Valve issue
 

2008 hhr ss 2.0 turbo manual trans no modifications

Recently had oil changed 7/8/16 car was runing fine following oil change. After runing for 40 minutes at 75+mph pulled off highway and had to sit at stop sign for a while, went to accelerate in second gear pushed 5k rpm and approx 15 psi when a loud taping noise came from what I'm assuming is the valve train and a cloud of smoke out the exhaust. Backed out of the gas and car drove fine home no further taping. Rechecked the oil a couple of trips later found to be 3.5 quarts down! No drips or stains on driveway. Car seems to be burning or pushing oil had to out another 3 quarts in today following 500 miles or so. Valve tapping seems to occur only from extended periods in the lower rpm range when there is a demand on the engine for boost. Car is now also making 5 more psi of boost for total off 25 at max pressure. Previously would peak at 20 and spike to 21 on a good day. At a loss for what's going on I'm a two stroke guy with a little knowledge of fourstrokes.

Welcome to the site. :thumb:

1st thing I would do is pull the plugs and see if it's isolated to one cylinder. If it's not just 1 cylinder, then next I would run a compression test.

Really would help if you could state the mileage on your car. Gives us an idea of what we're talking about. Also, any repair work previously done.

Fwiw. If it was 3.5 qts. down, you've probably already done some oil starvation damage to the internal parts. Sorry, just being honest.

:welcome4: to the forums, wish it were under better circumstances.

If you're pushing 20-21 psi bone stock, something is wrong. Most of us only get 14-15 psi. You sure you don't have the GMPP "stage 1" kit? Your MAP sensors would be blue, Bosch units with the upgrade. First let's find out if your engine is toast.

If you don't have a compression tester and cylinder leak down tester, you should get them. Compression tester you can probably get a 'loaner' from your autozone. You can go to Harbor Freight and get an inexpensive leak down tester. Do the compression check first, if the results are bad, you'll need the leak down. Here's a how to for the leak down https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-...-engine-56053/

For the compression test, you'll need to pull fuse #13(fuel pump), start the engine, and run it out of fuel. Then you can pull the spark plugs and do the testing.

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-...rbox-ss-56180/


You should not operate the vehicle until you have diagnosed this potentially serious problem.

80,000 miles, factory long block replaced at 48k, turbo at 48k. I'm 3 hours from home currently. No compression gauge handy and in middle of no where.

Dam, that sucks. Does your insurance have towing coverage?

If you are that much oil and not seeing a lot of smoke out the rear my bet would be the turbo. Turbo has an oil feed line if the seal is bad it could be pushing the oil into the intake system. The added boost could be from the wast gate solenoid being full of oil as well. just a hunch, the oil is going somewhere

Agree on a duff Turbo, as to where the oil is going, it's going out the tailpipe.

This is one of those "pretty penny to fix it" problems, but it'll only get worse with time.

P.S. :welcome8: aboard!
(Wish it was under better circumstances Jrod)

It's not smoking out the tailpipe constantly that was a one time occurrence.

May not be showing smoke, but the big problem is you stated it was 3.5 qts. low on oil. That equals a dry oil pan sump, no oil pressure and almost a guarantee that you will have internal engine damage.
You stated it had valve clatter. That there would indicate no oil getting to the valvetrain area.

Sorry, but I still think you've seriously hurt the engine. The turbo may be fried also, but the after effects of running it with little or no oil has done the worst damage.

Unfortunately, you can be burning oil and it won't be visible, until it turns into a great big blue cloud following you about.

All turbos, even new ones, do suck oil. That'd why you see oil traps on aftermarket High Performance intakes and Intercooler setups.

The turbines are screaming along at 20,000 - 50,000 rpm or so, and some oil always gets past them.