Hello, this is my first post. I have a 95 trans am that is puffing and smoking out pass. valve cover. I had a rear mount turbo installed but took it off due to this problem and not being able to get oil to stop leaking out turbo. I have NO smoke out exhaust but comes out hose on valve cover, oil fill tube and dipstick tube. I smelled the air comming out and it doesn't smell like oil, it kinda smells like exhaust. Could this be a head gasket or exhaust valve? took oil cap off and it was milky but dipstick looks clean. Any help would be appreciated. I am looking to buy a leakdown tester but i have no clue what im doing. Thanks in advance.

 

Check the PCV valve, it may be clogged. Its located in the side-center of the intake manifold on the drivers side.

 

Check the PCV system to make sure it's not blocked, allowing blowby to pressure the crankcase. If the PCV system is functioning correctly, check the compression, looking for a broken ring land. Did you experience an episode of detonation with the turbo?

Sometimes with severe blowby, you can feel air puffing out the oil fill tube when you take the cap off.

 

PCV valve is brand new. Not sure if there was ever detenation with turbo, it was only installed for like 2 weeks but barely driven due to oil leaking out it. If the rings were bad wouldn't I get smoke out the exhaust? Would the air/smoke puffing out smell like oil? Took oil cap off and it was milky but dipstick was clean. Coolant looked a little funny to me. Kinda chalky orange with a lot of particles floating in it. It wasn't oil tho.

 

Forgot...The other day i started it with radiator cap off and coolant was frothy/foaming out. I had a head gasket blow before with exhaust cooming out radiator but it doesn't seem to be doing that. what happens when you have a bad exhaust valve seal?

 

Likely a bad center section seal on the turbo or lack of oil scavenging (or both).

Did you leave the stock PCV system in place? If so you were probably pushing boost into the valve covers through the hose running from the TB to the valve cover.

Probably just condensation on the inside of the valve cover. Not an unusual thing.

Might not hurt to pressure test the cooling system if you suspect a leak or bad head gasket.

 

How do you pressure test the cooling system? I guarantee it boosted the crankcase. I put a chack valve on the pcv but not tilll after the damage was probably already done. Im just not convinced its bad rings because i thought there would have to be smoke out exhaust?

 

Do a simple cranking test with the ignition disabled (so it won't start) and tell us what it sounds like. Any uneven crank pulses could indicate a compression problem. The ring lands crack, sometimes the rings break, too. It will still run that way, and not necessarily smoke out the back. There's different versions of blown head gasket, but if it's bubbling out the radiator, that's never good.

When I finally blew up my stock engine at the track, it already had piston damage (with blowby), but then took out the gasket as well. With a blown head gasket and two broken pistons it still ran 12.4

 

I will go out in a few minutes and turn it over. Car never smoked out exhaust and still doesnt. I took yhe turbo off yesterday but still puffs out. With the hose unhooked from TB you can see a drip of water every now and then.the air is strong comming out of it but doesnt smell like oil, i cant really describe how it smells.i pulled #2 #4 #8 plugs and 2 looked good but 8 is very black and a little wet. Only pulled the easy ones.

I will post how engine sounds in a few minutes

 

Engine cranks fast like 3-4the times then 1 sloooow

 

The water dripping out of the PCV air supply hose from the throttle body indicates condensation from excessive blowby. Did you pull the oil fill cap off and feel/listen for air puffing out?

 

There is ALOT of air comming out and smoke. doesnt smell of oil. doesnt smoke out exhaust either.

 

I am going to tear the heads off just to see if its a gasket but if its the rings im going to try and build the engine i have outside. if i tear the engine down to the block thats in the car, will it be easy to unbolt trans and pull engine from top? How hard is it to rebuild this engine for a beginner?

 

I wonder if you are hearing it backwards - a low compression cylinder will crank faster momentarily but it will sound different than the others - the pitch will vary. It's possible that you may have more than one bad cylinder, too.

 

sounds like r-r-r-rrrrrrrrr 3 fast 1 slow