blue smoke till 7500, then switches to white

[eklypse]

Hey guys and girls

I just got finished searching for my problem but i couldnt find any solution other than some suggestions (Boost leak tester, checking couplers, turbo shaftplay...) but as of right now i can't do the tester or check the turbo because of work so heres my situation:

When i rev my engine, blue smoke comes out until about 6500 RPM's and i build boost, then when i let off the gas, a puff of white smoke comes out and my BOV sounds like its Sighing instead of actually...blowing off. I figured it was just me so i took it around the block and when i drove it, it built boost but then its like the car stalls and when i let off the gas, the BOV sighs and my car kinda stumbles... and just now, when i rev it up to about 1100-1500RPM, i hear this metal grinding noise and i have no clue what it is, but i fear the worst..any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...thanks!

 

[Dsmx17]

Blue smoke is Oil, white smoke is water, A) turbo is blown or B) headgasket is going out.

 

[eklypse]

thank you...but would the grinding noise be the turbo blades touching the walls or something?

 

[Dsmx17]

could be the bearing grinding inside the turbo.

 

[guitarhero14]

thank you...but would the grinding noise be the turbo blades touching the walls or something?

how bad is the grinding noise? Most people say that the turbine blades agains the walls of the turbo sound like a supercharger whine.

 

[eklypse]

how bad is it...its grinds for a sec and a half, then goes quiet for about 2-3 seconds, and grinds again in that kind of pattern. It doesnt sound like a whine..it sounds like metal on metal contact, ..! or like when rats or mice are chewing on wood or somethin (yea yea, i know...metal and wood are two different things..come on, bear with me)

 

[eklypse]

okay day two...

funny thing happened today....so i took off all my couplers that are conneted to my Intake piping, recirc tube, and turbo to check my turbo...my blades spin freely and there is absolutely no shaft play what so ever. so then i put it all back together and started my car up and revved it and got a BOV sound...so i decided to drive around the block and see if i fixed it . I drove in First and punched it, and i made boost at around 3300-4500 RPM's and it lost it by 4750. so i went back and checked everything over again...but this time i checked the BOV itself. i tightened the little screw thats on the back( HKS SSQV) but it didnt really do anything to help my current situation. so heres my current checklist:

Turbo is good, blades spin freely no shaftplay
Gaskets are good and are intact
tightened the couplers
tightened the screw in the back of the BOV

anything else i should check?

 

[BISHILVR]

The turbo should have SOME shaftplay, if it has zero then it is as bad as having too much. I would'nt rule out a bad turbo just yet.

 

[eklypse]

The turbo should have SOME shaftplay, if it has zero then it is as bad as having too much. I would'nt rule out a bad turbo just yet.

hmmm, i didnt know that...how about this then: when people check for shaftplay, how hard are you supposed to press the shaft? I wasnt really pressing that hard..maybe like...35% of my strength...i figured that if it was shaftplay it would be blantent you know...?

 

[BISHILVR]

Yeah, it does'nt take more than a half pound of force to move the shaft in/out or up/down to check for shaft play. With the engine off you should be able to move the shaft up down a few millimeters.

 

[eklypse]

alright, I'll check it again after work today..i was also doing some reading and i kind of thought it could be my wastegate malfunctioning. I need two more parts to build my pressure tester so hopefully i can get those after work too

 

[eklypse]

home depot ran out of PVC caps...but i checked for shaftplay and i'm certain that i have no shaftplay....weird. Re-checked my couplers and everything and its still sealed off and tight as can be...so now I'm thinking that maybe it could be either my throttle body or my IC...O_O any ideas..?

 

[BISHILVR]

Get the kit from a parts store to check for combustion chemicals in the coolant, and test it. You might have a head gasket leaking under pressure.

 

[Turboeagletalon]

it sounds like you waste gate is opening.

 

[eklypse]

it sounds like you waste gate is opening.

thats what i told one of my friends that was there with me(he has a turbo prelude) but if that was the case, wouldnt that mean that i couldnt fully rev up in neutral when the cars parked? When my car is parked and in neutral, it runs great...a lil smoke here and there...but when i pop it in 1st, its like its tellin me no, !

Update: i noticed that my coolant level was...NONE so i put coolant in and now my car will spool, but i wont have the power from it...how would i go about checking the wastegate? would i have to take the whole turbo off...or if theres a website available besides vfaq.com it would be greatly appreciated