A little help? Old car...

And not many around that I've seen.

Ahem, I just had a car gifted to me, an 85 isuzu impulso 2.0 turbo, the rear wheel drive one. It was sitting in a field for about 8 years and I don't know why. Started right up when we threw a battery in it. The thing is, it smokes like a freakin chimney, and I mean oil smoke. Equally across all cylinders, and enough to foul the plugs after 15mins of running. Looks like the turbo is still good, can't find any blowby, no water and oil mixing, and theres a bit of oil in the intake piping. I don't know if thats from it sitting or not but its in the air filter all the way up to the turbo from what i've taken apart so far.

Heres the thing: according to the last owner it was just rebuilt before he left it in the field, and (I doubt this is true but its what he said) it is bored out 30. Just about everything still works on the sucker apart from the brakes and tires, including the whole digital dash and power windows/mirrors and I'd really like to get this thing going but I don't know much about bored blocks and if I could even use the stock head gasket and valves (which even those are difficult to find) if decide to rip the top off and rebuild the valve train. So far I've just piddled around, ran some detergent in the oil for a bit and changed oil/filter and replaced some vacuum lines that were cracked. I'll grab some new plugs and wires real soon.

But I was just wondering if somehow all that bit of oil in the intake is causing the smoking or if its more likely the valves. Any ideas?

1) Sorry, I can't help.

2) I never realized that these were RWD.

3) You need to post pictures of this car immediately.

Will do when I'm off tomorrow. :)

Gotta check some fuses though, the windows and the dash display stopped working today :(

how many miles are on it? could be something as simple as valve stem seals or a clogged pcv(the oil in the intake could point to this), or it could need a whole head rebuild. if it really was rebuilt before, it could be that someone used the wrong size rings/pistons after boring it out, but probably unlikely if it was done by a shop, not totally impossible though (not sure about this, i dont have much experience with rebuilds) i'd like to see pics, my ex-roommate bought a non-turbo one for like 450 bucks once, but it needed a complete suspension overhaul(needs specialty tools, if you can even get the parts) and he lost the key, and it had no title. suspension was supposedly designed by lotus though.

Boring out (especially .030) should require no changes to the head. A potential source of the oil may be the turbo. If the seals are bad they can feed oil into the intake. Not sure if these cars work this way but it is a potential source. Valve seals should not produce as much oil as you are seeing. You might want to block the vacuum source to the crankcase vent and then check the blowby (see if oil is getting sucked back into the intake).

Isuzu built a RWD Impulse from '84/'85 to '88, only the final year ('88) has the Lotus-TUNED suspension. IF this car had the Lotus suspension, there would/should be badges on the dashboard and the front fenders or the rear valence...I forget which. Think of the RWD Impulse as Isuzu's Fiero...in production for a few years before they finally got it right, then they killed it. When isuzu made the switch to FWD-only cars, the Impulse went to FWD, too.

You might want to start looking for some Isuzu-specific websites or go to a website like Japanesenostalgicars.com (hope I got that right) for some help/advice.

Keep in mind that the RWD Impulse is VERY much like a Chevy Chevette in it's "chassis". That said, any engine that fits into a Chevette's engine bay, fits in an Impuse's engine bay. If it's easier or cheaper, perhaps you might wan to dump the turbo 4 cylinder and go for a V6 or even a V8.

the 88 also got a real driveshaft rather than the torque tube setup of earlier models. more pics
not sure if they exist anymore, but isuzone was a good resource back in the day

I used to see those ever now and then. even knew of a "lotus-tuned" one. never paid close enough attention to realize they where right wheel drive. my loss I guess.

Neat little car, but dear god:

That does not look fun to work on. And I own a Starion.

I'd still have one though.

J

By far the best handling of any of the GM T-chassis cars. I've been using the non-turbo Impulse 3.9:1 posi rear difs in Opel housings for years (drops right in) and even the rear disc brakes can be fitted to an Opel as well.

With a megasquirt conversion you would be able to clean most of that stuff out of the engine bay too.

If you're thinking about selling it, let me know...

Oil is from either the turbo seal shot or the rings/piston shot. That much oil says it's not the valves or valve seals, which is what I think you meant. It's also not the spark plug wires. Lessee, not the fuel injectors or the air cleaner either. Uh, not the differential. OK, OK, Are all the plugs oily? What's the comrpession on all cylinders? If the compression is OK, and given the oil in the intake, I'd say a rebuilt turbo and you'd probably be OK. Turbo rebuild is about three bills at a professional turbo rebuilder like Majestic Turbo in Waco.

Dr. Hess wrote: Oil is from either the turbo seal shot or the rings/piston shot. That much oil says it's not the valves or valve seals, which is what I think you meant. It's also not the spark plug wires. Lessee, not the fuel injectors or the air cleaner either. Uh, not the differential. OK, OK, Are all the plugs oily? What's the comrpession on all cylinders? If the compression is OK, and given the oil in the intake, I'd say a rebuilt turbo and you'd probably be OK. Turbo rebuild is about three bills at a professional turbo rebuilder like Majestic Turbo in Waco.

yep. sounds like the rings colapsed or never seated after the re-build/ check the compression

I'd guess stuck rings from sitting. Try changing the oil use 2 quarts of RISALONE and then pour seafoam down the intake while reving it. both might and it might free the rings up.

44

Don't you just love the 80's.... why use a computer when we can just put a zillion vacuum lines in.

Think about computers from the 80's: they were practically vacuum driven too.

A blown turbo seal will really fog.

ugh yeah its quite a pain to work in there but thats about what mine looks like

the coil just shot itself in the foot last night so I'm working double overtime on it, I should be able to get a buttload of parts by sometime next week and really lay into it. I'm about half way wanting to just rip it out, bolt it on a stand and rebuild the whole friggin deal. But its gonna be a show car mostly with attempts on the autocross if I ever get one near me. Got some pics, and I'll throw those up as soon as I get back from a work meeting. Man working at advance auto parts is a pain sometimes i swear.

BTW I've checked the turbo and the pcv and ruled them out.

All the plugs were pretty oil drenched. I took em over to my shop and gave em one of those runs in the plug sandblaster and stuck em back in and thats when the coil failed. But I changed the oil and put in some seafoam, and I hope that will help out a little bit. The old oil was the consistency of water. At least it was still the right color though haha.

But yeah its gonna get the whole treatment eventually. Different turbo setup, coilovers, all new external parts, new paint and all. And (this is what kills me most) it needs a manual transmission badly haha. I can never seem to find a manual car anymore, it drives me nuts.

does that thing have a cooling fan for the distributer?

mad_machine wrote: does that thing have a cooling fan for the distributer?

It's probably for the injectors. That was pretty common with the early EFI set-ups.

for the record these were built 83-89

83-87 non turbo 3 link torque tube

85-89 turbo, 88-89 non turbo: five link rear with 'real' driveshaft

all 88-89 Lotus suspension(swaybars, springs, dampers)

there's plenty of parts still around for these. cross reference #'s and you will find suprises. also a few j/y upgrades from later and larger 4Z motors and aftermarket performance parts from other apps.

not to discourage you but expext little to no help from anyone