Really low idle/Smoke from crankcase

[Spankdamonkey]

Greetings everyone, just today as I was on my way to work I began to notice the 'retta idling lower than usual. When I came to a stoplight about 5 minutes later, it barely caught itself before stalling (about 380rpm) and has been doing that anytime I come to a stop now. So when I got home tonight (roughly 20 minutes ago) I went under the hood to investigate. All fluids were nominal, but removing the oil fill cap released smoke that smelled vaguely of gasoline/exhaust.

Takeoff is just fine....no stumbling, hesitation, or loss of power. For all intents and purposes, it drives perfectly fine other than the above problems.

I was thinking perhaps PCV, but it seems to function as it's supposed to. I'm gonna rip off the intake hose and see if there is any oil or buildup in there. Any preliminary ideas?

Thanks guys!

[Spankdamonkey]

Just checked it out.....I have some oil in the manifold. Not too much, just looks like some got pulled from the valve cover. Good lord........think it could be blowby??? Sweet jesus I hope not. I NEVER drive her hard (or touch anything above 4500rpm for that matter) How can one tell if it is indeed blowby?

[Superdave]

is it an auto tranny? if so then unplug the TCC and see if that helps.

[gpse3400]

if it huffs and puffs like a steam train out the oil fill then you do have a serious blowby problem.... you can verify by performing a compression test.

I also agree you have a better chance of a transmission modulator issue as well. What is the year of the vehicle?

[Spankdamonkey]

It's a '95 with the 3100/4t60e. And my *awesome* OBD 1.5 hasn't given me any codes as of yet.....bastard. I have the adjustable tranny modulator on it, and as to the TCC being the culprit......it never stalls, just comes damn close. So I wouldn't assume that to be the problem. I'll give it a try anyhow seeing I got nothing to lose!

It doesn't smoke that bad, more like a gentle waft. Not to mention I don't have a compression tester readily at my disposal. I would also think if there was blowby I would have SOME kind of power loss........strange.

I bought some seafoam today, so I'll try running that into the brake booster and see if it helps anything. Not likely, but better than sitting on my hands all day. I'll also try cleaning out the IAC passages.

I'll get back to ya in a few hours with the results

Thanks for the imput guys!

[IsaacHayes]

Have you checked the PCV?

[95Grand-Am]

Maybe a sticking IAC?

[Spankdamonkey]

Well here's the verdict: blowby.

I checked out the IAC and it was free of deposits. So I went with plan B (seafoam) But I let the PCV suck it up instead of the brake booster line. My discovery came about 20 seconds after the introduction of the seafoam, wherein the smoke from the crankcasebegan to become thicker. So that was quite depressing to find out. Guess it's 3400 time this summer! In the meantime I'll pick up an EN-VALVE to help alleviate the blowby.

The good news: The seafoam seems to have fixed the idle issue! How long that'll last though remains to be seen. Maybe I'll buy another bottle and dump it in the oil (The can says "when added to engine oil, increases engine RPM, vacuum and compression")

[pocket-rocket]

I put a can in my moms old Rodeo. The Honda engine in it had too close of tolerances on the rings to the ring groves. It took the engine from not having enough compression to fire to being able to idle by unsticking the rings some. Seafoam is the only additive besides Lucas that I have heard good things about, too. Maybe if you add a can to the oil it will lower the blow-by for now Don't leave it in there too long though. I imagine it isn't that good for lubrication, just unsticking parts.

[Spankdamonkey]

Well I bought an oil catch can off ebay, and dumped in some Engine Restore. So I suppose I'll see what that does!

Since I kinda granny drive it, I'm wondering if I should give her a good WOT run just to see if it does anything for it (carbon buildup on the rings). I heard that the rings only rotate on the piston near or at WOT. But then again, I don't wanna hurt the engine, which is why I granny drive it in the first place :/ (120,000 miles)

[pocket-rocket]

I drive my 92 hard, and did the same with my 91 for about 70k miles. The 92 is nearing 150k, and the 91 is around 160-170k? I would trust a pushrod more then I would my DOHCs. I doubt a good romp with the gas pedal will hurt it Carbon is your enemy.

[IsaacHayes]

Yeah I can't count how many times mine sees WOT in a day. Over 200,000 on mine. (I think 210 ish?, my gauge cluster doesn't show the right mileage )

[pocket-rocket]

Yeah I can't count how many times mine sees WOT in a day. )

Ditto