LX9 Burning Oil, motor sat yrs, poss stuck rings?

[jmgtp]

Just finished the mechanical on my LX9 swap and I'm in the process of getting the computer figured out. It runs pretty good on the dohc code.

I just ran it now in the daylight and a big concern is that it is definitely burning oil.
At idle there is a slight trace of the bluish/gray smoke, almost unnoticeable. However, rev it and there is LOTS of the blue/gray smoke!

The motor has 50k on it and is from an 05 Malibu. My only thought is that the motor sat in the junkyard for an unknown number of years, and then sat on my engine stand for about a year. What is the likelihood that the rings are stuck from nonuse and unable to control the oil? Should I take it for a drive and ramp the revs up to 6k in 1st and then let it spin down (its a 5speed)? Would that loosen them?

Not sure what to do. Very bummed that all my hard work to get the motor swap done and I have an oil burner! I sure hope I did not get a junk LX9!

[pocket-rocket]

Usually the run and coast in gear is used to help assist rings break in since it loads them up from behind with pressure. It certainly couldn't hurt, and I doubt the engine is junk. I wouldn't think the rings would be stuck already at 50k. I would remove the PVC system from vacuum and vent it and run it a bit like that to see if you aren't sucking oil.

[jmgtp]

The pcv was my only other thought. I pulled the vacuum line off and used my thumb to seal it and let the engine run for about 20 seconds, I gave it a few revs and it still smoked, but it may not have been long enough to clear out. I know I have some oil in the throttlebody so perhaps the PCV is ultimately my issue, just odd that it could be that because it is the bone stock LX9 pcv system and I imagine it is engineered to not ingest oil.

[pocket-rocket]

If there is oil pooling in the TB, I bet there is even more in the intake. I've yet to check out an LX9 PVC, but it does sound weird.

[jmgtp]

As odd as that would be considering this is a stock pcv system, that would be the best cause of the problem.

Maybe someone else that has an LX9 can confirm the routing? What I have is a vacuum line that connects to the front rocker cover and the vacuum source is directly to the intake manifold just behind the throttle body. There is no check valve or any kind of restrictor, full vacuum is applied to the front cover.

The rear cover also has a hose, that leads to a NON vacuum filtered air source, this is the inlet/fresh air side of the system. I verified last night with the motor running that the port it is connected to on the throttle body I am using in front of the throttle body and not under manifold vacuum.

I have been working under the assumption that the front cover has an air/oil separator and hence does not require a valve to restrict vacuum. But, it appears that this must be the source of the oil in the intake manifold since that is the only place it can come from and reach the TB.

I will disconnect both sides of the PCV system and run it up to temp. Lets assume I have a good coating of oil in the intake manifolds at this point, how long do you think I need to run it to burn that all off? For examply, after 10 minutes of idling if I rev it a little and still see some smoke is it safe to assume that the PCV was not the culprit? Or would it take a lot longer than that to clear the oily mess inside the manifolds? Is it bad to run without any evacuation of the crankcase though? I don't plan on revving it much but do I risk building pressure/blowing seals?

If it turns out to be the PCV, there is a solution. On my old motor I drew small amounts of oil through the PCV system and into the manifolds so I setup a catch can. When I swapped the LX9 in I said to myself, this thing is engineered so well that I don't need this stupid catch can anymore and I removed it. I could reinstall it, inline with the vacuum side of the pcv system, run the motor and see if it has collected any oil.

[pocket-rocket]

I would run the catch can and try running some top engine cleaner or Sea Foam into the intake through that same port to clean any out out of the intake to rule oily build up out. Then once that's clean, let it idle for a while if you can't drive it yet and see what gets caught in the catch can. I find it funny that I'm the only one chiming in on this topic and the only 3500 I've seen in person was on a stand in Ben's garage for the MGB, lol.

[jmgtp]

haha, well I can't seafoam it. At least not here, I live in a condo complex and that would surely raise some eyebrows. I got a little worried with the few puffs of oil smoke when I revved it! I can get away with running it at idle since it hardly smokes at all unless you rev it. I might try using a bit of water through the vacuum port since steam is harmless and wouldnt create a giant cloud like seafoam. The vac port is big (prolly over 1/4"), so I'll need to put some kind of restrictor on there to meter the water in slowly otherwise I'd risk hyrdolocking it.

And hey, I appreciate the response! I don't care if you don't have a 3500. This is basic automotive knowledge that were putting our heads together on.
Would be nice to see some pushrod or LX9 guys get in on this though!

[pocket-rocket]

I was thinking Sea Foam mostly because the water really won't mix with the oil to carry it away, at least I wouldn't think it would. I'm not sure the intake would be warm enough after idling a while to be able to turn the water into steam, which is another reason I mentioned the Sea Foam. You could always drive out to a spot (if the car is drivable at this point) where you could Foam it.

[jmgtp]

Problem is that I live in a pretty urban area. There is no woods or farmland closeby and I don't want to drive the car very far until I'm certain it is trustworthy, I've only moved it in and out of my garage so far. The intake manifolds really dont get hot, there is no coolant running through them and no hood on the car to trap heat, I think they might barely get warm. I still might try a little water, it should do well to clean carbon and oil in the combustion chamber. Other than that I guess the best I can do is run it with the pcv system disconnected and see if it stops smoking after a while.

[jmgtp]

Ok... I disconnected the pcv system and plugged the vacuum line with a rubber stopper so I wouldn't have a giant vacuum leak.

I fired it up and there was no smoke. Idled and no smoke. Revved, you guessed it, no smoke.

BUT... I just let it sit there an idle up to temp, and after about 5ish minutes I could see a bit of the blue smoke. I revved it and sure enough, there was the smoke!

What could it be!?

My only thought is that the intake manifolds are soaked with oil on the inside and as the engine warmed up the oil made its way in to get burned and maybe it just needs more run time to clear out. I'm baffled! My buddy is coming over shortly and we are going to put the hood on. I'll probably take it for a short drive too and maybe give it some hard accel/decel cycles to clear things out.

[jmgtp]

Got the hood on, drove it, seems like the exhaust smoking eventually cleared out.

It has NO power. Man, it is nutless. Hopefully its just the tune. I notice that when I rev it now I get a different color smoke, black, super rich.

[pocket-rocket]

If it's running that rich while driving, be sure to pull over once in a while to let the cat cool down. You don't want to send your newly completed project up in flames.

[mickaz]

You feel its gutless? even when I was on my 3100 computer it had lots of power. so that would be a sign of something happening.

[jmgtp]

Well since then it has been determined that my bin file was corrupt and that the tables were all very messed up which could explain its lack of power. Currently working on the tune but so far idle only.