I just tried the glove trick and the opposite occurred. There is vacuum pulling the glove in. Is that right? What does that mean?

Edit: I don't see how there would be vacuum here, but it could explain oil being pulled into the cylinder and causing my smoking issue. The question is why? The vacuum would have to be coming from an intake valve, right? Does that mean I have a bad valve or one stuck open? Seeing how well it runs, I wouldn't think so?

I just found a thread about the same problem on a 1ZZ-FE motor someone installed. This was what the found to be the problem:

"Absolute rookie mistake. We had two hoses hooked up wrong. The pcv hose and the hose on the front of the valve cover were hooked up to the wrong ports. One goes on the intake manifold, one on the throttle body, and they were backwards."

I would love if it were these easy, but I'm not sure these hose are close on my engine and if it is even possible to swap them. But, it does make sense. I can't tear into it for a few days, but wanted to post this to see if it sparked any ideas.

Keith

If you had a bad intake valve there would be vacuum on the intake stroke but have pressure on the compression stroke, so I don't see how a bad intake valve would cause a constant vacuum in the valve cover, it would be affecting the intake not the valve cover, backfiring out the throttle body, etc., so I don't see how a bad intake valve could make a difference in pressure in the valve cover.

A compression test and a leak down test would rule out a bad valve.

Me either. As I'm learning more about the engine from extensive Google searches, I see the PCV valve is on the same valve cover. If there is vacuum in this valve cover, I don't see the PCV being able to vent to the intake. So, this vacuum can't be right.

There should be some vacuum in the valve cover so the crankcase ventilation A.K.A. PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) works, it's the system that sucks the combustion blowby gases that gets by the pistons out of the crankcase VIA the heads and into the intake to be burned.

That's only as long as the PCV and any other vacuum lines going to the valve covers are still connected.

OK. Seemed like a lot, but I truly don't know how much (if any) should be there, so it was an assumption.

I believe I'm going to try an oil change with Mobil 1 and see how it does. My son is taking it back to college next weekend, so I'm just trying to feel comfortable with it being reliable with him being 2 hours away.

Keith

I added another sentence to my above post while you were replying.

Gotcha. I think I'll pull the cover off to get a better look around and see if anything obvious jumps out at me.

Thank for all of your replies.
Keith

If the car was flooded, could it cause this issues? I’m finding signs it was under water to some extent, but not sure how much. Found sediment on top of the front a arm and dirt in the headlights

My son returned from having the car at college for a couple weeks and the smoking issue is the same. In fact, he parked on a steep driveway yesterday and it really smoked bad when he cranked it. This helps me think it's the seals.

Today, he got the P0024 error code, which is the VVT oil solenoid on bank 2, I hope. I really am starting to wonder if the car was flooded and maybe there is some sludge in places, like the oil solenoid. I've decided to replace the valve seals after the first of the year.

Keith

I'm planning to order the valve seals and gasket kit to do this repair. Are there any recommendations for where to get the valve seals? I don't know if I should use factory or aftermarket. Price is not an issue, as I want the best option. On the other hand, I don't want to throw money away if aftermarket is just as good.

Thanks,
Keith

I started the process of replacing the valve stem seals last week. The first thing I discovered is that the engine is not a 1grfe, but a 2grfe. I guess someone replaced the motor and of course, failed to make that known. Anyway...
****Correction: I just realized that there is a dual VVT version of the 1grfe. So, original engine.*****

Everything was going fairly well, as I am doing this with the engine in the car and attempting to be very cautious with everything I'm doing. To remove the cams, I tied the timing chain up to keep slack out. I used a zip tie to secure it instead of trusting rope and my knot tying skills.

At some point I looked down and the zip tie must have snapped, as the timing chain had fallen into the engine. So now I'm trying to time this motor without removing the timing cover. I think I can use a borescope to see if the yellow chain link is on the right tooth of the crank sprocket. I'll know tonight, as I have a borescope in route. If not, I guess the timing chain cover is coming off, which is NOT what I want to do.

My other issue I'm trying to solve is getting the chain on the gears and the crankshafts in the correct timed position. This is due to the exhaust VVT getting in the way. It has a flat side to allow the chain to be placed on the intake VVT, but I need to rotate the cams to get it timed correctly before putting the chain on, which caused the flat sides of the exhaust VVT to not be in the correct position to install the chain. I know this is possible, as I removed the chain, but it is something I just can't figure out. Hoping a day away from it will help reset my brain and I can figure it out tonight.

More updates coming soon.

Thanks,
Keith

Given the ambient temp and how quickly that dissipates, I would say that is mostly water vapor.

I completed the valve seal job this weekend and it DID NOT solve the problem. I did, however, create a new one, as I now have a lifter tick. While using a magnet to find a valve spring clip I dropped, I inadvertently grabbed a lifter and pulled it out. I put it back in, but now I'm thinking it lost some oil. That is the only thing I can think of, as everything else went back together correctly I was VERY cautious to make sure.

Here is a video of the continued issue after the seals were replaced. I'm going to start a new thread to discuss what the other issue could be, to decide if I can rebuild or replace the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-lfSVm2UmvQ

Thanks again for everyone's help to this point.
Keith