Blue Smoke [Merged 7-9]

[WhiteCloud]

After driving from Charlottesville, VA to Gainesville, FL to visit my best friend for his birthday, I got back into stop and go traffic in the city and noticed I was puffing some blue smoke when taking off from a stop. I'd never noticed this before the trip, so I'm inclined to think something during the trip caused it.

Symptoms:
1) Puffs a cloud of blue smoke shortly after revving engine in neutral.
2) Puffs a cloud of blue smoke while taking off in first gear, but not always noticeable.
3) Doesn't trail smoke like it would if it were a head gasket.
4) Turbo doesn't seem to have excessive shaft play, and boosts fine.
5) I'm burning some oil, but not a tremendous amount (I burned maybe 1/4-1/3 of a quart on the 700+ mile trip back to VA from FL.

I'm wondering what you guys think the problem is, judging from these symptoms.

I've been told to check the PCV valve, but I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for (in terms of oil, residue, etc. on or in the valve!?), or if I should just be replacing that to see if it fixes the smoke.

What would your next step be if your car were puffing this blue smoke? Is there a way to tell if it is valve seals?

Thanks for the help,

Joe

 

[WizardTSi]

Go with a 14b. I sold mine for $60 awhile ago, I've seen them as low as $50 for a good one

 

[HooKnBooK]

I would find a stock turbo on a local dsm forum and just replace it!

 

[SpyderGST2011]

So Yesterday and today I noticed my car is blowing blue smoke from the exhaust. I does not happen all the time and only noticed it when stopped then accelerating. Only seen it happen twice any ideas? 97 Mit spyder gst auto 131k
Thanks,
Brooklyn

 

[4cedFed]

More then likely valve seals gone bad, have you compression tested yet?

 

[wilderg88]

yea that or turbo seals. but most likely valve seals

 

[BoostedDSM75]

I would say Valve seals also. The same thing happened to me on a Laser that I used to have.

 

[SpyderGST2011]

We did a compression test and all 4 cylinders were 180 psi is it still the valve seals possibly

Anyone know if it could still be the valve seals even when compression is great??
Thanks

 

[SpyderGST2011]

Okay so I have read through this whole thread and did more research Im gonna try doing this to test the value stem seals will this tell me if my valve stem seals are bad? Place the vehicle in park or neutral with the emergency brake set. Start the engine and let it warm to normal operating temperature. Rev the engine a few times and look back at the exhaust tailpipe. If you notice any blue-white smoke exiting the tailpipe, it can indicate excessive oil consumption, caused by worn or defective oil seals. Copious amounts of such smoke can also point to worn valve guides and stems, in addition to bad seals.

I tried the neutral thing and there was no blue smoke. I check in the PCV valve and it rattled a little bit and it closed when I blew into one end and opened when I blew through the other end. The hose between it and the intake manifold was not oily at all.

I check the turbo and it had no shaft play at all. The inlet was dry as well. The inside of the intake where it connects to the turbo was a little oily as seen in this picture. The BOV recirculation tube was dry and the tube between the valve cover and intake was sorta dirty but not really oily.

 

[TUR3O]

i had the same thing happen to me. i think you should pull back the exhaust manifold and see if there is oil coming from one of those valves.

 

[garyrc70]

My 1991 TSI with 123k has begun to show smoke after ideling about 3/4 minutes. No smoke under normal driving conditions..any comments?

 

[montm82]

good evening, i just intalled a newly rebuilt 16g on a 2g eclipse and notice at boost around 14 pounds it blows blue smoke. Im feeding the oil from the oil filter housing, can this cause that? maybe the oil pressure might be to high, and i should feed it from the head. besides this what else would cause it to blow blue smoke? this only happens under boost, if i lower it to 6 pounds and drive it easy it makes no smoke that i can notice. If anyone has any experience or ideas i would appreciate the feedback.

 

[91mits]

your burning oil someway, bad piston rings or bad valve seals, either way u need to get it checked.

 

[JusMX141]

good evening, i just intalled a newly rebuilt 16g on a 2g eclipse and notice at boost around 14 pounds it blows blue smoke. Im feeding the oil from the oil filter housing, can this cause that?

Sure, considering the max pressure that should be entering that cartridge is 48psi, and the filter housing can often double that. Unrestricted from the filter housing is murder for a MHI turbo. Hell even the T25 had a restrictor in the fitting at the filter housing from the factory.

 

[92 GSR-4]

I've got a blue smoke issue too in a 4G64 car I've been building.

Quick Background:

Car was previously owned by a guy I knew and he built it in '09. He sold it to me in '11 claiming the motor had rod knock. I pulled the car apart intending to part it out. I found out the motor had a loose flywheel, so I dropped the pan and ensured all the internals looked good. I made a deal with a buddy to put the car back together and it would be his.

Last month I got the car running and took it for a spin. There was something wrong with the trans, so we sent it to Shep. Now, a month later, the car cranks/runs/drives great but it is blowing blue smoke. Here's the symptoms:

- Doesn't blow smoke until the engine warms up.
- Blows light smoke while under regular cruise and gets worse when you either boost or slow down.

I thought the turbo might be blown, but it performs just fine. There is no oil coming out of the compressor side. I have yet to drop the O2/Downpipe. The turbo has an FP oil filter with the proper .030" restictor and is fed from the cylinder head.

I'm posting a video of the drive. The video is shitty, but it'll do the job. The car was cranked up cold and driven. It doesn't start smoking until about 2:10 when I do the first pull, but that was also when the car was at about operating temp.

I think the turbo might be getting over-oiled, but how? I have the right restrictor in the feed line and the turbo is performing properly. I also changed the drain line with no effect. Tomorrow I'm doing a compression test.

Any suggestions besides removing the O2 outlet and doing a compression test?

4G64 Talon Blowing Smoke - YouTube

 

[92 GSR-4]

Well.....

I got lucky once again and somehow the problem cleared itself up.

We went to the car meet tonight in my 1G and nobody was there so we headed home. When we got home I decided to do a compression check on the Talon, so we fired it up and took it for a beer run to the gas station to warm the motor up. Not a puff of smoke. We were puzzled, so I did a couple pulls (wastegate spring pressure ~ 12psi) and there was some very light smoke that went away. So we drove it for about another hour in the neighbor hood and never saw any smoke (light if any).

After we parked it I compression tested it:

4-3-2-1

205-210-205-205

For good measure I swapped the PCV out for a straight air fitting.

Keep your fingers crossed....I know I am!

 

[Downy]

So my car just recently started to pour out smoke when it's warm. Going down the road and looking back you can see the cloud trail of smoke. I checked the shaft play on my 16g turbo, i have a little movement side to side, and you can hear it clink a little also. It goes into boost just fine tho. I haven't done a compression test yet. What's everything that could cause this, and how much shaft play is too much?

 

[Dsmkauai]

What do you mean by hear it clink alittle? Does it have any in and out play? Is there oil in your intake pipes, around turbo or o2 housing, or coming out exhaust mani. Could be bad rings, blown or leaking valve stem seals, blown oil seal on turbine shaft, really bad blow by. As far as shaft play it should be minimal for up and down (side to side) and no play in and out.

 

[black97spyder]

I am experiencing the same thing, except my car won't smoke when driving but will start to smoke only when at idle for more time then you would sit at a stop light... Shaft play on my 16g is pretty bad side to side. Have new valve seals and guides w/ about 4,000 miles on a freshly rebuilt head and haven't don't a compression test but everything Is fine when driving and boosting.

Downy- I think it sounds like your turbo seals are going out if you can hear the shaft clink against the housing

 

[Downy]

I'm not sure if it's touching the housing or not, i can't see it. There's no in and out play. There is some oil around the first bolt of the exhaust manifold. I know that's the one that taps into an oil line. But I don't think that would cause the massive amount of smoke that's coming out. As there's only very little oil around it.

 

[se7enine]

My exhaust valves are leaking on my VR4 but after a 30 min drive on the freeway I still managed to pass smog w/ no smoke. Then it returns the next day. I've since added a catch can for my intake hose and it's improved but still smokes. I plan to rebuild the head as soon as I can find a rebuilt one to swap with. Also plan on getting a Calan Catch Can to run both intake and pcv hose to.

 

[DsmTurbo12]

I own a 1995 eclipse gsx with an evo III 16g turbo setup and many supporting mods running about 21psi daily. One day during a drive, i noticed blue smoke (from oil) coming out of the exhaust under boost and clouds in between shifts. Before this, i have always had crankcase pressure but the dipstick eventually started to pop out and would spray oil everywhere. I continued to drive it but never got around to relieving the pressure. Once i noticed the smoke, checked the pcv valve and it is working correctly. Car still has the power it always did and idles and runs perfectly fine, all besides the smoke. These are some things i have found while trying to figure out what is going on:

-oil in intake piping
-oil in blow off valve
-small puddle of oil in piping connecting turbo to intercooler piping
-no shaft play in turbo and spins freely

Wondering what solutions people have had in the past for this. I am thinking it is the oil seals in the turbo that would cause this rather than piston rings and headgasket problems that people have mentioned. Any help greatly appreciated.

 

[1davho]

Sounds like the seals in your turbo are out. What kind of oil pressure are you running to it? Too much pressure and not enough drain can kill the seals.

 

[DsmTurbo12]

Sounds like the seals in your turbo are out. What kind of oil pressure are you running to it? Too much pressure and not enough drain can kill the seals.

Oil pressure is nothing crazy, I have an upgraded oil return line from extreme psi that I've never had a problem with. I'm thinking because I've driven with 'blow by' for a while that the turbo seal was first to go. Just wanted to see if a bad seal would cause problems like this

 

[1davho]

It definitely sounds like the turbo seals. Rebuild it or get a new one.

 

[havlc2u]

Ok just so everyone knows I did check for others with the same issue.
maybe I suck at searching but I didn't see any threads like this.

Ok my car is a pretty much stock 93 gsx
140,000 miles it was in the shop in Nov and they advised no shaft play
at that time on the turbo. Previous owner log book shows this.
Currently the car just got a MBC aftermarket boost gauge and a wideband installed. So this brings me to my current question.

The car smokes at start just for a few secs. Then it stops and it seems to not smoke unless I park like at the gas station and run inside and back out on
average we will say 3-5 mins then when I pull away it will leave a poof of smoke.

Just kind of wonder if this is normal? It seems to be grey but I have a hard time telling if it is blue or grey.