I have a mostly stock twin sequential FD. It sat for nearly 3 years until recently. After about 2-3 days of running it for about 30-60 minutes at a time, I'm still getting a TON of smoke likely from residual oil. I'm getting oil smoke from the years of oil I've spilled into the plug holes as well as the far too high mixture of premix I mistakenly added.

My worry is that the smoke is coming out of the exhaust AND the turbos. I'm worried this could mean a seal on the turbos is leaking, even though there was never smoke from there when it ran before.

Would smoke from the turbos be normal in the case of too much oil/premix? Is a turbo rebuild in my future suddenly?

Thanks in advance.

 

possible to spot where the smoke and therefore oil leaks are coming from?

The return lines on the bottom of the turbo have gaskets iirc. If it's coming from the body of the turbo, might not be much you can do about it.
You can definitely get smoke from the turbos in the case of too much oil, but that would mean you have overfilled to the point where the return lines no longer drain into the block and then the pan.

 

I'll try to take a closer look today on exactly where the oil is coming from. It's not that I had over-filled the oil, but I had squirted too much oil into the plug holes over the years of trying to start it, as well as added too much premix.
Obviously a stretch to hope that's causing it, but they were never smoking before it sat and that's all I could think of.

 

Cars that have sat will smoke a LOT. They are burning off all the dust and junk that's accumulated over time.

Get it started and go drive it around nice and easy if possible, just around your neighborhood so you can immediately come back if something isn't right. Try and do about 15-20 minutes and get some heat into everything.

If you can't drive it, start it and let it idle a good 20 minutes, let it fully come up to temp. If it's smoking, let it smoke.

Dale

 

Thanks Dale. I had known they smoke from the exhaust after sitting for a while, I was just caught off guard with smoke billowing from my engine bay from the turbos. I've been letting it idle for a while as well as driving it around my neighborhood. I will continue to do so until the smoke hopefully lets up.

 

If running it for 30~60mins for "2 or 3" days, didn't burn or pump out any oil you've put inside the rotor housings, you've got bigger problems. Smoke in the engine bay seems to merit putting it on stands to see if you can spot an exhaust leak (engine to manifold to turbo to downpipe mating surfaces), oil spilling on a hot component or checking the cat.

 

Maybe I missed it, but exactly how excessive was the premix you added?
I agree with just letting it run while monitoring everything…especially coolant temps since it sat so long. But if you can’t drive it around the block safely a few times, I think id at least vary the rpm occasionally while it sits running. And my bet is that the smoke will eventually subside. You’ll probably want a fresh set of plugs when it does.

 

I had put in less than a gallon of fuel, but accidentally squirted a few oz of oil into the tank by not paying attention.
I have since added a few more gallons of fuel, I just haven't had the chance to drive it away. I don't see the oil level changing much, I'm about to change the oil when I get my aftermarket oil pressure gauge in, so I'll update the thread after a week or so after driving for future reference to anyone looking.

I am of course used to the smoke of premix and changing fouled plugs, not so much used to turbo smoke. I will get the car on jackstands after changing the oil and check for leaks from the turbo/manifold. I'm positive my oil pan leaks slightly, but I never saw oil from the turbos.

 

If you dump a lot of oil or whatever into the engine and crank without starting a lot of it will get into the exhaust manifold and turbine housing. Some will even seep between the turbo gasket and get out.

That will all take a good amount of time to burn off and you will get smoke from the turbo area.

This is also super common on an engine rebuild - all the assembly lube and stuff starts burning off and also all the greasy hand prints, residue from cleaning, etc. all burns off.

Dale