Drove the car a little bit again today. I found a pretty long hill and did a long deceleration in 3rd. As soon as i hit the throttle at the bottom of the hill i got a good puff of smoke? Issue in the head?


And can somebody please move this thread where it should be. Please

That is a classic sign of valve stem seals.... maybe the install of them was flubbed.

Agreed^ do a visual check. You could pull the cams and used some compressed air to hold the valve shut, while making sure they're all seated- and make sure they're snug around the valve stem.

But I get absolutely no smoke on cold start after the car sits for 2 days.

If it was valve stem seals, which in my humle opinion it is not, you would have had smoke on colds start due to the simple reason the oil remaining in the head at engine shut down would sneak through fukked seals and make them cozy on the cylinder which will smoke like a crack pipe on cold start, although throttle up after in gear decelleration is clasic sign of fukked valve stem seals you need to see some castrol burning as well on cold start to confirm....:crx:(by the way I think a 5w -30 is a bit thin and think a 10w -40 would serve a greater purpose,just my 2c)

I agree with sav in this matter...I bet you dont want to hear it and my sincere apologies:crx:, but you either fukked up in build, or youre motor got hungry, skipped the Sonic and started chewing on the rings instead....my opinion you have an oil ring fukked either in one or more cylinder/s...remember compression check wil show condition or indicate wear of the top compression rings, and if youre seeing blue smoke which is tell tale of oil burning, and seeing sump compression, my humble submission is that a lower oil ring/s is MIA!:vash:

BUT I AM A LAWYER BY TRADE AND NOT A PROFFESIONAL....THIS IS MY 2c AND I WOULD RATHER RECOMEND YOU LISTEN TO VERY EXPERIENCED VETERANS LIKE 18 PSI AND SAV....THIS IS JUST MY OPINION AND EXPERIENCE THUS FAR IN LIFE:noob:

So what is now the thought on this? Oil control rings?

I had bad valve seals in an ITA Miata and it didn't the cold start smoking. I think it's because the seals/guides sit up quite high compared the amount of oil that it's the head. Smoked between shifts/under vacuum. Pulling the cams and checking isn't that big of a deal compared to the alternative.

Well, looks like I will start with valve seals. I talked to Corky Bell for about 45 minutes today and he said he has never seen bad valve seals on a Miata in 20 years. He is leaning more towards oil rings or turbo. I can't really be the turbo because I just checked it and it looked totally fine. And plus it smoke a ton under acceleration.

I will drop the downpipe tho this weekend or Thursday to see if there is any oil there. I really doubt it tho.

this makes a big difference bud, where as it COULD be turbo seals in this case (do you have a restrictor running to the turbo feed? if not it could be pushing to much pressure in. however im definitely leaning towards rings if thats not a typo
time for a compression check with a shot of oil shortly after

my versdict is YOU A BITCH SON

hope that helps

Fcuk it's a typo. I meant to say it smokes under deceleration not acceleration. My bad. No smoke under acceleration,

So i ended up dropping the car off at the shop that built the motor. So far the guy thinks it could be my turbo because i dont have a restrictor in my turbo. But wouldn't the turbo smoke under acceleration if it was blowing oil past the rear seal?

Another thing he thinks it could be valve guides. He is saying its not his fault if its the guides even though he rebuilt the head.

Not sure where to go with this.

Could it be the guides?

Sounds like your engine builder is retarded. Is he by any chance a she or possibly old and senile? I built my engine myself and it just... works.

Pull motor, pull it apart, rebuild correctly.

Or you could waste another month wondering.

If you paid the engine builder the going rate to rebuild the head and he's now saying that he's not responsible for xxx on the head, you need a new engine builder.

The only way the rebuilder would NOT be at fault is if told you you needed guides and you said no.

Have you pulled the turbo elbow/DP and checked for oil on the turbine wheel? If no oil there then not turbo for the most part.

I would also check the part number of the rings installed.

Sometimes the compression rings will be the same, but the oil rings will differ.

He has the at at his shop right now. He is checking the turbo. When I had him rebuild the head I told him to make sure everything is in top shape, if he said I need new valves or guides or anything I would have paid for them.

What is the verdic?

No verdict yet:-( should have the restrictor for the supply line on the turbo. Trying this first. Doubt it will fix the issue tho.

So I guess the engine builder has absolutly no idea whats going on. All he told me is "maybe rings haven't sealed all the way" and "maybe the motor still needs to break in". I got about 500+ miles on the motor btw. So i guess i am just going to keep driving it.