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HELP!!! Thick smoke from exhaust

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v01dy

15+ Year Contributor
78
1
Jun 11, 2005
Auburn, Alabama
I have thick grayish/whitish(?) smoke coming out of my exhaust when boost happens. I'm sending it to a mechanic but I'm afraid they might not be able to diagnose it properly so I'm asking for opinions. One of the places that I called told me that white smoke meant that the turbo is giving out. Is that true? And if so, would replacing the stock turbo with a 16G one solve the problem? My car is STILL STOCK due to the insane number of problems wrong with it... just when I thought I could start working on it this happens :(

Oh by the way no smoke comes out if I drive like a granny and try to keep the boost in vacumn. The smoke stinks.
 
Oh dear... doesn't sound good. Don't really have the money to replace the turbo...
 
Yeah, its your Turbo. Specifically the bearings. Its the oil burning/leaking into the exhaust. I guarantee that if you took your intake off, there will be a CRAP load of oil. Turbo's are meant to be changed at around 60K miles. They sell rebuild kits. What kind of turbo do you have? Mitsubishi will charge you 1300 dollars + install for a stock t-25. I blew my bearings in mine and had the SAME problem. I bought a t-28 and bored it more. Thing pushes like hell, only for 900. Go to Slowboyracing.com, they have a great selection of turbochargers (a evo 3 16G would sound good?)
 
now that I think, maybe headgasket? That would be the coolant burning. Do you leak any coolant? Any over heating? IF it only occurs at boost, then its the turbo leaking at the weakest point of the engine....maybe headgasket. I'm leaning more towards the turbo though.
 
yeah I checked the coolant reservoir, and there is actually less than it should be. I think I might be burning coolant. Which would be worse? Blown gasket or cracked turbo? Anyway, I sending the car to the mechanic first thing tomorrow morning. Hopefully it wouldnt cost me too much.

If it's a problem with the turbo, would I have to replace just the turbo or the whole turbo system?
 
Okay anyway in case I have to replace the turbo, would I need to replace anything else in my stock gst other than the bov to handle the boost? I know I would also need a boost controller and gauges.
 
If you're going to upgrade the turbo, you should have a few things done first. Mainly, update your vehicle profile, so we can see what you've done to the car. If nothing, then along with the turbo, you need to buy a boost gauge, and boost controller to keep the amount of air being pushed low. You'll need other supporting mods to use an upgraded turbo to it's potential. Let us know what is in the car, and we'll let you know what to do next? Deal?
 
I have a 16G and it does smoke out quite a bit in 1st & 2nd gear only...but it looks more black than grey. I do have a little oil in my intake pipe, but I don't have any oil or coolant missing. I'm thinking It's a bunch of fuel, perhaps?

BTW, the 16G is awesome...I love it...you don't need to upgrade much to get good use out of it.
 
yup sounds like you might need a new turbo.. time for one of these :p
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Turbo leak. I had the same problem at 84 K miles. My turbo had its time. There are alot of turbos out there man. You just need to know what you want at of it.

ex: Do I want top end? Quick spool but mid range? these are all things you need to ask yourself.


This is what I did:

I am a street racing fanatic, but I'm not crazy. I'm not gonna go racing miles. I want to be able to pull a low 13 in a quarter, still have it everyday driving, when I want power, I want it at the second I downshift. I went with a T-28. That damn thing put me to so much hp to the wheels, I was smoking the hell out of SRT-4's. If i were you, if you want mid range, grab a T-28. I got mine at Slowboyracing.com. They are pretty good and if you call them up, I'm sure they will make a deal with the garret. IF you want, you can get the Slowboy racing T-28. THe Exhaust side of the turbo is ported out.

Next, I would get a boostcontroller and a turbo timer. You are going to a new stage in a turbo, there is going to be easy ways of making hp and easy ways of causing damage

Get a manual (Hallman or a Ebay cheapo) or Electronc Boost controller. They are cheap on ebay. The turbo timer is going to keep your turbo from decaying from sitting of overheated oil. The turbo timer will allow you to run the car a minute or two to cool the turbo down.

After this I would get a ev03 02 housing and bore it. Cost about 100. What is next key is a nice downpipe. 2.5 to 3inches is good. I went 3 and I went cheap. I bought a ebay one from Tsudo.

This will get you at a good place. The turbo allow you to keep using your injectors and fuel; system witout a problem. If you go with a boost controller, I would recommend 14-15 psi. If you want to go a little more, get a High Pressure fuel pump (walbro HP 255lh is like 100 bux max with the rewiring harness) and a SAFC (apexi goes around 150-225 used and 300-375 brand new)
Bore out your trottle body and polish it, get a hard pipe intake.

This will def. get you into the 300's.
 
97EclipseGS-T said:
Turbo leak. I had the same problem at 84 K miles. My turbo had its time. There are alot of turbos out there man. You just need to know what you want at of it.

ex: Do I want top end? Quick spool but mid range? these are all things you need to ask yourself.


This is what I did:

I am a street racing fanatic, but I'm not crazy. I'm not gonna go racing miles. I want to be able to pull a low 13 in a quarter, still have it everyday driving, when I want power, I want it at the second I downshift. I went with a T-28. That damn thing put me to so much hp to the wheels, I was smoking the hell out of SRT-4's. If i were you, if you want mid range, grab a T-28. I got mine at Slowboyracing.com. They are pretty good and if you call them up, I'm sure they will make a deal with the garret. IF you want, you can get the Slowboy racing T-28. THe Exhaust side of the turbo is ported out.

Next, I would get a boostcontroller and a turbo timer. You are going to a new stage in a turbo, there is going to be easy ways of making hp and easy ways of causing damage

Get a manual (Hallman or a Ebay cheapo) or Electronc Boost controller. They are cheap on ebay. The turbo timer is going to keep your turbo from decaying from sitting of overheated oil. The turbo timer will allow you to run the car a minute or two to cool the turbo down.

After this I would get a ev03 02 housing and bore it. Cost about 100. What is next key is a nice downpipe. 2.5 to 3inches is good. I went 3 and I went cheap. I bought a ebay one from Tsudo.

This will get you at a good place. The turbo allow you to keep using your injectors and fuel; system witout a problem. If you go with a boost controller, I would recommend 14-15 psi. If you want to go a little more, get a High Pressure fuel pump (walbro HP 255lh is like 100 bux max with the rewiring harness) and a SAFC (apexi goes around 150-225 used and 300-375 brand new)
Bore out your trottle body and polish it, get a hard pipe intake.

This will def. get you into the 300's.

Ooo... thanks for the info. Got it onto a notepad file on my comp. Anyway, just got a friend who's a mechanic to take a look. The pistons are clean, and the intake has oil in it. So it's definitely the turbo. I messed up the coolant readings, turned out that I wasn't leaking any coolants.

My plan is actually to get a small 16G, but I'm not too sure yet. Is the small 16G a bolt on? Is the T-28 a bolt on? I'm thinking to get the turbo that would need the least work (excluding another T-25) because I won't be doing the installation myself (I don't trust myself to work on something that complex.)
 
Hmm... after getting my tranny fluid, belts, oil & filter, spark plugs changed and steering fluid topped off, there doesn't seem to be smoke coming out fo the exhaust anymore. Sometimes there is very thin white smoke coming out, but other times, even just after I've revved it up to 5k, there isn't any smoke from the exhaust. Does this mean that there actually was no damage to the turbo seals?
 
Just check your coolant and oil for the next couple of weeks and you'll be able to find out if there are any serious problems.
 
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