I've had my s4 tII for about a year and a half now maybe a little less. When I bought the car it had a mazda remanufactured engine put in it at 75000 miles, I bought it at 91000 miles and now the car has about 112000 miles on it. It feels tight, the engine is responsive, no power losses and from what I can tell in good condition. However about 4-5 weeks ago I started it up and out came lots of white smoke until I started driving then it went away, so I changed the oil right away, it had been about 2200 miles since the last time. About a week later the same thing happend but it was blueish then turned white, when I started driving it and it went away. Then the other night at my friends house I started it up and it was fine, it idled for about 2 minutes and then started smoking like crazy, I drove it a bit and all seemed well. It smokes maybe twice a week bad at idle, until I give it gas for a little then it will stop. There is the faintest bit of perhaps smoke coming from the exhaust sometimes, but I have no cats...I've had to add maybe 3/4 of a quart of oil over since the last change over about 750 miles. I guess it seems like the oil seals and maybe coolant seals are going out, but shouldn't I get a bigger problem while driving if this is the case? I was thinking maybe it could be the turbo seals..but wouldn't I then get constant smoke, especially when boosting?

So help figuring out what the problem is would be great, it is probably obvious...

Would just a new gasket kit fix the problem? I imagine the rotors and housings are in good shape.

And if worse comes to worse what would be better to look at, an s5 rebuilt or just another s4 rebuilt motor?

 

you can try checking your turbo for oil leakage

 

Let the car cool, then turn it on and remove the upper rad cap. If you see air bubbles coming out you probably have a bad water seal. Btw oil consumption is normal.

 

I'm pretty mechanically inclined, but I haven't taken apart a turbo yet only some big v8 blocks and the like. I have an exhaust leak that I can hear that I have been putting off fixing until the weather gets warmer, but maybe I will just tackle it now so I can get a good look at the turbo. What are tell tale signs that the turbo seals are shot, I haven't seen any leaks on the outside around the turbo, guess I just take things off so I can get a good look at the inside and see what residues there might be on the wheels? And I know oil consumption is normal, but the smokescreen part is not . Thanks for the suggestions I will definitely look for both.

 

Next time the smoke appears smell it. Burning coolant has a distinctive, sickly-sweet smell. Not at all like oil.

Oil blow-by on TIIs is very common. Do a search. You'll find lots of 411 on troubleshooting it.

Another way to check if it's a water jacket failure is to start the car with the rad cap off. If coolant blasts out (not farts, BLASTS!) then you know you've got a problem...

 

http://www.teamfc3s.org/forum/showth...=Turbo+Removal

this will help you with removing the turbo to check it out.