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

 

[turbomoe]

hmm.. check your mas air flow, does ## car idle funny, or does it have a type of hessatation at low rpms, why my was was bad it wouldnt let my car boost right, and it can realy lean it or rich it, so i would check mas, and also check your oil level, check your plugs see what color they are, make sure there snug, and do another comp, test

 

[lou schmouder]

you need to check your O2 sensor mine did the same thing when it went out.It was like a light blue color

 

[Talon64]

compression test came back as 159,155,152,153
I took valve cover off. Checked the head studs. started at 80 foot pounds and all were snug. Then jumped is up to 90 and 3 tightened up a little. No more blue smoke well just started the car in the garage didnt go down the street or anything. Have a whitishs/clear smoke now out the exhaust. Think its a headgasket it. Dont know how it can be. Head and headgasket has about 13k miles on it with arp headstuds. I don't know if this helps anything out or not. A friend of mine told me to take the radiator cap off and fire it up and see if the fuild comes out. Well it comes out a lot. Almost looks like air coming out. Oil and coolant look very good. Maybe someone else know something. Oh yeah found why I think I cant boost. Havent tried boosting yet but when I started it up this morning I can hear exhaust come out of my dump tube. Put double washer on the wastegate hope it will close it more. Anyone with ideas what it could be?

 

[Boot92]

the blue smoke indicates oil buring...so maybe your rings are shot? thats my problem at the moment.
the coolant problem could be, water pump failure, bad thermostat, clod in cooling system, or blown head gasket, or just low on coolant.

 

[Talon64]

new thermostat but not oem aftermarket autoparts crap. Water pump not making any noise. Coolant was low but not super low. Used a cup of antifreeze. I did a coolant flush and put a new thermostat last month. Coolant is pretty green no color or milky. The only thing that has me thinking is coolant over flowing out the waterneck where the radiator cap is. No more blue smoke so far. Like I said I didnt run it down the road.

 

[Boot92]

oh and the gas smell....it sounds like to me that you were getting some fuel in one or 2 of your cylinders that wasnt being burned off. did the car sound like it was missing at all?

 

[spyderturbo007]

Did boost leak test and compression test. Boost leak test came back that I have a little leak out of my fuel pressure reg?.

You need to address this problem immediately, before you blow your motor. Any pressure / vacuum problem with the FPR is going to play hell with fuel delivery. The FPR adjusts fuel pressure in response to boost pressure and vacuum. If it's leaking, the injectors aren't going to be supplying the proper amount of fuel for the expected airflow.

When in vacuum, the FPR is going to see less than actual vacuum, causing the fuel pressure to be higher than expected by the ECU. This will lead to a rich condition. Under boost conditions, pressure will be leaking out of the system and the FPR isn't going to raise the fuel pressure to the correct levels. This will result in a lean condition and possible damage to the motor.

 

[Talon64]

How do I fix it? Its coming out by the adjustment screw. There is a washer and a nut on it already.

 

[95greentsi]

Ok, so i just put in fully built 6 bolt i my 2g (bought it of a kid on texas forums with 2000 miles on it) and get everything together and drive it home today and it is blowing out a huge cloud of blue smoke and smells like oil. checked plugs and they were dry. someone suggested to me that it might be my turbo (its a 16g, couldnt tell ya how many miles are on it). Anyone else ever had this problem before? Thanks for any and all help

 

[shortyskater]

Blue smoke is oil. You either have a leaking head gasket or bad rings. Try a compression test.

 

[TrevorS]

Ok, so i just put in fully built 6 bolt i my 2g (bought it of a kid on texas forums with 2000 miles on it) and get everything together and drive it home today and it is blowing out a huge cloud of blue smoke and smells like oil. checked plugs and they were dry. someone suggested to me that it might be my turbo (its a 16g, couldnt tell ya how many miles are on it). Anyone else ever had this problem before? Thanks for any and all help

If the plugs are clean (gray in color), then another possibility is a leaking turbo. It could be shot sleeves, and it could also be too much pressure at the oil inlet. As I understand, restriction is required in the oil feed from the engine in order to avoid over running the shaft sleeves (and consequent leakage).

 

[siege]

I would try a compression check if that checks out ok i would say your turbo seals are done.
good luck to ya

 

[deviousgst]

any update?

 

[95greentsi]

yeah, compression was fine. got another turbo and hasn't done it since, so im pretty sure it was the turbo. how ever this turbo has a bad seal and the worst part is the kid who sold it to me wont give my money back saying that "it was fine when i used it, its your fault"

 

[95greentsi]

i should have also mentioned in the original post that it only blew out the blue smoke when i would boost it

 

[Nakamura]

Ive read all the topics about this subject but im still stumped...
my car only smokes at idle, it doesnt wheni drive. ive had a blown turbo before...so i checked all the related topics to it and all is running great...nor am i losing any oil...i havent noticed a change in level on my coolant so i dont believe its that. ive done a compression test and its 151.151.152.151...all that seems normal so i excluded the headgasket...it does look like i have a little fresh oil on the bolts on the exhaust manifold, would that seal have an effect on the smoke? my car runs great but its irking me...and i did make the mistake of letting my brother borrow the car while i was away...which he drove in heavy rain...may that be a problem...do i need to try and drain something...
all help is greatly needed.
thanks

 

[Nakamura]

so is there anything i can do? will it try to hydro lock now or only if in continous rain driving... you think it will burn out or do i need to drain something?

thanks alot brah

 

[Fridayda13th]

If it is still running it should be good it will burn out. Just change your oil just in case some water is in it.

 

[Nakamura]

Aight ill do that tomorrow...do you think i need to try and disconnect some of the piping to the intercooler to see if anything lies within there

thanks brah

 

[Nakamura]

how long you figure it would take for it to burn out and quit smoking if there is any?

 

[Nakamura]

Aight brah thanks alot ill get to that tomorrow sincei have to raise my car back up since its way to low ... for mississippi roads, ill let ya know if it comes out good.

 

[Lost_sol]

theres a possibility on leaky valve seals also.

 

[Nakamura]

I actually drained my intercooler and used a hair dryer on my intake...and it doesnt smoke much at all...very little is not any...i just didnt have time to change my oil...but i bet that will help even more so i should be good...

thanks alot brah

 

[95greentsi]

true, but i should also mention that as stated before, only does it when i hit boost, if i leave off it (as in dont boost) then no smoke. also most times with valve seals it will be purple smoke not blue smoke

 

[Taylor3180]

Before you tell me to search the previous posts I have. And this is what I came up with.

1. I Checked PCV Valve and its holding just fine. Even capped off line and heard it click. And release after cap was removed. I also but a piece of paper over the oil cap hole and it sucks air in so that tells me as well it is working.

2. I checked the intake side of the turbo no oil and no shaft play at all of the turbo.

3. Being that there is pressure in the valve cover wouldn't that as well say that the Valves were working as they should?

4. The only thing I have left is a compression test.

If there is something I am missing that I could check please let me know. I have been pulling my hair out trying to figure this out. There is a tad bit of oil in the lower intercooler pipe I was told this was normal.