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

 

[jram53]

btw not a drop of oil in any of the ic pipes...and i noticed the coolant line is actually not being kinked its just a really snug fit

 

[Brianawd]

Keep in mind though, you should not be breaking the engine in with a brand new turbo

Give me a brake. Do you think cars that come from the factory are broke in with a used turbo then they put on a new one after the motor is broke in. Don't think so.

 

[JusMX141]

problem solved 100% oil line... not even a puff of smoke....

You caught it in time, that's great news.

Had you continued to run it like that the turbo would've developed some ridonculous shaft play, and eventually grenaded.

 

[jram53]

You caught it in time, that's great news.

Had you continued to run it like that the turbo would've developed some ridonculous shaft play, and eventually grenaded.

i know im glad i did turbo has no shaft play what so ever either im so happy

 

[SBR Joe]

Give me a brake. Do you think cars that come from the factory are broke in with a used turbo then they put on a new one after the motor is broke in. Don't think so.

Ok, well for your own knowledge, most engines from the factory are run on an engine dyno of some sort before even being put in a car to be sold. Also, try buying a PTE turbo and having it covered under warranty and tell them it was on a brand new engine when breaking it in. They wont cover it. Its a big no no.

To the OP, im glad it was a simple fix and youre good to go now.


Joe
SBR

 

[jram53]

To the OP, im glad it was a simple fix and youre good to go now.

yeah about that not quite one of my couplers melted because its right by the o2 housing gonna work on that, the rain is coming and i dont want her drinking water and running like poop

 

[SBR Joe]

yeah about that not quite one of my couplers melted because its right by the o2 housing gonna work on that, the rain is coming and i dont want her drinking water and running like poop

HAHA...its always something with DSM's. Good luck.



Joe
SBR

 

[jram53]

HAHA...its always something with DSM's. Good luck.



Joe
SBR

this is so true...fixed the coupler now its back in the shop...differential is cracked IDK how that happened

 

[SBR Joe]

this is so true...fixed the coupler now its back in the shop...differential is cracked IDK how that happened

WOW. . The actual diff in the trans? Or the transfer case is cracked?


Joe
SBR

 

[jram53]

WOW. . The actual diff in the trans? Or the transfer case is cracked?


Joe
SBR

the actuall diff in the trans...like i said idk how that happend

 

[gsxr970]

like the title say it has great compression could it be the turbo or what

 

[quattro527]

like the title say it has great compression could it be the turboor what

Turbo seals.

 

[chico904]

Have you checked PCV valve?

 

[architechnik]

I would bet it's the turbo, pcv valve, or possibly the valve stem seals. You can pretty much trace it by seeing where the oil is in the intake system.

Check List:
Take off the PCV valve and the tube that leads to the intake manifold. See if the tube is completely filled with oil, that would be the first clue. Shake the PCV valve and make sure the little bead can move around at least a little. If it's clogged up or moves around too easily, then replace it or flush it with some throttle body cleaner. Test the car after that.

Next, take off the intake before the turbo. If there is a lot of oil in the intake right by the filter, then the seals may have gone bad and it's getting excessive blow-by into the valve cover (which is pushing oil out through the intake). If there is a lot of oil right by the turbo inlet, but not much near the filter end, then it's likely the turbo seals are bad.

Wiggle the turbo shaft inside the inlet and see how much it wiggle back and forth. If it wiggles at all in and out, then it's bad and you'll need to replace or rebuild it. If it wiggles a little bit side to side, that's fine.

Take off the compressor outlet tube. If the turbo seals are bad, you will see even more oil at the compressor outlet, in the intercooler, and at the blow off valve.

Disconnect the downpipe and remove the O2 housing. If the turbo is really bad, then you'll see a fair amount of black crud all in the O2 housing and at the exhaust housing outlet. [Note: You might not be able to remove the O2 housing without removing the turbo, especially if it hasn't been off in a long while.]

Disconnect the oil return line. Check the oil return line and make sure that it is not clogged. If the return line is clogged with debris (excessive sealant, or shifted gasket) then it can sometimes instead push the oil out any way it can. Not a complete fix, but a temporary one to avoid fogging out the entire neighborhood. And if that line is clogged and not fixed, it will cause premature wear on the next one you install.

 

[deviousgst]

wow thank you thats alot of info do you guys think the car is worth 900 its got a dentedd fender and needs painted but nothing the junk yard wont fix with my painting skills and it is awd tsi not gsx sorry

if u can, let me know what the problem was on the car, im having similar problems )=

 

[architechnik]

The value of the car cannot be determined from the information provided. Go to start. O
Sorry, we can't evaluate the car because we have no idea if it really is all that's wrong with it. Consider that a shell will usually run $400-$1k without the engine. Now if the engine is blown and you need to replace all of the other parts (suspension, exhaust, etc.), then it might not be such a good deal.

Tell you what; go and check all that stuff and if there isn't much oil in any of those places, don't touch the thing. If you pick up a pcv valve and the smoke goes away, jump on it like a depraved otaku on Aya Hirano. (Horrible reference! MFAO) But that's just an opinion, don't blame me if the thing blows up five feet out of the driveway.

 

[95'RS-T]

ok my 420a runs great in boost except for the smoke it throws when i hammer the throttle i know blue smoke is oil burning and i do have a leak from my pan where the return line is ran but i don't have the full exhaust on yet just the down pipe so there is no oil getting on the pipe i checked the turbo for play and there's nothing. i even took the down pipe off to see if oil was coming out of the turbo seal and there's not but there does appear to be smoke coming from the manifold but its not blue though i think its the oil that got on it from when my oil feed broke any advice i hope its not rings.

 

[ace07]

could be a bent or loose or even dislodged valve... my dads 6cyl chrysler/plymouth acclaim does the same thing but at idle.. the valve seat wears out and the valve just kinda jiggles in there... thus it pumps out blue smoke. something to consider. good luck.

 

[95'RS-T]

see i dont think that could be the case when i bought the car it didnt smoke at all till i but a turbo on it do you think it has anything to do with not having a FCD?

 

[95'RS-T]

OK I'm burning oil and blowing massive amounts of blue smoke out of my exhaust OK I know I have an exhaust leak and my oil return line was a -6an I just ordered a -8an from jegs.com I was wondering if the smaller return line and the exhaust leak would cause this?
BTW My Turbo seals are good no shaft play at all, and i took out my spark plugs and they seem fine except for a very little white on top but nothing major.

 

[bpestilence]

The shaft doesn't have to have play for the seals to be blown... Which they probably are. If the spark plugs aren't fouled, the oil HAS to be coming from the turbo. Sorry.

Since your car is retrofitted with a turbo, you have to deal with all the issues with an aftermarket turbo system. Yes, -6 return line is too small. Also, what is your feed like? OEM feed lines are low pressure from the oil filter outlet. Most aftermarket feeds tee off the oil sender which is high pressure. Thus a restrictor is usually used to drop the feed pressure. But I don't know your setup.

You need to rebuild the turbo, and make sure the oiling system is set up correctly. Are you water cooled? If not it would be a good idea because no water cooling can also lead to turbo damage. Good luck.

 

[TofastForU_99]

Agreed ^^^^

 

[TofastForU_99]

i had the same problem when i did my 420A build no shaft play and the oil seals were still bad. rebuild and it should fix your problem just like said above^^^

 

[95'RS-T]

im running a 5/16 brake line with restrictors on both ends from the oil sender after i ran it i pulled the down pipe off after it cooled down and there was no oil in the pipe or on the exhaust side of the turbo.

 

[Talon64]

Ok well first off. Car wasnt boosting about twenty pounds. Would hit 14 psi and climb slowly to 20. Last week the car was running awesome. It was boosting 22 pounds no problem. Car was ripping now nothing. Did boost leak test and compression test. Boost leak test came back that I have a little leak out of my fuel pressure reg?. Turbo is rebuilt bastard 20g from joe at slowboy. So I took my car to a garage and have them replace the exhaust mani to turbo gasket and o2 gasket. (Bolt stript wouldnt come out). While they were there I had them put a new o2 dump on the car. I was trying to figure out if my wastegate is shot. Back to my problem. On my way back from the shop I got on it to see what happens. 14 psi and car read 12.3 on the wideband. I knew that wasnt good so I got off it. (boost controller set to 22). Driving down the highway my wideband read 11.8-12.3 driving and it wasnt wot. So I leaned it out to were the wideband read 14.7. I don't know if the car was doing this when all this happen but I happened to look at my temp gauge it was pegged hot. So I pulled over and let it cool off and looked over everything. Saw nothing so I continued driving till I got to the gas station and got a drink and let the car cool off again. My friend was following me and when we left the gas station the car started blowing blue smoke out. Got home and parked it. I have turbo timer so I got out of the car. I looked at the exhaust you can see the blue smoke but it smelled like gas. Wideband read fine and I did the compression last week before I took the car to the shop and it read 160 across all for cylinders. I will be doing compression test again tomorrow. Any ideas? Head was recently rebuilt with maybe 15k miles if that. I am out of ideas. Need some dsm lovers help! Sorry for the long story and bad english. It is late and I am sick of my car.