The throttle body looked the same as far as the gasket residue.

Today I changed the ECTS sensor, the conector, and the O2 sensor. I ran it through testing again, and the HC levels had gone from 1.30 to 2.37, so trending in the wrong direction. The blue smoke coming out the back seems to be increasing. Derf, per one of your previous comments, is this due to the HCs getting disolved and concentrated in the oil and then being partially burned?

The only two things left on the list to try are swapping out the EGR and trying the MMO to do a piston cleaning. The Haynes manual goes through troubleshooting a different style EGR with an external vacuum line. Not helpful for the on I have. Any tips on how to do any meaningful testing on this? Your reccomendation was to get it through testing before doing the piston clean. The trending I am seeing may sugest moving this up to the next step. If the seal rings are causing the problem then either this works, or I am into another tear down. Comments?

Picture included below of the original problem...

 

I don't believe you mentioned this engine was a blue smoker ....that engine is heavily burning oil for you to see smoke out the tailpipe......how much oil are you going through per 1000 mi?

Forgot to mention -- you MUST use a Saturn OEM PCV valve with these engines -- the aftermarket ones pass way too much oil from the crankcase.....this should cut down on your emissions quite a bit if you are using an aftermarket PCV or if the installed Saturn PCV is stuck open (if it doesn't rattle when removed and shaken, it needs replacing....)

after running the engine and letting it cool all the way down, pull a spark plug and shine a flashlight down there. Your plugs are getting oil fouled -- this we know -- my question is whether, after cooling, you see pooled oil on top of the pistons. If so, I am inclined to say that something in the head isn't right and is allowing significant oil into the cylinders -- which of course should not be.

But given the decent and even compression across the cylinders, oil leaking from the head just doesn't make sense....nor would head gasket issues as you would expect to see it in the compression readings (along with white smoke out the tailpipe.....)
_______
Now this might be a stretch, but if your EGR is sticking open, it'll be recircing the "exhasut gas" to cool down the exhaust temp -- to reduce emissions -- but if it is recircing unburned oil vapor, then staying open too long will give you HC more output per unit time...thus making the exhaust HC heavy....
________
but the ultimate question is -- where's all the oil coming from? My guess based on all of this is pastthe oil control rings.

Also, did you ever find the piece of the valve that burned off? It could have damaged things if it came off in a chunk....

Did you check the EGR solenoid to be sure the EGR is responding to commands to open and close? But even with a flaky egr, if you see that much blue smoke, you need to address the smoke. (in the states, you usually fail emissions for visible smoke!)

Is SES light on? Any codes?

IMO, Time for MMO soak.

Also -- you need to give it some drive time to adjust to the new ECTS and 02 sensor before rushing to the emissions test -- the PCM needs to learn the new air/fuel mix that results from changing both of these.

 

Thanks derf,

I think we are on the same page. I had not mentioned the blue smoke on my first post as it did not seem to be this bad. My hope was that it had been coming in the top and the valve guide seals would have fixed this. It's either increasing or I am becoming more aware of it. I don't remeber the exact consumption I was getting as the car has been of the road for a couple of years, and before that my daughter was driving it. I do remember it was not good, several quarts added between changes.

How can I test that EGR solenoid? Is this a matter of pushing the pintel up with it plugged in (unbolted from the head) and listening for a click?

I have not touched the PCV valve. Perhaps this needs to be changed?

No diagnostics are coming up. Check engine light goes off after starting. When I pulled codes off it, it was just the basic '1 2'.

I read through some of the material on this site and some others on the MMO and Seafoam. Of course it does not seem to ba available at my local autoshop here in Canada. I found a similar looking product from 'Gunk' that mixes in the oil and you run for 5 mins before a change. I'll dump that into the cylinders and let it sit and see if I get some improvment.

Thanks again...

 

One other thing. When I change a sensor, should I be disconnecting the battery to reset the computer? Not sure how these things recalibrate themselves.

 

0) change PCV with Saturn OEM part (saturnparts.net) less than $4 US

1) You can check for voltage appearing at the EGR solenoid output to confirm it is indeed commanding the EGR to actuate. I suppose you could unbolt the egr and work the throttle from under the hood while its running and see if the EGR pintle is moving.

2) The PCM will adapt to the new sensors whether or not you disconnect the battery; not sure if disconnecting it will trigger relearning cycle for ODBI ....

3) The fact that it has burned that much oil in its past, then sat without running (assuming off the road = just sat and not started), then lost compression in one cylinder (and therefore had the air fuel mix being sprayed into the bad cylinder and not burning -- but instead running down the walls of the cylinder (also know as washing a cylinder)) leads me to believe that you're gonna have a hard time getting those oil control rings freed up. Also, you may have issues with leaks in general if gaskets have dried out if the car did indeed sit without running for several years.....

If you want to have a decent shot at it, order MMO or Seafoam online if you have to -- haven't been impressed with Gunk products since I last cleaned the block on a 1980 Ford Grenada back in the late 80's....

Please keep us posted....

 

OK, Gunk when in last night. If no effect I'll track down MMO or Seafoam. Any comments on the GM product? I saw some mention of it. The general comments seemed to be it was more aggessive than either Seafoam or MMO.

 

Update:
I soaked the pistons in the gunk stuff for the better part of 2 days. I refilled 2 of them once. 2 - 3 ounces in each cylinder. I then blew the remiander of the stuff out of the cylinders with compressed air. Before starting I dumped the remainder into the crank case and ran the motor for 5 minutes. This was per the actual instructions on the jug. Lots of white smoke while this was going on. I then dumped the oil and replaced the filter. Compression 200 - 190 - 190 - 200. Deteriorated a bit. Started it up and ran it. Its puking blue smoke on all the shifts. The only intersting thing is that if I run it hard for 15 minutes or so (4000 rpm on the highway), the blue smoke seems to go away. Discussed this, this morning with a buddy who used to pull wrenches for a living and decided to bite the bullit. Should have completed pulling the motor by tomorrow...

 

Be sure to change the timing chain while you have it apart. Get the OEM kit from Saturn.

 

Did the timing chain last go round actually. It was getting a bit long.

Engine out and on the floor. I am considering leaving the crank alone and just dropping the pistons and rods out of it. I have not seal leaks, and the engine has only 130 km (85 k miles) on it. Any inherent historical issues with the crank and journals that might make this a really bad idea?

 

Pulled the pistons today. Picture below of what they look like. They are all pretty much the same. The first 2 rings seem to have lots of life still, the oil ring does not seem to extend beyond the edge of the piston. Not sure what it is supposed to look like? It does rotate in the groove, although there is not much space there. I'll measure that up tomorrow. The original honing marks are still on the cylinder walls and a cursory inspection with a dial guage indicates there is not much taper maybe 1 thou or so. Any comments welcome...