Tons of white smoke at idle? happend then stopped now back again???

[92SR20S13]

Ok so i just recently replaced my headgasket and once i got the car back on the road it would smoke like crazy. Only at idle though..and its pretty white/greyish..now this problem went away after a few days of driving but now has come back...im running a t3/t4 turbo which is oil cooled only..so no coolant running through the turbo..and i have done a compression test which showed 145 all across...im totally stumped now..i can drive the car and it boost perfect has lots of power but as soon as i come to a stop, poof out comes the white smoke..and its bad i can see it behind me and when i start driving it just leaves a thick cloud of smoke behind me. Could my turbo seals be THAT bad and my turbo still boosting good? my turbo does have some shaftplay..not so much up and down but there is some in and out play aswell..any ideas on where i should start first?

[IanS]

Sounds like you blew your turbo seals, when oil is dumping into the exhaust it makes for grayish white smoke, does the smoke smell like coolant or oil?

[92SR20S13]

Ive blown 2 HG's so far..and know what the sweet coolant smell is..but this isnt it..it does have a sweet smell to it although it also smells like burnt plastic almost...its an odd smell also there is no water in the oil what so ever and no oil in the coolant..anyways ive bin monitering this all day and today it didnt smoke..it did when i started it up but it cleared up after it got warm..and now at idle it dosent do it..atleast i dont notice it pouring out when im in the car and yesterday it was so bad i would sit at a light with my window down and it would fill the inside of the car with smoke...the smoke didnt disapear right away either..when the light went green and i would accel..i look in the rear view and could see a big cloud of smoke sitting there..only time i think i saw a bit of smoke was when i gave it a good run through out all gears and when slowing down i could see a bit of smoke. I have another question aswell..with a big turbo like im running (t3/t4 60trim) should i be using more oil then a stock motor would take? and if so what is a good recomended amount and weight for my aplication?

[IanS]

Fill the oil to where the dipstick tells you, you should be using a good syn oil either 10w40 for normal temps or 15w50 if you are in a very warm climate. The random smoke at idle and off throttle sounds a lot like your turbo seals are toast, time for a rebuild.

[92SR20S13]

Ok Because i was just running plain old castrol gtx 5w30...will do a change today thanks! And my dipstick seems to read funny...sometimes its way past full sometes its at the L on the dip stick...kinda hard to tell because everytime i check it its bin after the car has bin running...and or if its not running its parked on my driveway on an incline and when i check in the morning it usualy reads low.

[92SR20S13]

Well when i parked the car on flat ground and checked the oil it was reading quite low...right at the L..so i filled it up to H and now the car dosent smoke at all..not during boost not during idle..nothing. What im thinking..and correct me if this isnt even possible lol..but the turbo wasnt geting enough oil and cooking itself on the insdie from getting too hot? either that or maybe there just wasnt enough oil in the turbo that it was getting burned up rihgt away?..not sure..but the problem seems to have bin solved.

[IanS]

^^^ actually, that doesnt really make any sense at all. If the problem is fixed though, great.

[92SR20S13]

Didnt think so haha..well after i run the car hard for a little while it comes back..but then goes away again...probably my seals..can i still drive the car like this until my turbo decides to crap out..i dont really have the cash to replace the turbo atm.

[IanS]

You can drive it, just keep a close eye on your oil level, also, take off your hotpipe and make sure the turbo isnt pumping copious amounts of oil into your IC piping and intake manifold. You can rebuild the turbo yourself, all said and done it will cost you about $130.

[DrifterProdigy85]

My RB is the same way. When i first start it up itll smoke thick white till it wams up and is driven. After driven it goes away completely. I chock it up to being an old turbo. My old T25 for the SR was the same way. Never burned much if any oil and coolant was never an issue. If the oil seal is blown on the turbo, you will be smoking like crazy while driving and youll smell it too.

[92SR20S13]

Where would i be able to find a rebuild kit? and how hard is it to diy

[IanS]

You can get the rebuild kits off the net if you search, and you can rebuild using simple hand tools, if you do some searching, you should be able to find a step by step rebuild walk through for your turbo. If you dont feel up to the task of rebuilding it yourself, you can also take it to a diesel repair shop, and they will do everything for you, at half the price of a new turbo.

[DrifterProdigy85]

Shouldnt the center section get balanced when doing a turbo rebuild? Hard to do that yourself.

[IanS]

Shouldnt the center section get balanced when doing a turbo rebuild? Hard to do that yourself.

Not the center section, just the turbine wheels, when I rebuild turbos I leave the wheels at the diesel shop where I get the rebuild kits, for $35 they bead blast and balance the wheels.