Smoke out exhaust - blue/white possibly turbo?

[TSIHero]

So I was on a hill and put a pretty big load on the motor and a huge pile of smoke came flying out the exhaust. Pretty much everytime I shift a whole pile of smoke comes flying out the exhaust. Basically everytime the throttle plate closes.

The smoke is either blue or white its real hard to tell sometime but I know I was low on oil so I was deffly burning oil. I believe my coolant levels are fine but its hard to tell.

I took the intake pipe off and there was a bit of oil laying in front of the fins. I grabbed the center bolt of the turbine and I can shift it a few milimeters up and down. When I got the thing (4 months ago) it had no shaft play what-so ever.

In front of the blades were a few hairline scratch marks. I have no idea where those came from unless something went down the intake pipe and was bouncing around.

How do I go about knowing if the turbo is the source of the oil problem?

I know for a fact that my valve cover is leaking oil into the first cylinder as I looked down there and noticed a pile of oil on the spark plug. I got a new cover and seals on the way.

I'm going to try to compression test this week to see how the engine is as I never ran one on it yet. Leak down test will follow that.

But my question is: neither of those will tell if the turbo is leaking or not. So how do I know if it is that?

 

[fallenauthority]

Well if you have a couple millimeters of shaftplay then your turbo is pretty much shot. The way you are saying that it blows smoke when under load, which would mean its most likely under boost, is another sign that a turbo is blown. When i blew my turbo it smoked a bluish white as well. Another quick way is to disconnect the lower intercooler pipe and see if any oil pours out. If it does, its a sure sign.

 

[TSIHero]

Well if you have a couple millimeters of shaftplay then your turbo is pretty much shot. The way you are saying that it blows smoke when under load, which would mean its most likely under boost, is another sign that a turbo is blown. When i blew my turbo it smoked a bluish white as well. Another quick way is to disconnect the lower intercooler pipe and see if any oil pours out. If it does, its a sure sign.

Should I be looking for OIL in the lower intercooler pipe? I took my J pipe off the other day and there was slight oil in it like a small drop but I didn't into the LICP yet.

Would there be a whole pile of oil sitting down in that pipe? Is that what i'm looking for?

I bet there's 1/32nd of shaft play in the turbo. It's only 4 months old too. I got a 12 month warranty from TC.com. So i'll be using that.

 

[MrBoxx]

Sounds like the turbo to me, especially the "smoke after every shift" part. As mentioned, check the lower intercooler pipe and the intercooler for a pool of oil. If it's there, best cash in that warranty. Check for shaft play periodically to see if it's getting worse. If you can see scratches in the compressor housing in front of the blades, chances are they're rubbing.