Smoke Screen Help?

Halm · 02-09-2003, 09:28 AM

Neighbors run inside, birds fall out of the sky, and it's just a matter of time before the military comes looking for me to see what I have devised that can lay down the smoke screen I get when I fire up the 911.

The PO put Ross Racing Pistons in the engine when he had it rebult about 10k mikes ago. Their literature says the car will burn a little more oil than normal and smoke a little more than normal, both of which are true and I could live with. Unfortuantely the "little" smoke is starting to increase significantly. FWIW, the car runs fine except the smoke.

My plans are new pistons in about a year, when I have the $$$ to pay for them. In the interim, could I get some level of relief with any of the oil addditives designed to "tighten the rings" , like STP? Is there any down side to trying?

Early_S_Man · 02-09-2003, 10:08 AM

Hal,

Try changing the brand of oil you use, and be sure it is a 20W-50 oil ... if you are using Valvoline, try Castrol, or Kendall, etc.

If your compression numbers are very high like I suspect they would be, say 200+ psi all around, then the change of brands recommended above might help reduce the smoke screen, but I wouldn't count on any miracle cures in a can! Sounds like an oil control ring problem to me.

Halm · 02-09-2003, 11:06 AM

Warren,

Great idea on changing brands. To the best of my knowledge, it has been on Castrol in one flavor or another since the rebuild. I'll try that next weekend. Any opinion on the new Valvoline for older engines?

And I agree totally about finding a silver bullet in a can. I am just trying to buy some time before I have to do what I know is inevitable.

Thanks for the feedback.

Halm · 05-08-2003, 04:39 AM

With the number of recent threads about "which brand of oil", I thought I would follow up on this one.

I took the advice of both Early_S_Man and P-Thomas and changed brands from Castrol GTX 20-50 to Valvoline Max Life 20-50. As predicted there was no magic bullet, but the car does seem to "feel" better, smoke a little less at start up and a PITA leak appears to be slowing down. I will be intersted in seeing oil consumption after one 3,000 mile cycle too.

If you are starting to smoke with a higher mileage engine, you might want to try the Vaolvoline. IMHO, it looks like it might help.

Tim Walsh · Tim Walsh's Garage

I'm going to have to give that a try since I"m having the same trouble with my T