P0300 and Smoking

[2014 Blue RS]

Towed the car home with the following condition:

CEL flashing and traction control light on. Running rough and smoking. I was able to get it into my garage but the next day the battery was dead.
Replaced the valve cover gasket with a new OEM one. Thinking PCV.
Checked bypass mod plugs. Good but changed one just in case.
Jump started the car. No change..

The smoking concerns me more than anything else. Pics below for things I noticed that may or may not be relevant.

Turbo oil inlet tube. Def got oil all over it. Drips on the ground.
The water neck could be an issue but one of my lines had a slight leak.
Intercooler pipe on drivers side has oil around the sensor?
Bad LS7 coil. Not that old but hey who knows.
Followed the torque pattern
P0300 Smoking & Shaking-turbo-pipe.jpg

P0300 Smoking & Shaking-coolant-line-2.jpg

P0300 Smoking & Shaking-intercooler-pipe.jpg

P0300 Smoking & Shaking-torque-pattern.jpg

Appreciate any suggestions.

 

[2014 Blue RS]

Update:

Whitesmoke was right. The plugs were covered in oil. Most likely from the PCV goin bad. New plugs and plug wires. Same code. But goes away and comes back as I drive. I pulled the plug from the ignition coils and one of them it doesn't change how the car runs like the other 3. Replace coil is next I guess.

Runs rough at idle. Smooths out at speed. Hard acceleration it makes a sucking or blowing sound followed by a huge cloud of smoke. Misfire messing with turbo or it's pressure I'm thinking.

And I can't believe it living in SoCal on only 45k miles but my muffler has a good size hole in it. You can see the soot coming out the tail pipe causing the cloud of smoke. Exhaust upgrade once I get this misfire fixed.

Suggestions? Chasing out the issue best I know how.

 

[whitesmoke]

Ive been there

Exact same issue i had, once its all fixed it will take a week of driving for the oil to all get out

 

[2014 Blue RS]

Update:

Whitesmoke was right. The plugs were covered in oil. Most likely from the PCV goin bad. New plugs and plug wires. Same code. But goes away and comes back as I drive. I pulled the plug from the ignition coils and one of them it doesn't change how the car runs like the other 3. Replace coil is next I guess.

Runs rough at idle. Smooths out at speed. Hard acceleration it makes a sucking or blowing sound followed by a huge cloud of smoke. Misfire messing with turbo or it's pressure I'm thinking.

And I can't believe it living in SoCal on only 45k miles but my muffler has a good size hole in it. You can see the soot coming out the tail pipe causing the cloud of smoke. Exhaust upgrade once I get this misfire fixed.

Suggestions? Chasing out the issue best I know how.

View attachment 13931
View attachment 13929 View attachment 13930

 

[2014 Blue RS]

So did you change the coil pack also? Is it just all the oil in there?

 

[whitesmoke]

I cant see why a coil would be bad, we pulled our intake manifold and set it on the bench, next morning there was a 24" lake of oil on the bench. Took out the intercooler and the bottom was full of oil. You would be amazed at how much oil can push out of the vc into the turbo inlet when the pcv ****s

 

[mja]

For others reading this, if the cam cover diaphragm/safety valve goes, oil can get down into the spark plug boots on the stock coil pack and rust the springs/contacts prematurely.


But y'all are in that exclusive club...

 

[Papasonic]

I cant see why a coil would be bad,

It isn't that rare that the coilpack fails on the 1.4. I had mine fail, no spark #4 cylinder about a month after purchasing my 2012 new. Others on the Forum also have had coils fail too.

 

[whitesmoke]

If the diaphram in the vc goes bad you will have a vacuum leak, sucking air in, making a squeeling noise. The only thing thats going to push oil out is a boost leak into the head via the pcv rubber in the intake manifold. And i have never seen oil corrode anything. Lol

 

[mja]

When the diaphragm + PCV goes bad, oil spews out of that location. It gets into the spark plug boots on the stock coil pack and as it heats up it condenses water in the air on the metal and corrodes the coating on the steel. Many a sonic coil pack a few years ago went out this way.

Here's another guy who had oily charge pipe issues



... the purpose of that rupture disk/diaphragm is to dispel air from the motor as a fail safe with a broken pcv, yes. +close under vacuum so car can drive. When the car tries to boost without a division between crankcase and top end (blown intake PCV), oil comes out of everywhere. The diaphragm/rupture disk is a cheap oldskool way of mechanically limiting boost when the PCV goes. If the diaphragm is out, low pressure air is coming out of there too under boost. I think GM/opel put high priority on the redesigned cam cover diaphragm in 2013 because they were shelling out coil packs on stock engines in the 1st year or two. Some people even bought the early *DDMworks* engine/coil pack cover to prevent the diaphragm spewing oil onto the coil pack when the cam cover went out. This hasn't been an issue for a while thankfully.

 

[whitesmoke]

No, the purpose of the rupture disc in the valve cover it to release extreme pressure in the valve cover if THE PLUNGER IN THE INTAKE FAILS AND BOOST PRESSURE BUILDS IN THE CRANKASE, without that it will blow either the vc gasket or push the dipstick right out of the head

 

[mja]

Ya

... the purpose of that rupture disk/diaphragm is to dispel air from the motor as a fail safe with a broken pcv, yes. +close under vacuum so car can drive.

 

[mja]

No, the purpose of the rupture disc in the valve cover it to release extreme pressure in the valve cover if THE PLUNGER IN THE INTAKE FAILS AND BOOST PRESSURE BUILDS IN THE CRANKASE, without that it will blow either the vc gasket or push the dipstick right out of the head

See now we have PCV's blowing out without the rupture disk going, causing a lot of engine issues and blowing oil through the charge tubes. The disk doesn't rupture when the PCV fails since the redesign. At least I haven't heard of many going out as much as they used to.

 

[Papasonic]

Since new, and during a warm start-up, my 2012 1.4 manual trans LTZ hatch emits a noticeable crankcase blow-by odor that is quite apparent in the passenger compartment. I've never discovered the source, as there is no visible oil residue anywhere on the engine, and the engine starts, runs and operates fine; just the odor when hot starting. I would believe after 6+ years and 45000 miles the condition would manifest itself to some obvious defect. Where would crankcase vapor/odor emit that wouldn't cause any other problems other than a noxious odor. Charge tubes are dry; no oil residue; stock, no tune.

 

[2014 Blue RS]

Oil everywhere. Just got back from a 90+ mph drive for about 45 minutes. That blowing/sucking sound I hearing on hard acceleration was oil coming out of the turbo parts somewhere. Everything around the turbo was wet or dripping with oil When I got back. Front debris shield full and draining onto the floor.

Cleared the code while driving and it didn't come back on but it still bogs down like it's about to die when stopped.

Sounds like I'm pulling the intercooler to drain oil from it. Now I'm curious to see if my PCV was in fact bad but planned to use it for the PCV mod.

Seem like oil is coming from these areas. What say you guys?

 

[2014 Blue RS]

See now we have PCV's blowing out without the rupture disk going, causing a lot of engine issues and blowing oil through the charge tubes. The disk doesn't rupture when the PCV fails since the redesign. At least I haven't heard of many going out as much as they used to.

If this was all from my PCV, wow. Bad design. So wanna hack up that valve cover to see if the PCV had failed.

 

[mja]

As Whitesmoke was saying the PCV probably failed. It's the orange poppet in the intake manifold. Pull the corrugated hose from top of manifold outlet (the plastic hose that runs on the passenger side of the motor to the turbo inlet). It's held in with a clip on the intake manifold. Shine a flashlight and if there's no orange dot/popper then your PCV failed and you need the cruze forum PCV mod or a new intake stat.

The cam cover is a different thing, they used to blow out whenever the PCV went. But I've personally seen a few cars with blown PCV's and the cam cover rupture disk was fine.

...As far as that rupture disk, when it goes, big boost leak limits max psi which is good and let's us know something's up, but it's terrible for EGT's = hot exhaust manifold and cracks.

 

[mja]

Papa - I haven't smelled this, but my sense of smell is pretty much gone working with chemicals all the time.

The crankcase vapor outlet is at the turbo inlet/intake piping, could be smelling heavier hydrocarbons coming out of the intake... maybe at idle... maybe. But not sure. When the cam cover diaphragm blows, it goes out completely and we'd know it.

 

[Papasonic]

Papa - I haven't smelled this, but my sense of smell is pretty much gone working with chemicals all the time.

The crankcase vapor outlet is at the turbo inlet/intake piping, could be smelling heavier hydrocarbons coming out of the intake... maybe at idle... maybe. But not sure. When the cam cover diaphragm blows, it goes out completely and we'd know it.

Yes, this only does this during a hot start; a fairly strong blow-by odor. Never notice it cold. Don't smell it at all during driving, but shutting it down and restarting will make it happen. I've always thought there must be something that momentarily vents the crankcase to atmosphere under excessive pressure, but never found the source. I guess it isn't causing any problems except the smell.

 

[mja]

Ya my best guess is PCV fumes after shutoff making their way up to the intake past the turbo inlet check valve. At startup/during driving that turbo inlet check valve allows spent PCV gases to flow back through the turbo. You could pull the pcv tube before you start the car on a hot day before starting, if it smells the same there's your answer.