I was also giving her some good pulls and had someone behind me to watch for blue smoke. It seems to start burning oil when i idle longer than around 3 minutes on one spot, but in opent throttle there is no blue smoke. Does anyone have any ideas?

My ideas are the oil return line is to low and then the oil start to creep up to the turbo and out the seal or my turbo is starting to go.

I am not running any coolant lines on my turbo and my compression ratio is 150 psi all 4.

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Rojo
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Post by shift_down »

Check valve stem seals
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schmauster920
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Post by schmauster920 »

you would only have more oil once youre moving, so i doubt the turbo line is backing up.. maybe too much oil pressure for the CHRA. Take manifold off and see if the oil is coming from the turbo or engine
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rojomojo
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Post by rojomojo »

The car seems to only burn oil at idle when warm and idling for around 1 minute. No blue smoke when cold start and decel or accel or cruising just idling. I read on nico that a tsp of brake fluid expands the seals. I was thinking of giving this a try.

Oil pressure is always above 20 psi and compression is still 150 psi.
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Post by schmauster920 »

Sounds like the turbo if it doesnt let out a puff at startup, thats a common sign of valve stem seals
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Post by rojomojo »

I rather it be my turbo so i have an excuse to go bigger, ill double check and take the mani off and see... I dont feel like pressurizing my cylinders and changing those stems. If it is my stems i am just gunna leave it alone.

No harm can happen if i keep watching my oil if it is my valve stems correct? Just burning fuel?
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Post by emo_tactical9 »

rojomojo wrote:I rather it be my turbo so i have an excuse to go bigger, ill double check and take the mani off and see... I dont feel like pressurizing my cylinders and changing those stems. If it is my stems i am just gunna leave it alone.

No harm can happen if i keep watching my oil if it is my valve stems correct? Just burning fuel?
It could still be fine. It could be getting too much oil at idle, but as the pressure increases with RPM in the turbine housing it is enough to keep it from leaking out.
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Post by schmauster920 »

My turbo does the same thing, it leaks slightly around the whole CHRA, and it will smoke every once in a while if im in traffic or cruising downhill for a while... after i get on it, it seems to blow it out unless i keep idling or putting along


I could see oil coming out around my exhaust wheel with the engine running and no downpipe
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Post by nismoautoxr »

This sounds like a classic valve guide seal problem. All KAs sooner or later do it . Very unlikely that its turbo related. The only other possibility is if its a 98 head with pre98 cams in it . My vote is guide seals. This can be done with the head on or off if you have the tools to remove and reinstall the springs . In a nutshell...you are likely pulling the head and having the machine shop put new seals on or buying the tools to compress the springs and also using air pressure via the sparkplug hole to hold the valves closed while compressing the springs and removing the keepers.
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Post by schmauster920 »

Shouldnt there be a puff of oil at startup then?
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Post by nismoautoxr »

schmauster920 wrote:Shouldnt there be a puff of oil at startup then?
Sometimes ...sometimes not...I know when my car got up around about the 220k mark ...I got no startup puff but on a prolonged idle ..couple minutes...it would start faintly smoking get going again and the smoking stopped and all was good . I could drive the car on the interstate for hours on end with no oil usage ...but driving stop and go Id go through around a half quart a week which was basically about 250 miles in town.

It could be turbo related of course ...anything is possible but it sure does mimic VG seals to a T. If you really wanna know for sure I suppose ...pull the turbo ...block the oil supply and drain and idle the engine ...if it still has the symptom then you know.

For that matter you could safely obstruct the cold side wheel so it could not turn and remove oil pressure from it and you could test the VG seal theory that way.
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Post by schmauster920 »

Thanks for the response, I know different motors and situations warrant different symptoms.. the only time i have had valve seal/guide issues is on a corolla and you'd get a nice cloud only on startup
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Post by nismoautoxr »

schmauster920 wrote:Thanks for the response, I know different motors and situations warrant different symptoms.. the only time i have had valve seal/guide issues is on a corolla and you'd get a nice cloud only on startup
Gotcha and you're right ...on a lot of motors that is a dead giveaway but for some reason on a KA it doesnt seem to happen on startup . Maybe a matter of oil puddling characteristics . and engine design. Might not be VG seals but certainly could be . OP needs to scientifically rule out the turbo as a cause and act accordingly.

I attribute the differance being the valve bucket blocks most of the oil from directly running in past the seal but when engine vaccum is present and is highest then the oil is pulled into the chamber .
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Post by ashy-larry »

nismoautoxr wrote:
schmauster920 wrote:Shouldnt there be a puff of oil at startup then?
Sometimes ...sometimes not...I know when my car got up around about the 220k mark ...I got no startup puff but on a prolonged idle ..couple minutes...it would start faintly smoking get going again and the smoking stopped and all was good . I could drive the car on the interstate for hours on end with no oil usage ...but driving stop and go Id go through around a half quart a week which was basically about 250 miles in town.

It could be turbo related of course ...anything is possible but it sure does mimic VG seals to a T. If you really wanna know for sure I suppose ...pull the turbo ...block the oil supply and drain and idle the engine ...if it still has the symptom then you know.

For that matter you could safely obstruct the cold side wheel so it could not turn and remove oil pressure from it and you could test the VG seal theory that way.
100% exact same thing has happened to me on several different ka's, ones i've daily'd and ones i just put in cars to flip, sounds like the case here too for sure but as many have already stated anything can happen.
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Post by 240drew »

I have a how to video on how to replace valve stem seals without pulling the head in the hall of fame section.
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Post by shift_down »

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Post by rojomojo »

Thanks guys for the input. It seems the burning oil only happens when I idle lower than 1k. So i increased my idle and only drive my s13 when i know i wont be in stop and go traffic. I dont think this stock interal Ka is worth my time changing valve stem seals. Hence i have 2 other ka's lined up. Ka's are super cheap where i live and my friend owns a junk yard. I am just gunna drift this next event. If this Ka seems to hold then ill consider changing it. My comp test resulted in 150,155,155,160 warm so its lower than stock. I am getting very little blow by so it seems the engine is gunna keep going.
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