First car, lx450!
- Thread starter tug123
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Fj80oregon
GOLD Star
Your oil leak is the upper pan arch seal or the rear main seal.
- Thread starter
- #303
Anyway to tell which? Or just venture down the path of fixing both? Rear main seems like a common leak, not common that it smokes.
Fj80oregon
GOLD Star
You can pull the inspection plate its across from the lower oil pan on the upper oil pan chances are it’s missing already. Eight above where your leak is coming from . You can use an inspection camera looking up in there and see where it’s dripping. You will have to clean the area off really well with brake clean before.
Fj80oregon
GOLD Star
Fixing the arch seal requires pulling the upper pan which is achievable but a pain in the ass. The rear main seal requires pulling the engine or pulling the tranny pick your poison.
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- #306
Makes sense, I'll go through this tomorrow. I hope it's the arch seal at least that is less horrifying. Worst would be if I fix this leak and there's another oil leak somewhere, but I cannot for the life of me find any other leaks.
Don't sweat the oil leak until you get the smoke situation sorted out. You want to get to where you can drive around and really get up to temp and see how everything works.
How much oil is in the engine, any chance it's been overfilled?
Have you tried driving around the block?
How much oil is in the engine, any chance it's been overfilled?
Have you tried driving around the block?
Fj80oregon
GOLD Star
Lots of 80’s running around with this leak it’s not a big deal unless you really don’t want a drippy pan. I would figure out where you are burning oil or fuel at first. Get it running well and worry about the leak later.
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- #309
I’m all carred out to for the day but will drive it tomorrow. Need to refill oil first, checked a few days ago it was half, now its at a quarter. It’s definitely burning oil, but coolant level seems static.
I’m more wondering if that oil leak is whats causing it to burn oil, in turn the smoke. If it isn’t that, what else could cause it to burn oil?
Fj80oregon
GOLD Star
Your rear main seal has nothing to do with you burning oil. Either your valve guide seals are going bad and leaking oil leak down from the cams to the combustion chamber or your piston rings are leaking oil by into the combustion chamber.
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- #311
Back to square one - took it for a short drive, acceleration was rough and would go to 3k RPM but not above 15mph. And CEL is back, misfire on #6. I did notice as well on OBD scanner intake manifold absolute pressure was at about 27 inHg, which seems high.
Guessing the misfire has something to do with injector wiring on #6, I'll test the connector again when I have the patience to pull upper intake again.
Still pretty unsure on what's causing this smoke, valve guide seals would obviously be far more convenient than HG, but I will say the more I accelerate the worse the smoke gets. Calms down on idle.
Gonna have my friend take a look at it later this week and see if he can tell me if this is blue or white smoke/oil or coolant.
Pulled #1 and #2 spark plugs to check, they were just replaced so have <20min of time in a running engine.
Guessing the misfire has something to do with injector wiring on #6, I'll test the connector again when I have the patience to pull upper intake again.
Still pretty unsure on what's causing this smoke, valve guide seals would obviously be far more convenient than HG, but I will say the more I accelerate the worse the smoke gets. Calms down on idle.
Gonna have my friend take a look at it later this week and see if he can tell me if this is blue or white smoke/oil or coolant.
Pulled #1 and #2 spark plugs to check, they were just replaced so have <20min of time in a running engine.
Fj80oregon
GOLD Star
Do you have a bore scope? Look down in the cylinder and see if it’s steam cleaned/shiny.
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- #313
Nope but I’ll pick one up today and report back.
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- #314
When you mean in the cylinder, you mean past the spark plug hole where I can see the piston right? If so, I wouldn't call it shiny, but also there is no black or anything whatsoever, just looks like worn aluminum. Gave me a bit of a scare, but maybe you mean like truly shiny (which it's not)?
Also discovered through this the #6 misfire is coming from the #6 injector being stuck open. Saw a good amount of fuel down on top of #6 piston, #6 spark plug reeked of gas and was a bit wet from it as well. Found this post that suggest white smoke could actually be coming from fuel in certain scenarios? I will say, I noticed the other day there is absolutely wet fuel coming from the tailpipe when smoke comes out. All 6 injectors were just serviced, brought back to 305cc. I rewired #6 injector connector as well, and since this was happening when I got the car, I'm inclined to believe rewiring it didn't make it "worse" or cause this.
Any good tips for diagnosing a stuck injector?
Switch the injector to a different cylinder. If the issue moves with it then it's the injector, if not then it's the wiring, ECU, or something specific to #6.
My hunch is that there's a wiring problem further upstream causing the injector to stay open, flooding the cylinder with fuel and causing the smoke and drivability issues.
It's an additional expense but if you plan on keeping the rig for a while a new wiring harness would be worth it. You can also repair the one you have but it might need to come out to fully troubleshoot.
My hunch is that there's a wiring problem further upstream causing the injector to stay open, flooding the cylinder with fuel and causing the smoke and drivability issues.
It's an additional expense but if you plan on keeping the rig for a while a new wiring harness would be worth it. You can also repair the one you have but it might need to come out to fully troubleshoot.
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- #316
Solid idea, didn't think of that. On #6 I think I can reach the connector as well, any harm in unplugging it, running it, and seeing if smoke stops to make sure that's where it's coming from?
I've been leaning towards wiring harness as well, my take is I'd replace it with a new one, keep the old one and repair it when I need it or have the time. I already planned to buy a spare when this was all finished, but at this point might as well anyways.
Fj80oregon
GOLD Star
Sound alike you are narrowing it down. Swap injectors or get a cleaned and tested set from me! ( I have a set for sale). Chances are good it’s a wiring issue keeping your fuel injector open.
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- #319
Idled it with #6 unplugged to start, smoke was way better and car in general ran way smoother. Bit worried about how much shaking I'm seeing on the engine, but problem for another day.
Assuming all of this smoke is coming from pumping way too much fuel into the cylinders, it will take awhile to burn it all off? I saw this on the exhaust side, guessing exhaust isn't designed to be airtight and this is just the excess fuel leaking out? Smoke definitely smells like gas, maybe there's coolant too but no way to really tell with the overpowering smell of fuel. Liquid on exhaust similar story, but definitely whiffs of gas on it.
Assuming all of this smoke is coming from pumping way too much fuel into the cylinders, it will take awhile to burn it all off? I saw this on the exhaust side, guessing exhaust isn't designed to be airtight and this is just the excess fuel leaking out? Smoke definitely smells like gas, maybe there's coolant too but no way to really tell with the overpowering smell of fuel. Liquid on exhaust similar story, but definitely whiffs of gas on it.
With #6 unplugged you are running on 5 cylinders which will be rough and shake around more than usual. That residual fuel will eventually burn off once you get the situation for injector #6 resolved and it's not dumping a ton of fuel from staying open all of the time. I doubt that part of the exhaust manifold has a chance to really warm up since it's being cooled by the massive amount of raw fuel going into it, especially unloaded (idling not driving).
Next steps would be sorting out the wiring issue, confirming its running smoothly, burn off the residual fuel, and then once you confirm its running and driving as it should change the oil since it may be diluted with fuel. If the coolant level has not changed that's a good sign the head gasket is ok.
Next steps would be sorting out the wiring issue, confirming its running smoothly, burn off the residual fuel, and then once you confirm its running and driving as it should change the oil since it may be diluted with fuel. If the coolant level has not changed that's a good sign the head gasket is ok.
