overkill

Does anyone get whisps of smoke when stuck in gridlock traffic? If I drive hard, and get stuck in traffic a few days later, I see small whisps of white smoke coming out from under my car every so often. . I know I have at least two oil leaks, one in the rear main seal, the other near the turbo area. I think it is oil that has been blown onto my cat heatshield and when there is not airflow ( sitting in gridlock), it heats up and burns. I should probably jack up my car and try and find out where it is coming from, because I fear that a fire may start. Just curious how many people have this problem.

FormerPorscheGuy

The smoke is from the oil leaks. The car will be hotter sitting in traffic and will burn off the leaking oil causing he smoke you are seeing. Fix the leaks and you will fix your problem.

RX7Wishing

white smoke though? if its enough to see it i would bet you would smell burning oil.... Check for a coolant leak bro. Coolant might be bubbling up/leaking out from sitting in traffic and the car getting hot

SWAT81

iTrader: (14)

I have had this problem since recently, its getting worse every time it happens. how would you say its coolant? the smoke smells like oil, coolant has a sweet burning smell. If you know its coolant leak where is the most common area to check first. Also common seal for oil to leak around turbo? This would make things so much easier.

overkill

I'm pretty sure the smoke I'm seeing is from burning oil. I have no coolant leaks at all. A few days ago, I jacked up the car and took a look and it seems like there was a leak coming somewhere around the turbo area. I couldn't tell if it was from the oil return lines, or from the turbos themselves. Oil seems to be leaking from the oil pan, and possible the rear main seal. I ended up taking a hose and hosed the crap out of all the oily areas in hopes of washing off any excess oil build-up. Surprisingly, it was quite clean after doing this, despite not using any cleaner or detergent. Yesterday I sat in traffic for a little while and did not see any smoke. Lets see what happens when I reall get stuck in grid lock.

FormerPorchseGuy-
The reason I'm hesitant about fixing the leaks is the cost and age of my engine.. I have over 120k miles on the engine, and do not want to spend possibly $800 to fix the oil leaks, only to have my engine go soon after.

Swat811-
From what I was told by M2, when they looked under my car they said all the oil under my car made it resemble a track car. He also said that if you run your car hard with a FULL OIL LEVEL, that the oil pressure gets too high and oil is forced out from the turbo area. He did not state whether it leaks from the turbos or the return lines though. His remedy was that if I continue to drive my car hard, keep the oil level at half. I asked him if there is any temperature issues to be concerned about with "only" half the oil level and he said "no".
If your symtoms are the same as mine, try spraying all the areas you see oil leaking with water and cleaner. After I did that I did not see any smoke while sitting in traffic, though traffic was not as bad as past times when I saw smoke. Hopefully that will help . What worries me most is that M2 said with excessive oil burning off under your car, you want to make sure your car does not catch fire. I don't know how much oil it takes to start a fire, but Brian said it takes very little oil to make alot of smoke. Perhaps if it was smoking excessively, then I should be worried. Keep me updated on your condition and I'll let you know if the washing continues to help.