White Smoke and Oil

[aspekt9]

During idle, although it could be during normal driving conditions as well, there is white smoke coming from my valve cover breather nipple, as well as from my valve cover which can be seen when I remove the oil cap. I recently, as in less than 300 miles ago replaced my turbo because the old one had a seized wastegate flapper. I just replaced the hot side because I figured the cold side was fine. I can still boost fine and there is almost ZERO shaft play side to side and none in and out. I also burn through oil like crazy, almost a quart in 100 miles or so. Coolant seems to stay constant which is contradicting the white smoke I see, although I suppose it could still be indicative of the turbo failing.

I have replaced my PCV valve checked the line off it making sure it's clear, it was. I noticed that my oil return line is leaking where it goes into the oil pan a bit, nothing major though. I also noticed oil on the v-band clamp and it looks like it dripped down from the turbo possibly. My question, would a failing turbo cause these symptoms of white smoke coming through the valve cover? Can the turbo still be blown if there is hardly any shaft play? I've done a compression test before the symptoms got this worse and it was: 190 190 165 175, so the other possibility could be the rings or ring lands on the pistons I suppose, what would be the best way to go about diagnosing the source?

This is a N/T to Turbo conversion by the way, hence why the compression is high, I kept the stock N/T internals.

Also before this all happened, I was doing a 2nd gear pull and I saw a cloud of blue smoke puff out of the exhaust and that was when I did the compression test. Then the smoke got worse which is what I describe above.

 

[Lusion972]

The main concern I have with your issues is the smoke coming from the top of the head, that normally means you have blow by. I would do a leak down test or compression test to see if your rings are bad. Do an initial compression test on all cylinders then afterwards pour some 10w30 oil in each cylinder and do the compression test again. If the numbers change significantly then you know you have an issue. Yes turbo's can smoke mainly because of seals going bad but I honestly don't think that is the case here.

Edit: I must have missed some of what you wrote. The major difference in your compression test is troublesome. Pour some oil in those two cylinders that were low and see if they jump back up. If they do then you know your rings are bad.

 

[aspekt9]

They jumped up a bit, but not a significant amount. I'm sure the rings are probably worn a tad, but would that really produce the amount of smoke I see in my valve cover? I have a theory I'm not sure if it's plausible though. If the turbo is bad and it's blowing smoke out of the LICP wouldn't that smoke eventually wind up back through the intake manifold and eventually into the valve cover?

So I think my theory was correct, I'm about 90% sure it's the turbo. Oil is leaking down and it looks like it's coming through where the hot and cold side connect because I can see it on the vclamp, I removed my LICP and the seal that seals the pipe to the turbo had a nice film of oil on it. So my guess is the turbo is the culprit. I have a question now:

Can I plug the oil feed, remove the WGA and run the car like a non-turbo so I don't burn any more oil?

When I get another turbo, how can I check if the seal is good or shit like this one?