smoke from turbo area
 

My car smokes everytime it is at iddle, and when i turn it off. It looks like it is burning oil because sometimes there is evaporated oil on the inner hood of the car. I am still boosting 10psi and i don't feel any loss of power. I did notice that the oil is running out fast and i have to refill it every once in a while. What do you guys think?

describe your oil pressure.

Sounds like you might have a compromised turbo oil seal as well as a slight exhaust leak. What's the frequency that you have to add oil?

about a quart every other week, my oil pressure is around the middle i think it is 60 psi

at 60 under boost? oil pressure sounds normal enough that the seals in the turbo should hold, ditto Mahjik.

at idle it is about 30 and under 10psi it rises to about 90

my car was doing the exact same thing...appears it's smoking from where the turbo and engine mate...

plus huge oil pan/rear engine oil seal leak, plus some oil leaks near the turbo area, on top of that, a blown pulsation damper that sprayed fuel everywhere and maybe damaged fuel pressure regulator...and a non-operating 2nd turbo...engine & car has 125k on it though...

drove with fuel problems for about 4 months...then finally couldn't stand the gas smell anymore...so pulled my engine last nite and gonna fix everything...maybe will even rebuild engine.

You were very, very lucky that the smell wasn't your burning flesh.

Fuel leaks in the engine bay of this car like dripping gasoline on a lit candle. You are very, very lucky.

Dave

The color of the smoke looks bluish purple. I don't know i think it is oil. The bottom of the oil pan looks like it is soaked with oil and leaks.

dgeesaman...after reading about all the engine fires...i do feel lucky!...still wished i had read up on the fuel smell earlier...really was driving like that for at least 4 months!

mazda_rx7_r1...i just found your problem...i'll bet anything it's the same as mine...after removing the LIM, found the gasket between the LIM and engine block cracked, on both the left and right end of the engine block...i believe this happened under boost!...the only way to fix your problem is to replace the gasket...tightening the bolts with broken gasket won't do you any good.

you see smoke only during idle because of the exhaust recirculation action...when the UIM is under boost, you can't see the escaping air because it's colorless...

as for oil leak...front and rear engine engine seal broke, plus leaky oil pan

good luck

But it could be coming from up higher and dripping/blowing back onto the pan. It could be one of the oil lines feeding the turbos, or the Oil Metering Pump, or the turbos themselves blowing oil and draining out by the compressor elbow gasket, or...

In any case you could start by removing the lower intercooler pipe and looking to see how much oil is blowing through the intake. If your turbos are shot this would explain both the smoke and the leaks. Do you make a big cloud of smoke when you get on the boost?

Dave

I'll see 80 for a brief moment at start up, on a warm engine 60 psi tops at full boost. The FSM says minimum 50 psi @ 3000 rpm. There is an oil pressure relief valve though I think its in the oil pan, check out the FSM.

Does any one else see 90psi? I'd been advised by a turbo rebuilder that high oil pressure would cause leaks.

Yep. I had the same problem you are describing and it turned out my turbos had a bad seal. pissing oil all over the undercarriage, and smoking all the time. Had to use a quart every 50 miles if I needed to drive it. Needless to say, I never needed to drive it lol

really when i go wot at 10 psi i believe i get 120 on the oil gauge is there something wrong with mine?

I'm trying to determine what is normal oil pressure at WOT, max boost. I'm wondering how many leaky turbo's are caused by excessive oil pressure. Does your turbo leak oil internally or externally?

externally