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Thread: 4A-GTE blowing smoke, incorrect water pump housing, dip stick popping out.

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    Question 4A-GTE blowing smoke, incorrect water pump housing, dip stick popping out.

    Hey guys,
    recently I purchased an ADM AE86 with a "forged 4A-GZE turbo"
    the motor is using a TVIS manifold (not sure if big port or small port or if there is even a difference), VT Ecotec throttle body, custom turbo manifold, a used Borg-Warner KKK K26 turbo with an old school turbosmart external gate & a microtech LT10s & x4 IGBT for the coil packs.

    Now the motor has a few issues, firstly, before a drive, generally on cold start, the car doesn't blow any smoke unless it has been sitting for a long time, in this case, the oil burning or white-ish blue smoke only occurs once I turn the car off after driving it and then starting it up 5 or 10 minutes after, whilst everything is still warm. I am suspicious of either bad turbo seals and or valve stem seals but the quantity of the oil burnt isn't even really noticeable when checking the dipstick.

    secondly, I am pretty sure the guy who built the motor used the FWD Crank pulley, water pump pulley, water pump housing and backing because there is a spastic 4 piece bottom radiator hose that goes from the water pump to the back of the motor and then back to the front of the car into the rad, the joins leak coolant a bit at high RPM and it is annoying, wondering if anyone can kinda point me in the right direction to sort that shit out.

    thirdly, the breather on the intake cam rocker cover is venting to atmosphere, now there are slight very faintly visible puffs, that blow at a consistent velocity (obviously increasing with engine RPM), that isn't the issue though, the issue is the dip stick popping out, I am fairly certain it is due to the rubber around the top being rock hard but just wondering if there is anything like perhaps the dual oil cap mod that I can do to relieve some of the crank case pressure if there is too much (or just in case there is, kinda like as a precaution)

    Thanks in advance

  2. #2
    Senior Member Hen may possibly be a nut's Avatar
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    TVIS was only used on bigport engines. So if you have TVIS then it is very likely a bigport head (Apparently you can bolt up a bigport intake manifold to a smallport head, but the ports really don't line up and the seal would be borderline).

    The oil burning sounds like valve stems. Maybe turbo seals, but I thought that was more often seen getting off the throttle at high RPM.

    Using the FWD water stuff is fine and usually easier as they are much more available (plus you have it all to start with). Personally I'd just replace the dodgy Frankenstein hose with a neater 1 or 2 part hose. The RWD stuff will work too, but is harder to find and often expensive.

    Cam covers venting straight to atmosphere is a bit dodgy, at least get a catch can in there. Dipstick popping out can point to high crankcase pressure, meaning either blocked breathers (not likely if it is straight to atmosphere) or possibly an engine in need of new rings. It's reasonably simple to add bigger breathers to the cam covers, and this may be worth a try before anything major.

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    I ordered a new dipstick from amayama, I think that is the problem, nothing seems to be blocked and the motor is only 1556.8km old, however it has been sittinh for 6 months + untouched.
    Previous owner said turbo was leaking oil, so perhaps that could be the issue.

    I always thought bad valve stem seals only allow the motor to burn oil & puff smoke when you coast then get back onto throttle.
    In my case it is a few seconds after warm start, goes away when I open it up.

    Looking to install a catch can asap, as well as a new ball bearing turbo, might do valve stem seals as well just as a precaution, will see once body work is done and I have money to throw around.

    Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

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    Moderator Sam-Q's Avatar
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    Can you take some pictures to show how the water is hooked up to the back of the water pump right now and also of how the pulleys look?

    If you are running a FWD pump then make sure you are not using a mechanical fan, thermo fan only for those.

    That hard black lump at the bottom of your dipstick was originally an O-ring, if Amayama come back and say it's not available then you can instead just change that by itself. Just like the one between the block and the water pump these end up distorting and hardening over time until they are unrecognisable that they used to once be round.
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