1987 Turbo 2. Stock turbo. Yesterday while in traffic, and doing a few warm starts, i noticed the car smoking a bluish white (not coolant, checked for bubbles, and it smells like oil). It was especially bad after the warm starts. In traffic it was only a little bit. I noticed if i rev at 1/4 throttle it will puff some smoke for a few seconds...at one point it actually blew a smoke ring or two...(made me laugh at a bad situation). It clears up while im cruising, or when i do 100% throttle. I tried to be specific. Let me know what you think. Im going to pull the discharge lines today and inspect. Thanks guys!


by the way, i just switched to castrol gtx 20w50 yesterday. I have no idea what was in the car before as this is the first oul change i have done on it. the previous owner never had it on the road so he didnt know either

 

are u running straight pipes? if so its nothing to worry about i don't think its anything to worry about anyway unless its bellows of smoke

 

yes im runnin straight pipes . i pulled the elbow going to the intercooler and its 100% dry...the smoke is minimal normally which doesnt bother me, but yesterday after a warm start at Target, i drove from the parking lot to the red light, and there was a pretty decent sized cloud of smoke left at the intersection...im baffled by that...thanks for your input man...ill keep my eye on it.

 

sounds like the engine oil seals are just starting to let go. it may get better and is just due to the oil change and the car sitting.

just keep monitoring it, it doesn't sound like turbo oil seals letting go to me.

 

Thanks Karack. I didn't mention this before, but the engine only has around 23,000 miles (documented). Is it possible/likely for the oil seals to go this soon? What causes the seals to go bad? Is there any way to verify if its the oil seals?

 

you can pull the leading spark plugs and see if they have oil on them, or pull the turbo and see if there is oil in the compressor housing or just past the turbine.

oil seals go bad from sitting, they basically get old and square off and leak past into the combustion chamber so mileage really has no bearing on it depending on how old the engine is.

turbos generally only leak under boost.

 

Further to Karack's thought, with the mileage as low as you say, the car has quite possibly sat for prolonged periods - and unless the car was properly stored, seals, especially the rubber ones, often dry out or deteriorate or stick - or the oil film on the housings and plates may have run down so much some rust formed on internal engine surfaces (in humid climates). It sounds from your posts the car has been off the road for some time.

It may improve with some use, with a little luck, driving it might be the cure.

I'm not sure, but adding some premix might not be a bad idea to make sure the internals are well-lubed. Some like to use a little pre-mix in the gas as insurance even if the OMP is present and working.

 

:/ i guess ill drive it and hope it goes away...what do i have to lose...Thanks again. I cant say it enough. This forum is great!

 

Turbo oil leaks can also come from just the exhaust side. I couldnt pinpoint mine untill I took apart the turbo myself and saw .