02wrxguy

So when I turn my car on it smokes. Also when you rev the engine up it smokes . The smoke is kind of white ish blue. The mechanic I brought it to said he thought the valve seals may be bad and that's what's causing the smoke. However I also when I was driving it noticed smoke coming from the hood scoop so I stopped and popped the hood and noticed the oil supply to the turbo was leaking oil onto the turbo and causing smoke. I also noticed small oil drips on the ground right behind where the turbo is but not directly under it. My question is does anyone think bad turbo seals could be at fault? I've been reading on forums they do cause smoke if they go bad and the lack of the proper amount of oil getting to the turbo could be at fault ? I plan on having a leak down and compression test done in any case because the motor turns over and runs no problem , it sounds fine , but it smokes so I don't know what the deal is ? Any thoughts ? Also if it is the seals is it worth fixing if the compression test shows good compression ?

Rev. Rob Large

iTrader: (11)

If the smoke from the exhaust goes away after a while, it could be a bad turbo seal. When the car isn't running, the oil leaks out and collects. When the car first starts up, the pooled oil burns off causing the smoke. After that is gone, there isn't enough leaking oil to burn causing noticeable amounts of smoke. This is what happened to my car, anyway. The car was running great, otherwise. Luckily, I was able to swap turbos and the smoke was gone.

It'd be a good place to start since turbo swaps are fairly easy and used TD-04s can be had for cheap.

02wrxguy

Hhmm thanks for the advice , I drove the car today for maybe 10 mins and the smoke only came out during hard acceleration, than by the time I had gotten home the temp gauge was at the hot mark. And the engine started stumbling it seemed. I'm not sure why this is happening as I just had a new radiator installed to correct a coolant leak. Also a new water pump was installed as well as a new thermostat . Any ideas?

JASC

If your car seems to be smoking and your car is overheating, i would start looking at a headgasket problem... Thats the worst that could happen at this point. As far as the oil problem that could be a number of things. Oil seals as you mentioned can be the culprit IF the smoke is coming from the muffler. From the information you provided, it almost sounds like your oil line going into the turbo has a leak. I would check that and report back.

02wrxguy

The oil feed line to the turbo has a bad drip , not sure how much oil is actually reaching the turbo , but anyways I ordered a replacement so it should be here in a few days , when I drive the car now , when you stop at a light smoke comes out of the hood because of oil leaking onto the hot turbo

DarkJuic3b0x

iTrader: (3)

If you're burning through oil like that, it'd also be a good idea to check the dipstick every now and then to make sure you have enough oil in the pan.

Good luck. Keep us posted and let us know how it goes!