Hey i bought a 2002 Cavalier with the 2.2L Ecotec engine for real cheap.. Has about 110K miles on it. It had a broken timing chain and bent valves. I found a junk yard cylinder head and intake manifold, bought the gaskets and the chain kit, installed it all and wala! It runs. Cheap Car
Iv been driving it back and fourth to work for 4 months. I put around 8,000 miles on it. The other day i noticed i was low on oil. No big deal i know I have an oil leak.. So i changed the oil. Filled it back up, started the car. Everything seemed fine until I drove it. I rev'd it up when leaving and it blew out a bunch of smoke! The smoke had a blue tint so i though it may be oil, but it also looked very black as if it was running dead rich! I can get it to smoke alot anytime I got WOT when driving down the road too. Car runs pretty good - no check engine lights on.
It doesnt smoke at an idle, or when started. If in neutral I hold the RPM at 3K it will smoke. I grabbed a scanner and hooked it up.. at an idle the short term fuel trim was at +3, when reving at 3k it was -21. So my question is... Is my oil burning making the car think it is running way to rich? Or am I not burning oil, and the car really is running way to rich? If it is running rich, what could cause that?
I know that thicker oil can slow down an oil leak/burning.. so i did add some lucas. But no change. Havent got to pull a plug yet. And havent got to drive much to check for the oil levels yet to see how fast I am burning it.
Any help would be appreciated.
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If it were my car, I would do a leak down test.
Kinda sounds like your rings are getting weak.
- Your not-so-local, untrained, uncertified, backyard mechanic. But my @!#$ runs
Sounds prefectly fine.
Our cars run rich from the factory in PE, or WOT. That is the black smoke. Having a little bit of blueish smoke in it is oil, but not a hugh concern unless other issues. You would be surprised how many cars do this, and most people do not realize it.
FU Tuning
check to see if crankcase vent is working right. it may be unable to handle blow by once the engine is making some power.
dennis
Dennis - ill check and see if thats the problem. Thanks
Addicted - I know alot of cars blow out a little smoke.. but should I be able to see if from my rear veiw when driving down the highway?? BTW I hate driving behind an old Cady thats blowing smoke out of it.. Its like a nasty rainX for my windsheild.
Oedwards - If i can get ahold of a good leakdown tester, Ill give it a try. I recently ran compression tests on it months ago when I put the head on. At that time it was reading about 170 across the board. Am i looking for a specific reading on the leakdown tester? Should it be more than 20% leakdown if it is the rings? Should i be able to hear the air with the oil cap off?
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when i took my 02 eco appart that had the same problem the oil scraper rings were sucked into the piston so it had compression and ran great but in the higher rpm range it burned oil
