Blown Turbo

[bigdogg2834]

I posted earlier this week about a problem I was having with my car. Basically whenever I accelerate it's hard to go past 3000-3500 rpm and I have black smoke out of my tailpipe. Some people have suggested boost leak but trust me this ain't a damn boost leak. When I accelerate past 3000 rpm it's like I hit a brick wall. The turbo won't boost past 3-4 psi without this happening. The boost won't go any higher. I have to feather the pedal and go light on it to atleast be able to drive normal. I have basically all the stage 1 mods running 15 psi on the t-25. The car is a 96 AWD with 81,000 miles. Also the head gasket is on the way out and I'm leaking coolant all the time. Don't know if this factors in to the problem. It's just weird that the car was fine a week ago. Might be time for a new turbo. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks for the help and sorry about the long post.

 

[blue92laser]

its a boost leak. Atleast thats what i know it to be.

When you cant go past a certain point in the RPM's Wide open throttle and the turbo is boosting on the boost guage 5psi of boost, then u have a massive leak somewhere.

Whats your vacuum reading?

Also, i know it to be a boost leak because if you feather the gas easy enough it will let you accelerate. It happend to me.

 

[bigdogg2834]

I don't know if the Greddy boost gauge is different from others but my vacuum is at 500 mmHg. Basically boost is 0 and the gauge reads down to 760 for vacuum. I'm at 500. And it reads in mmHg. If it is a boost leak would I have all that black smoke? Also I just don't know how I could have a boost leak I have gone over that damn car numerous times tightening everything and checking for loose connections. Maybe I just need to build a boost leak tester. But I'm still worried about the black smoke, it seems like theres something more serious going on. Thanks for the help bro. I hope the vacuum reading helps you out. Maybe I can finally figure out whats going on. Maybe my car will run normal for once. Gotta love your dsm

 

[suicidal2af]

I'm not an expert like a lot of these people, but here's my 2 cents.

If you have a boost leak, you're leaking metered air. The ECU is feeding fuel based off of how much air the MAS is telling it is going to the motor, but that air is going right back to the atmosphere. This'll cause you to run extremely rich, which will kill power, and you'll definitely see smoke.

Check for leaks, that's probably what it is.

 

[bigdogg2834]

Thanks man that really cleared up alot. Yeah I was thinking it had to be fuel related. Black smoke = Fuel. So yeah that totally makes sense. I think I will build a boost leak tester this weekend and see if I can get the kinks worked out. Thanks for the help.

 

[Talonracer06]

Black smoke = fuel
blue smoke= turbo
white smoke = oil/coolant

im going to have to agree with the comment above taht ur running real rich and its burning off the fuel...i think my turbo is on the fritz and ready to go to....heres the symptoms if anyone can help me too....

-doesnt boost is first gear
-extreme white/blue smoke when reved up...
-drove it home from maryland and there was no oil on dipstick(oil changed 500miles ago)
-head gasket is fine...had it checked out...small oil drip under the car from some where...

what i think is happening is there is oil leak and its caked the turbo with oil and its seals, and bearing are bad and basically burning the exess oil through the exhaust system, causing the smoke...cuz at idle its fine....like if u rev the car in nutreal the turbo wont spool at all...soo i think its toast...any one with any kind of insight let me know..u can email or IM me at [email protected]

 

[suicidal2af]

Black smoke = fuel
blue smoke= turbo
white smoke = oil/coolant

im going to have to agree with the comment above taht ur running real rich and its burning off the fuel...i think my turbo is on the fritz and ready to go to....heres the symptoms if anyone can help me too....

-doesnt boost is first gear
-extreme white/blue smoke when reved up...
-drove it home from maryland and there was no oil on dipstick(oil changed 500miles ago)
-head gasket is fine...had it checked out...small oil drip under the car from some where...

what i think is happening is there is oil leak and its caked the turbo with oil and its seals, and bearing are bad and basically burning the exess oil through the exhaust system, causing the smoke...cuz at idle its fine....like if u rev the car in nutreal the turbo wont spool at all...soo i think its toast...any one with any kind of insight let me know..u can email or IM me at [email protected]

If you rev in neutral, the turbo will pretty much never push more than 1 or 2 psi, because there is no load on the engine. But other than that, I have no idea what it could be.

 

[bigdogg2834]

Just curious, you wrote that blue smoke is the turbo. How can a turbo make it's own color of smoke? The only fluids that go through a turbo are oil and coolant. I'm pretty sure that blue smoke is oil and white smoke is coolant. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[suicidal2af]

Just curious, you wrote that blue smoke is the turbo. How can a turbo make it's own color of smoke? The only fluids that go through a turbo are oil and coolant. I'm pretty sure that blue smoke is oil and white smoke is coolant. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

You're correct.

White Smoke = Coolant
Blue Smoke = Oil
Black Smoke = Fuel
Grey Smoke = Marijuana

 

[nuggets]

yea i seem to have alot of that grey smoke leaking from my car.... i dunno where it's comming from

 

[bigdogg2834]

Just to give you guys an update, the rubber hose that goes from the UICP and the throttle body had a big ass leak in it. So I just wrapped some duct tape around it for the mean time. Car has driven the best it has since I got it. (2years ago). Thanks for all the help. But now of course I have another problem. On the way home from work yesterday the CEL came on. So I got home and reset the Ecu. Then today I drove to work and it was fine. But again on the way home it came on again. The car is fine but of course runs like shit like dsm's do when the CEL is thrown. So next up on my list is some type of logging software to figure what the hell is going on in that engine of mine without just guessing. I don't want people finding out what that gray smoke is coming from my car.

 

[DSM MAN]

Same thing is going on with my car with the turbo psi. Except i have no smoke coming out from anywhere. But whenever i get on it a little not going to hard or fast it will hit about 3-4 and wont go anyfurther. And the car sounds like it is almost slipping. My car is all stock. I have had a radiator leak for some time and am gonna get it fixed but dont know if that has anything to do with it. Im trying to build a boost leak tester but no hardware or parts place around has 2.5" rubber tubing like radiator tube for the cover. Anybody know where i can find some?????? Dont mean to jack the thread any, help is much needed and appreciated.