Shakedown Issues

[minneSNOWta]

Hey fellas. Yesterday I took the G out for a quick shakedown/break-in and noticed quite a few issues.

While doing a slight 3rd gear pull I heard the BOV vent at about 4K. This concerns me because I know the BOV should not be purging while accelerating. White smoke soon followed coming out of the engine bay. Got the car home and noticed it was smoking a fair amount. Opened the hood to find this.



Is this a blown HG? The white smoke seemed to be coming from below the head somewhere. I know that some of the oil spray could have been burning off too. The engine is new and I am running ARP head studs and OEM MLS. The only thing I can think of is that my head might not be square on the block. I read recently in VFAQ that when using ARP head studs, that you need to trim the engine mount bracket "hood". When I last did a BLT, there was no air bubbling from the radiator. I have not trimmed the hood on the bracket. Anyways, there is a spraying going on from what I can tell. The oil will drip down onto the exhaust manifold heatshield and burn off too. At first, I thought it could be the oil filler cap since there is a trail coming from that too, but it is new. No oil out the dipstick either.

Please help.

 

[prove_it]

Did you just paint the valve cover? If so you could have paint under the cap gasket causing a bad seal under boost and high crankcase pressure. Find the oil leak first, burning oil smokes white too. If it smelled like candy then it could be coolant.

 

[minneSNOWta]

It's coated, but I do notice that the mating surface is coated as well. Smells like oil more than candy. My friend tasted that juice you see and he didn't taste sweetness.

 

[prove_it]

Could be a bad cap seal. Is it a pure OEM cap and seal? I don't like painted mating surfaces at the cap. Do you have proper crankcase venting? That will pop seals all over weakest at first.

 

[minneSNOWta]

Not a pure OEM cap or seal. Got it from Bonehead Performance. Maybe it is me who is the bonehead, so that will be replaced by an Evo VII OEM cap. I will have to sand the mating surface down too. As for venting, I am following setup #1 in Calan's article on the PCV system on DSMtuners. I did not replace the PCV when I bought the VC secondhand, so that will be replaced.

 

[Nate]

There's sometimes a hole in the valve cover right by where that oil is pooling. I have no idea why it's there, but a lot of times that's where that oil comes from.

 

[James]

Mine pools up in the bottom left corner. Haven't been able to source where it's coming from

 

[G]

Looks like the vc is cracked.

 

[vr4play]

Cracked VC is what I was thinking. I would also ck and make sure the PCV valve is working correctly as that could also cause the oil cap to leak some although it usually also causes the dipstick to blow out.

 

[minneSNOWta]

Well I opened the radiator cap and it looks like cappuccino in there. Not good. Thanks for the help everyone. I will take everything into consideration when going through her for the 3rd time aka the charm. Luckily, I got homies who are willing to help me. We all got a little taste, but nothing near where it could be. Summer ended real fast.

 

[prove_it]

Quoting Nate:
There's sometimes a hole in the valve cover right by where that oil is pooling. I have no idea why it's there, but a lot of times that's where that oil comes from.



That hole is a water drain for the gallery. It goes through to the front to let water out if it ever gets under the gallery cover.

 

[Spyder]

Quoting minneSNOWta:
Well I opened the radiator cap and it looks like cappuccino in there. Not good. Thanks for the help everyone. I will take everything into consideration when going through her for the 3rd time aka the charm. Luckily, I got homies who are willing to help me. We all got a little taste, but nothing near where it could be. Summer ended real fast.



Sorry to hear that man. I HOPE beyond hope that my break in doesn't go like that.

 

[minneSNOWta]

I need straight-forward replies on this question please. When you guys installed ARP head studs, did you shave the engine mount bracket in the spot outlined here ? The only reason I can see there being a blown HG is from lifting in that corner. I did not shave the bracket and will do so on my next go-through to make sure. All my mods are listed in my build thread and I need to update it still. Thanks fellas.

 

[Spyder]

I had my engine completely disassembles and the block on a stand when I put my studs and head back on. Didn't have that problem.

 

[prove_it]

When I did my head gasket a couple years ago, I never modded that piece. With that being said, I had the studs removed before putting the head on. I just find it easier to clean the block surface with the studs out, then put the head on and install the studs.

Doing that I never had an issue. I can see that it would be an issue if you put the studs in first then the head, as the head can't get out of the way. The mount does cover that area, so could be an issue.

I've never had an issue, but I do my work differently. It wouldn't hurt to cut up this bracket though. I trimmed mine to make manifold replacement easier and to eliminate the wrap around mount.

Like I said, I install studs AFTER the head is on, therefor never have I had an issue. I always pull them out, so it's easier to remove the head and reinstall.

 

[vr4play]

I also just remove the studs everytime I pull the head and just put them back once the head is in place. It would probably be easier with that piece out of the way as I have no problems doing it by myself but when people help they never understand why the head can't go straight on. I'm getting to old for lifting these heads off by myself as I leave all the manifolds attached.