I just got done replacing my pistons..I went with Diamond pistons,Total seal rings,Arp headstuds,cometic headgasket..Everything was built to spec..I now have 65 miles on the new build. Its being broke in right..It has not seen over 3000 rpm and has not seen boost..Every now and then it will puff smoke..It smells like burning oil..Most of the time its when it has idled for a minute and i blurp the throttle..My question is..is this normal? I have heard some say its not normal and some say its normal cause the rings need to seat yet. Anyone else had this happen to them? Any insight is appreciated...And yes the rings where spaced and gapped right..Thanks

 

Bump

 

valve seals in the head or....you guessed it, ring gap

 

Did you resurface the cylinder wall as well? If you put in new rings you have to resurface the cylinder wall or the rings will not seal correctly.

 

^I'm with him, valve seals/seats/guides, something may be worn. Did you have the head inspected and milled before you slapped it back on the block? Also, did you have the top of the block milled?

Or it could be piston rings. Did you make sure to NOT line up the gaps? And are you sure they are gapped right?

Also, you did hone your cylinder walls right?

When I put mine back together, I no smoking issues or burning smell at all.

 

I made sure that the rings were properly spaced..I followed the total seal instructions. I also honed the cylinder walls..I didnt have anything done with the head..I made sure all surfaces where clean and used all new gaskets..I had no smoking issues prior to the build . Even with my #1 piston broke..Is it possible the smoking will stop after the rings set??

 

I have the same issue but I'm pretty sure I have a valve seal leak. one way you can check to see if it is a valve seal is pull the exhaust header off and look at you valve if its the seals you will be able to see.

 

it could be your valve seals, second it could be your cometic head gasket. cleaning off the surfaces will not do it, they will have needed to be milled clean, 3rd, you just honed your sleves, i sure hope you mean honed as in machined over spec, not honed with honing beads on a drill that you use on a steel block, thats not going to work on a sleve that popped maybe if the pistons where mint and you just replaced them. and break in is a few thousand miles bro if you want it to seat nicely and correctly imo

 

Well i have coolant in my oil and oil in my coolant...I have solid compression across the bored..180-180-180-185..Im guessing something went wrong on the head gasket install..Im thinking about going back with the stock head gasket over the cometic...Thoughts??

 

use the stock head gasket.

what are the rings gapped at
what is the torque on the head studs.

make sure the afr is right, and the timing is good and go hammer the **** out of it. you won't get a good seal with total seals other wise.

 

rings were properly fitted?

properly aligned?

how rough was the honing? -- sometimes a rough cross hatch will cause it to take a while for the rings to fully seat.

my guess is that it has something to do with the rings seating or fitted improperly. when you get on the gas it compresses the piston, spreading out the piston and sealing the rings better. that would be why it loads up (for lack of a better term) with oil at idle.

an example for the rough honing, last year's rebuild on my rc51 i only honed it out instead of getting them replated. it was burning oil for 3000ish miles before the rings fully seated and it stopped burning oil

 

Well i have been running it a little hard now. I got on total seals site and thats what they recommended. The head studs where torqued to 25 then broke loose,then to 45, then broke loose, then to 65 and i have not touched them since. I have good compression across the board. 180-180-180-185. All the cylinders are burning clean but 1. The spark plug is oily and it is the cylinder that has the 185 compression..Today i noticed i had oil in my coolant tank and milky substance in my oil cap and in the valve cover..So im wondering if the head gasket got damaged during the install? or maybe i need to re torque the head studs?? Im kinda lost at this point..

The rings where fitted and aligned properly. I just did a quick hone job on it..The car only had 29,xxx miles on it when my #1 ringlands went boom..

 

oh they were actually damaged? you should've resleeved the block man

 

There was no damage to the sleeves/cylinder walls..They where perfect..The rings held everything together..I got lucky lol..Any thoughts on my oil in coolant issue??

 

65lb/ft is all the headgasket needs? that sounds low to me, but im nto sure what the specs are myself.

 

Thats what the instructions said..I thought it seemed low myself

 

whats everyone gapping their total seals to?

 

Stock headgasket is more then sufficient.

Sounds like the head or block surfaces might have been warped. Did you check to see if they're straight with a straight edge and feeler gauges?

 

I forgot what i gapped mine at..I have the info around here somehwere.....

 

pull it back apart. STOCK HEAD GASKET.

torque to 85ft lbs. not in steps either.

 

what's wrong with a cometic gasket?

 

Haven't found a forum yet that likes them. Stock head gasket with copper spray is what I hear is the best, in general. Haven't heard Cobalt guys using copper spray.

 

This might sound stupid... But are you breaking in with synthetic or conventional oil??? VERY important

 

It makes no difference and you're fooling your self if you think it does.

 

Im breaking it in on synthetic..I know total seal recommends conventional,but our cars use synthetic so thats what i went with..

Looks like thats what im gonna do..Thanks for taking the time to help me out...

No i didnt check the surfaces. I assumed they would be just fine since the car had no issues(besides ringlands on #1)...I made sure the surfaces where clean though..