No Boost, White Smoke, Then No Start..please Help

[97DSMTURBO]

OK, I need some help, I have had a small oil leak for a little bit, and have been meaning to tend to it, but being the procrastinator I am I didnt get to it soon enough.

Anyways, a few days ago I was driving kindof hard and all of the sudden my car lost alot of power, so I look at my boost guage and floor it and there is no power and no boost. so I go back to my friends house and park it. The next morning I decided to drive it home to park it there, I started to leave my friends and everything was ok for a little bit (still no boost though) then all of the sudden white smoke is pouring out of my exhaust, its constant, the only time it doesnt was when I was decelerating. Well then my car starts to hesitate and sputter so I pull into a gas station and buy some oil because the oil was low, then I start it back up and it stopped sputtering, still smoking and still no boost. Well about 5min from my house it starts hesitating and sputtering again and then stalls (no bangs or smoke coming from the engine bay). It wont start back up (there was still no boost and the white smoke problem continued) , its not even cranking, so i called a tow truck and am waiting for a shop i used to work at to call me back with the diagnosis....What are the possibilities???

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

Sounds like you blew the turbo, then blew the headgasket out of the car as well.

 

[97DSMTURBO]

Why wouldnt the car start though...? It wouldnt even turn over

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

Cylinder is hydrolocked with coolant. Take all of the spark plugs out and then try to turn it over. If coolant comes blowing out your headgasket it gone.

 

[MrBoxx]

Sounds like the turbo to me.

When you lost power and boost, that was most likely because the turbo wasn't spinning, or spinning too slowly to make boost. As the turbo seal breach got bigger and bigger, you were losing more and more oil into the intake system, some of which was getting into the engine and burning up. Pull off your intercooler pipes and watch the oil pour out of them. Wear old shoes when you do this.

Not sure about the head gasket, but that's another good possibility that would cause pretty much the same thing to happen. Good luck with your car.

 

[95blackGsTurbo]

I just think it's the headgasket because he said his car won't turn over anymore so I think it blew and hydrolocked the CC.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

Everything you described sounds like your turbo went out.

First no boost, if the thrust bearings locked up, then the shaft can't spin. This also allows a lot of oil to go in your exhaust and it will quickly burn, causing lots of smoke on hard accelerations and maybe little or no smoke at idle, but usually no smoke during deceleration. After the oil is all consumed up, the oil pump locks up and the crank can't move.

If you still have the car, here is a troubleshooting approach you can try (the way I attack problems on my own car)

Step 1:
Remove the intake and see if you can manually spin the compressor wheel with your fingers:
-If not go to step 2
-If so go to step 5

Step 2:
Check your oil level.
-If your oil level is low go to step 3
-If your oil level is fine go to step 5

Step 3:
Place a 1/2"-drive ratchet with a short extension into harmonic balancer (crankshaft pulley) and attempt to rotate the engine CLOCK-WISE
note: turning the crankshaft might take some effort.
-If it won't turn go to step 4:
-If it turns go to step 5.
-From step 5b, go to step 10 if crank turns.

Step 4:
Drop the Oil pan and inspect the engine internals.
-Most likely the Oil pump locked up. Replace/rebuild motor.

Step 5a:
Check your battery charge.
-If 12.6v or more go to step 6
-If 12.5v or less. Replace/Charge the battery. And go to step 5b

Step5b:
Start the car, Check voltage
-If car does not start, see step 3.
-If voltage goes down or is less the 13.0v, remove and test alternator.
-If voltage goes up (should be around 14.2v-14.6v) Culprit was the battery. Replace next time battery dies

Step 6:
Verify that battery cables are tight (does not spin freely).
-If not, tighten down check connectivity between ground & shock towers and positive terminal & B+ terminal on the Starter.
-If they are tight go to step 7:

Step 7:
Check all fuses, SPECIFICALLY the main fuses coming off the battery.
-All fuses good, go to step 8
0if bad fuses found, replace and try to start the car. IF car won't start go to step 7.

Step 8:
Remove and test the starter.
-If starter is bad, replace starter go to step 9
-If starter is good. Go to step two and three.

Step 9:
Try to start car.
-If car does not start go to step 10:
-If car starts problem was the starter

Step 10:
Other misc. electrical problem
-Take car to certified automotive electrical technician, these next steps are usually beyond the scope of the do it yourselfer.

 

[Siral3x]

White smoke is always COOLANT in your cylinders!
1.cracked head;
2.blown cyl head gasket;
If you're burning coolant how do you expect BOOST??? You're not gonna get BOOST out of coolant
1st thing when you see TONZ of white smoke comming out of your exhaust you should pull over+turn of the engine ASAP..so u don't make more damage then you already have...NO WAY 'testing' by driving the car hard helped that engine.
Keep your fingers crossed...hopefully your turbo is not ded yet!
good luck!

 

[Siral3x]

PS: You said u were driving the car hard..so that explains it..what is does the head gasket at high temp gets swolen and coolant/antifreeze gets in the combustion chamber=>white exhaust smoke!

 

[Siral3x]

MrBoxx if the oil from turbo gets in the IC piping->Intake->Combustion chamber you'll get BLACK DARKKKKK SMOKE....YOU'll think a frekin' TDI VW is nothing comparing to the SMOKING HOT DSM JOKIN' BUT IT IS TRUE! I'll submit sometime soon a video with my gf Turbo Pontiac and the white smoke that I was talkin...you'll die laughin ..ded engine, overheating, starts +sounds terible NEEDS REBUILD BADDD!!!
AMMM...97DSMTURBO I've just seen that you said the engine won't crank anymore...you're gonna have to put some money into a rebuild.

 

[MrBoxx]

When my T25 blew, the only thing that leaked from it was oil into my intake tract, and the color of the smoke that blew out my exhaust was white. Many others on here will attest to that from their own experience.

 

[Siral3x]

MrBoxx i've read a lot of stuff abt white smoke today....sweet smelling white smoke is coolant, and true like small amounts of white smoke is burnt oil/bad turbo.
we'll have too see the diagnosis on his car..

 

[DragSourceTsi]

oil burns white as well. If it's black smoke it's fuel or you forgot and your driving a diesel truck!

 

[Siral3x]

DragSourceTsi and your point is?? is this the solution for his car?? exhaust smoke?? 'smart' coments everybody has..."oil burns white as well." just said that in my previous post after I've done research.

 

[albert]

When my T25 blew, the only thing that leaked from it was oil into my intake tract, and the color of the smoke that blew out my exhaust was white. Many others on here will attest to that from their own experience.

Hello! I'm new here and i would just like to confirm that MrBoxx statement is correct. My friend's VR-4 was having probems before and lots of white smoke was coming out of the exhaust. I saw it myself but forgot to take a video. There was no boost. They tought there was something wrong with the cylynder head gasket. They also replaced the valve seals thinking it was causing the problem. But after a few hours of driving, white smoke continues to come out. Finally, they check the turbo and discovered it was dead. They replaced the turbo and the car is running fine now.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

DragSourceTsi and your point is?? is this the solution for his car?? exhaust smoke?? 'smart' coments everybody has..."oil burns white as well." just said that in my previous post after I've done research.

Watch yourself newbie. I sense a bit of attitude in your post. Oil burns off white, with a hint of blue. If you haven't seen both white smoke from exhaust or what is referred to as blue smoke, then you are likely not able to tell the difference.

The point of this thread is to give correct informtion so he doesn't have to spend even more money replacing the head gasket, just to turn around and spend more money buying another turbo.

 

[LilRedRocket]

My Head Gasket Blew in my Sundance.. Even at Idle the smoke was so thick I couldn't see out my window and driving you could see the smoke trail as far as I could look.. I suggest to start at the cheapest easiest way! Check your oil.. Undo the intercooler pipes.. If theres oil, then you know where to start looking and not worring about a Head Gasket.. When it comes to what colour of smoke is what burning, some will say one thing others say another, Oil smoke I find does burn white with a blue tint, Coolent is thick white, smells sweetish, they are hard to tell the difference so I say don't worry about the smoke, you shouldn't start the car anyway until you find out what is wrong anyway.. Besides if the intercooler is filled with oil, would the catr even start??? I dunno I don't have turbo. Good luck man! HOW many Miles are on the engine anyway??

 

[laserspeeddemon]

My Head Gasket Blew in my Sundance.. Even at Idle the smoke was so thick I couldn't see out my window and driving you could see the smoke trail as far as I could look.. I suggest to start at the cheapest easiest way! Check your oil.. Undo the intercooler pipes.. If theres oil, then you know where to start looking and not worring about a Head Gasket.. When it comes to what colour of smoke is what burning, some will say one thing others say another, Oil smoke I find does burn white with a blue tint, Coolent is thick white, smells sweetish, they are hard to tell the difference so I say don't worry about the smoke, you shouldn't start the car anyway until you find out what is wrong anyway.. Besides if the intercooler is filled with oil, would the catr even start??? I dunno I don't have turbo. Good luck man! HOW many Miles are on the engine anyway??

There is a hose that runs from the valve cover to the intake "snorkel." The purpose of this hose is to lower crankcase pressure and lower emissions. Unfortunatly this also puts alot of oil in the intake track. So your suggestion isn't a valid point. Cleaning the intercooler with gasoline is one of the turbo DSMs free mods.

See step 10 on this link.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/tuning-guide/1gturbo/stage0power.php

 

[BlueTurboSpyder]

Sorry to bring back a dead thread but I saw some misinformation that should be corrected for those who want to use this thread for future reference.

White smoke is always COOLANT in your cylinders!
1.cracked head;
2.blown cyl head gasket;
If you're burning coolant how do you expect BOOST??? You're not gonna get BOOST out of coolant
1st thing when you see TONZ of white smoke comming out of your exhaust you should pull over+turn of the engine ASAP..so u don't make more damage then you already have...NO WAY 'testing' by driving the car hard helped that engine.
Keep your fingers crossed...hopefully your turbo is not ded yet!
good luck!

This absolutely wrong. When I was a newbie I thought the same thing because of information I read. Then came the day my turbo decided to take a shit but at the time I didn't know it was my turbo. Do you know why? Because white smoke was pouring and I mean pouring out of my exhaust. Thinking it was a head gasket, I did a compression test, checked my oil for coolant, and my coolant for oil and found nothing wrong. It turned out that instead of oil dumping into my intake, it went directly into my exhaust instead turning it instantly into WHITE smoke. People tend to think that oil only burns a blue or greyish blue color and it does when it enters the engine and passes through the combustion chamber. But, when it burns off without passing throught the motor it will burn white or grey more times then not.

 

[laserspeeddemon]

When my 14b took a crap it did the same thing. Dumped oil into and onto the downpipe. It burned white with a slight blue-ish tint. But it was obvious to me that it was not the pure white color that burns from water or coolant. I could tell the difference, a newbie probably won't.