What if this gasket is bad?

[ajinvista]

The metal gasket between my header flange and the turbo flange is shot. I was under the hood when I noticed smoke coming out between the two while had some rpm's going. I was wondering if this could cause (bluish/white) smoke out the tail end. I'm still having a terrible problem with my motor blowing smoke. If this gasket is blown and you drive a little bit would it have any ill effects on the turbo.
I'm just trying to eliminate possibilities before I spend the cash on a new turbo.

 

[Sephroth57]

im not sure what that gasket being shot would cause but blueish smoke means your burning oil, the most common place is probably your turbo, take off your intake pipe and look in there for oil, there shouldnt be oil in it... also your IC piping might have some oil in it too

 

[91TSi FWD]

If the gasket you pointed to is bad then a bit of air would seep out causing less spoolup and a loss of boost pressure, not burnt oil. Take off your UICP and run your finger around the inside to see if there is an oil film on it. The smoke sounds like you are burning oil, this could be a long list of things(piston rings, valve guides, turbo, etc).

 

[LandoAWD]

Please clarify if the smoke is blue or white. Two different symptoms for two different issues.

 

[ajinvista]

Yeah I have noticed an oily film inside the of all the pipes. The turbo sat from about '94 to '02. I primed the motor before I started it for the first time. Would the seals go bad from sitting so long. It only has 48k on the turbo. I ran synthetic but I also autocrossed and drag raced it besides beatin' the piss out of it on the street, fun car from what I can remember.
Smoke color has always been a little hard for me to recognize but I had just happened to park my white truck behind my car and the color looked bluish compared to the truck.
You can start the car, warm up, and idle and barely a hint of smoke at all. Rev it a little, maybe 2 to 3 grand and it starts smokin. Let it come back to idle and smoke comes out from then on.
I put new valve seals in it and everything is tight. Not using any coolant, oil looks great, but is using it bad like a 1/2 qt. just driving around the neighborhood for a half hour. Runnin dinosaur oil 10/40 for the break in. Bottom end was put together pretty tight. I don't think the rings would go bad. It had assembly lube and a little oil and was turned by hand a little after it was built.
TURBO?
Got lot's of time, but not a lot of money, anymore. Yeah, married with children :-|
Thanks in Adv. Mods in the profile.