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ok, so i got to drive my car when i went home for christmas. all in all not too bad. power wise, 370-something on 93 octane at 14 to 15 psi. 470-something on 110 octane at 19 psi. hit spark blowout trying to go higher and narrowed it down to my 99k mile stock coils couldn't support more. so new oem coils going in soon to go higher. anyway, here is my concern now. the car smokes. pretty good. it didn't do this two years ago. it does not smoke at idle. it doesn't smoke noticable at low boost or off boost acceleration. double digit psi numbers and it starts to smoke. also, it smokes during deceleration, most of the time. it will also backfire during deceleration. i noticed sometimes that i start decelerating (from 70-ish on the freeway) and it won't smoke, then two seconds or so into the deceleration it will backfire, and then start smoking. does this sound like bad valve stem seals? this is what ips believes it is. and here's they're/my thought process:

not piston rings. compression check showed 180 on all 6 according to IPS (ross 9:1 pistons).

not pcv system, there's a catchcan in place.

not turbos, they are fairly new (less than 2000 miles, and 1000 of that was off boost). they don't make any wierd noises at any time. they boost fine. and it also smokes during decel, that doesn't seem to point to turbos.

so, bad valve stem seals? i'll admit that i haven't been very familiar with them until recently. but if so, what problems does this cause? IPS told me that it would just be an annoyance. a quick search on 3si gave me many threads on how to replace them, but that's about it. also, what's my course of action here? it obviously didn't have bad valve stem seals before the engine was rebuilt (twice), and i don't believe it smoked like this after the first rebuild but before the second. have them fix it, and wait the time it takes and argue over who foots the bill? (they've tried to charge me for the second engine rebuild) take it as it is and fix it when the car comes down to florida? not worry about it?

as with my last thread, asking here because i'm not sure i want IPS to see this discussion, at least not yet.

Thanks.

Sounds like it to me. I've got the same symptomes, except I stopped giving a shit because the process seems difficult and time consuming.

It pisses off the Prius owners too.

ok. but what are, if any, the problems it could cause? other than the smoke. performance issues? i read in one post that shiver thought it was causing his phantom knock problem. so far i don't believe i have that issue.

I don't think smoking on decel is a symptom of bad vss. What color is the smoke? Do you notice the smoke just after idling for a bit, or does it smoke the same amount all the time?

My VSS are shot, my car really only smokes after its been idling for a few minutes, blue smoke.

[quote=""GTOGIRL3000""]I don't think smoking on decel is a symptom of bad vss. What color is the smoke? Do you notice the smoke just after idling for a bit, or does it smoke the same amount all the time?

My VSS are shot, my car really only smokes after its been idling for a few minutes, blue smoke.[/quote]

If your VSS is just starting to go out it will smoke only a little, but if they are shot then they will smoke on decel after boost and normal decel.

I get no knock and I boost 15psi on cali piss gas, but you and Shiver are taming a completly different animal. Yes, it could contribute to knock if your boost is high enough.

it was cold in ohio over christmas, so the exhaust had vapors coming out of it anyway, but i didn't notice any "smoke" at idle. it doesn't smoke all the time. doesn't smoke when just cruising. but during a normal decel from cruising it will, as mentioned earlier. it's definetly oil that's being burned.

Sounds like VSS to me. The seals themselves are only like 40 bucks but the work involved is retarded.

yeah, looked into the work involved, that's the reason i'm asking if it would hurt to just leave it as it is. if it were simpler it'd be a no brainer to fix it.