i have a brand new S5 motor in my TII im running a microtech ecu and a HKS T04R turbo i got it broken in and had it dynoed and it runs like a champ i put down 393 @15 psi.. the car really runs good but im having some smoking issues..when i go out in the morning when its cold out i start it up and it dosent smoke but i can sit there and watch it and about almost exactly 5 minutes it starts to smoke hardcore clouds of white smoke and its deffinetly oil thats smoking but after its wamed up the whole way it dosent smoke oil at all..so what the hell could cause this? im hoping its just the turbo considering its a brand new motor..let me know what you guys think

 

Did you have the turbo b4 you rebuilt the motor? When my first motor went a piece of apex seal hit my turbo and messed up one of the oil seals, so when I had the motor rebuild the turbo would burn oil on start up and under heavy boost, until finally the turbo just died -_-

Me thinks you need your turbo rebuilt.

 

+1 I'd blame the turbo before you blame the rebuild!

 

yeah and the thing is belive it or not this motor is not a rebuild it is 100% brand new assembled in japan at mazda..it is not a reman..i know i know im a lucky SOB lol anyway this turbo i bought used but it worked fine before and has no visble apex seal damage

 

well it oculd just be the oil seal.... you're looking at around 180 bucks at any turbo shop, so, not that big of a deal! Great find on the engine BTW, how the hell did you manage that!?!

 

Wow props on the engine find... its kinda like taking the virginity of a Czech **** goddess!

 

lol there was a guy from conneticut who worked at a mazda dealership that went out of buisness and they had like 3 of them still in the crates that never got used so he bought them up for 6000 bucks a peice he had them sittin for a while he was despirate for cash so he then decided to sell me one i talked him down to 3k shipped to my door in PA that has to be the deal of the century lol anyways how can i figure out for sure that it is infact the turbo thats causing this?

 

Well the way it is smoking sound identical to the way my turbo was smoking after my rebuild... I say take the turbo and check for any shaft play or visibly damaged seals, a local turbo shop would be able to look at if for you.

 

+1 on the oil seals. Or maybe you need a restrictor pill in the oil inlet.

 

new/correct gaskets on the oil return line?

don't forget that WHITE PLUMES OF SMOKE = coolant seals.

More likely in a boosted motor. Have you spiked past 15 psi? Often?

 

no its oil for sure you can smell it i can tell the smell of oil compared to coolent they are two totaly different smells..and the smoke is coming out the exhaust so i dont know how the return gasket would make a differance..im so parinoid about taking the turbo to a shop because ive heard so many horror stories even from very reputable shops, ive heard about the compressor wheel nut coming off and destroying the whole motor

 

White smoke is always coolant though...and it smells kinda sweet. If it was burning oil real bad it would be a dark grey smoke and it would smell like complete ***.

 

well have you ever spilled oil on an exhaust manifold and it burned up? you cant confuse the smell of burning oil its a very distinct smell.. and oil can also smoke white cant it? im 100% sure its oil burning and not coolent

 

Are you losing oil?

If not - you can't be burning it.

If it doesn't happen on start up, but only during mid-warm-up, I'd be going over the coolant correction maps in the MT, something might have a lump where its not supposed to.

Stock oil pressure? Journal bearing turbo? no need for a restrictor.

 

OK i appreciate the help from everyone and I'm not trying to be a dick but why doesnt anyone believe me that it is oil that is burning? lol it is losing oil because its burning oil like a **** during mid warm up..i know what burning oil smells like.. its got stock oil pressure about 65 psi on startup and it is a journal bearing turbo

 

anybody have any clue how i can determine wheather it is in fact the turbo causing this?

 

Well, why don't you take it off and look? Thats the only way to tell.


The reason people are quesitoning why your car would instantaneously start burning oil during mid warm-up and stop is because there's far more likely (and plausible) causes for a mid-warm-up smoking then burnt oil control rings in your engine.........or even burnt seals in your turbo. Reasons like some others and I have suggested.

If you're 100% confident its burning oil - its gotta come from somewhere, so why even bother posting? Take it apart if you don't want to hear suggestions.

EDIT: if its not doing it under heavy load or after you let off from a hard pull - I'll be surprised if its the turbo.

 

what more do you want? go ckeck these things

 

LOL I would think anybody should be able to tell if it is oil or coolant, there is a big differance in the smell of the stuff so....

 

OK.. #1. yes it has brand new correct gaskets on the return line
#2. it is not coolant seals its oil that is burning
#3. how can the coolant correction maps have anything to do with it burning oil? #4. every turbo car Ive ever seen smokes after a hard pull whether it be fuel or oil or whatever that's pretty much a given right?
so after answering these questions I'm thinking/ hoping that is is the turbo so I'm going to take it off but i don't know what I'm looking at cause I've never disassembled a turbo before can you visibly see if the oil seals are bad?

 

pull the intake pipe off the turbo, if there is oil in there, then the oil seal on the compressor side is going, pull the exhaust off and see if its all oily aned nasty in the turbine area, if it is, that seal is bad. its pretty easy to check. if the turbo is clean on both sides, then its your motor... but like you said, it probaby isnt the motor

 

Because the correction map makes FAR more sense as an intermitent smoking problem then a blown seal in the engine or turbo. If the seal is blown it will leak all/most of the time. Not just for a few minutes during mid-warm up. Also, excess fuel - heavy richness - can be hard to distinguish odour wise. You asked for suggestions - thats a suggestion. You never mentioned a defenite oil burning symptom - like a constantly lowering oil level - so I gave you a possible scenario.

No, thats not a given. A small puff of smoke perhaps - but no car should ploom smoke after a redline, 15psi pull unless something is drastically wrong..........so - does your car do that (ploom smoke?) after a heavy pull? Or does it simply quiff a tiny little bit (which is generaly a tad of extra fuel that got shot into the motor the split second as you let off...)?

If the turbine is oily, but your primairies in your manifold are just sooty, then its the turbo. If one or both of the primaries are oily also - its coming from the engine. There's no real way to visibly tell if the seal in the turbo is bad by simply by taking the housing off other then the coating on the blades... You can tell if the compressor side is leaking easily as mentioned by just looking.

Have you tried the shaft play?

 

yeah if i make a hard pull when i leave off you see smoke not a huge cloud but i can see it.. i did check for shaft play and it does have some i dont know how much is acceptible it has no in and out play but does have a decent amount of side to side

 

side to side or thrust play is generally a worse thing then in-out play. You're turbo may be the issue.

When you say you can see smoke after a pull....are you talking in a driving situation? Ie. 2nd gear, punch it - redline - shift, look into rear view, see smoke..........or are you talking a free rev, let off, look behind you?

The reason I ask is because if its during a driving situation and you can see smoke in the rear view - there's generally a tonne of smoke. That is, it takes a tonne of smoke to be able to be seen in the rear view while moving a decent pace.

Either way - its sounding like the turbo, but its very odd that this only occurs during mid warm up.

 

well i guess it is a good amount of smoke but i try not to look behind me for to long when i just made a hard pull and im going like 70 or 80 mph lol i guess i should have someone follow me and see what they think