Blown Turbo or Bad Valve seals?

Post by **SrS13** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

Thank to the members who replied on my last post thanks to them My friends problem has been narrowed down to either the turbo or the Valve seals.

as soon as his car reaches operating temperature it starts to puff out white smoke wheter it is at a stop or moving it is constantly smoking.

We need to find which one it is so we can start working on it. If we remove the turbo what are the signs of it needing repair?

is there another way to tell if the valve seal need to be replaced?

Any help is greatly appreciated.:help

Post by **SpeedRacer1** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

White smoke=water. Blue=oil, are you sure its not bluish? Has the oil or coolant been going down? How much oil can be found in the hotpipe and compressor outlet housing? Shaft play?

You can send your turbo to places that rebuild and most will give you a free estimate, you just pay for shipping.

Post by **Zinki2Koki** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

umm... i thought black was oil and blue was antifreeze, white is a sign of the motor running lean i think. If im right then your friends motor might be getting starved of fuel. Worn or bad valve seals would cause engine oil burning. I'd start with fuel first. Make sure the motor is getting enough fuel.

Post by **RobDET** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

blue = oil white = water. check out those pretty clouds. Running lean = no smoke at all... unless it's vaporized alluminum :-)

edit: black = ritch

Post by **RobDET** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

I'm leaning more toward the turbo tho if it happens all the time. I'de try just taking the IC pipe off and the intake pipe off and just visually inspecting the paths... also if there is lotsa oil or coolant in your exhaust that would be a sign.

Post by **RobDET** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

i keep thinking of things.... if you are feeling saucy you could take off the downpipe and look at it as well...

Post by **drumma022** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

Well after many problems with blown everything

, I have found that a blown turbo will smoke at all times once the exhaust is hot enough to burn the oil. Oil seeping past the seals may show a variance depending on load on the motor, whereas my blown turbo billowed nasty oil smelling clouds of smoke. With bad valve seals, IIRC, the smoke varies with rpms.

As for oil in the hot pipe, that can also be caused by alot of blowby through the vapor return lines etc. I would pull the downpipe and see if it is all oily and such. Also, pull the plugs. If a turbo is blown, most of the time, it pumps oil out the exhaust and it burns in the DP. If you pull the sparkplugs, that can tell you loads of info.

Post by **SpeedRacer1** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

The downpipe and exhaust may be hard places to find signs of bruning oil. An easy way to confirm that the hotpipe is coated by oil from the turbo and not the blow by air is to clean it and drive for like 20 minutes. Depending on the condition of your turbo seals their should be oil in their if the compressor seal is a goner. The exhaust seal will let oil out into the 02 housing where it will combust and become a bluish smoke.

Check the plugs too as mentioned above, if they are coated with anything black that does not look normal it *may* be the valve stem seals. Oil that leaks into the compressor and intake system usually never makes it all the way to the engine via that route.

And, once and for all confirmationBlue = oil burningExcessive White = coolantBlack = rich, which you can also see when someone infront of you floors their car.

Running rich is safer than running lean.

Post by **SrS13** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

Thank you for all the help but I am going to have togo with blown turbo seals.

we checked the spark plugs they looked normal and it smokes continously as soon as it reaches operating temperature.the smoke looks more like a greyish white?

just wondering when we remove the turbo do we need to drain the cooilng system and oil? Or do we just cap the lines?

by the way we also noticed that the oil and coolant level have not gone down since the problem started.

Thank you once again

Post by **SpeedRacer1** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

If the levels havent gone down then you may have caught the problem early.

When removing the turbo it is not impossible to keep the coolant and oil in, it just is not easy at all because of the eye bolts. So i would suggest just draining the system of both, even when drained you will still most likely have coolant come out.

Post by **SrS13** » Sat Jun 14, 2003 9:04 pm

thank you I appreciate your help

Blown Turbo or Bad Valve seals?

Blown Turbo or Bad Valve seals?

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