lane_change

This is a few days worth of posting....sorry it's long....copied from other forum:





I finally think it is time to rebuild the motor or could it be the turbos? Everything was going great so far...then today, I went out to start my car, it started right up, and then came the smoke....tons of it. All White!!! Smells like pure gas though, not very sweet, and no coolant buzzer, and the coolant level is full. Not sure what else it could be. It is smoking immensely out the exhaust and around the turbos area some.



On my last blown coolant seal, it would quit smoking after it burned all the coolant out, maybe 3-4 minutes or so....but this one is non-stop smoke for over 15 minutes, the more you rev, the more it smokes.....and I liet it warm up completely, drove it around the block, etc...and all it did was smoke tons of white smoke out the *** and through the vented hood.



Could I have blown a Turbo Oil seal? I know that should be blue smoke...but that is more what it seems like then a coolant seal, but that's just a guess....my old GSX blew a turbo seal, and it poured out smoke just like this...and it wouldn't stop either...no matter how long you drove it. I am kind of leaning that way, but I am not ruling out the motor since it is White smoke.



It started right up though...no slow start or anything, which my last FD with a blown seal struggled when I started it up with a blown seal. Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.



My oil is about half way down the dipstick....and I checked it this past weekend on Sunday when leaving the Revolution and it was full....so I have burnt/lost about 1 qt. since Sunday.



I am really leaning towards the turbos being messed up because I just checked the coolant after it cooled down and it was still full, maybe 1" below the cap on the water pump neck which is full to me. So I don't think it is the motor really....but I guess I can't be sure. All the makes the me think it is the motor is the white smoke.....but there is no loss of coolant, no buzzer, no sweet smell....just white smoke. And even though oil is supposed to be blueish colored...my GSX blew the turbo and it was solid white as well.



Ok, well I pulled the plugs out...they are dry as a bone....I checked the coolant level again, still almost full...maybe a shot glass low, nothing I haven't seen before. I pulled the IC off, it is clean inside the pipes. I removed the intake system, they are also both clean inside the pipes. I checked the primary turbo for any oil residue...very little to no residue on the compressor or in the plastic inlet duct. I do have quite a bit of shaft play, both side to side and in and out. Not a ton...but enough to feel and hear.



I have not gotten around to pulling the DP off to check the turbine shaft...maybe tomorrow. About the smoke under the hood....it is more than likely just smoke leaking from around the DP gasket or around that area. The turbos themselves do not appear to be smoking out the intake or bov or anything....but just smoke coming from around that general area. And it is not tons...but enough to notice. But the smoke coming out my exhaust is very similar to the ATF trick kind of smoke....like a volcano or something. I am going to try and turn the car over with the plugs out and the EGI fuse pulled to see if I can see much vapor being sprayed out the holes.



If it is not the motor....and not the turbos, what else could it be? What else could cause smoke like that? I mean, for smoke to occur, you must have some form of liquid burning, ie: fuel, oil, coolant, etc...this smoke is white like coolant, smells like gas, and smokes like oil. Go figure.



Well I checked the PCV valve and it appears to be ok....no missing lines or any visible cracks. I just read on here to check it you should start the car and take off the oil cap and see if that eliminates the smoke.....I don't think that will be the case, I can't imagine that much crankcase pressure building up and smoking like that...maybe some smoke, but not ATF style smoke. I am going to pull the turbos off and check them out later on.



I also checked the boost sensor just to make sure, and the vacuum lines were still connected to it and all that, not that I thought this was boost related, but what the hell. I might as well go full non sequential now, eliminate the rats nest and all the vacuum lines with it, and replace the rest with silicone while I am at it.



I pulled the Y-pipe and the Downpipe off and there is oil on the bottom for the primary turbo runner on the Y-pipe....and when I pulled the DP off, there was wet oil sitting on the bottom of the tubo mani and inside the DP some...leaking out around the bottom front DP bolt...it was wert.



I felt inside the turbos and I could feel the secondary turbo shaft and it is not really all that bad as far as shaft play goes....neither is the compressor side of the secondary turbo, but the primary turbo has shaft play on the compressor side pretty bad, has oil leakage going into the Y-pipe some, and also had the oil residue around the DP and mani in that area....but I could not feel the turbine shaft or see it for that matter. I am debating pulling the turbos off, but I am not looking forward to the mess of coolant and oil everywhere if I do pull them off.



Based on this little bit more evidence, does anyone have any rough conclusions or ideas?



Thanks,

Scott

lane_change

I am currently trying to remove my turbo assembly....but while looking around, I also notice a small puddle of oil sitting in the compressor housing of the primary turbo....when you look in through the top, where the Y-pipe attaches, you can see a puddle of oil. I am almost positive my problem lies in that turbo. So they are coming off. But I need some penetrating lube to conitnue, those damn nuts/studs holding the turbo onto the manifold are tight as all hell. I have all but two removed (I think), but those last two are damn near impossible to get off, and I don't want to risk stripping them any more since I slipped once, but hopefully they will be off tonight or tomorrow.



Could that oil mean anything? Does it tip anyone off other than me and the logical assumption that everything combined on that one turbo is the cause of all that smoke?

BoOsTin FD

when the nut that held the compressor wheel on my turbo fell off, I had a bunch of smoke coming from exhaust. And i mean so much smoke that you couldn't see anything in the whole street.



I also saw a lot of oil in the primary turbo. So basically my point is that if something goes wrong with the internals of the turbos you'll see a lot of smoke and it's kind of whitish/bluiesh i have no idea.



Amel

andynogo

Yup, sounds 100% like your turbo/s are stuffed to me. Don't be misled by the colour of the smoke- the smell is the giveaway. Coolant smoke is sweet and burns the eyes a bit and oil smoke is les acrid and totally different smell.



Get those turbos off and start saving for a big single?

lane_change

I already had a big single on my last FD....I want to keep this one alot more tame and enjoyable. My T78 was too much power for me, it lost the whole street car effect.



So, both of you think it is the turbo, and I think it is the turbos......so off with those twins, and time for a new set.



Thanks for your thoughts and ideas, I will keep you updated....and if anyone else has any thoughts about what this could be, please feel free to let me know.

rotary speedster

Don't waste your time with a rebuilt set of twins. I went threw 3 sets in less than 20k mi. Get a used set of 99+ or new ones like you said.

lane_change

I am going to go with a new set of BNR stage 2 twins.....I found a guy that has a set for sale for a good price. Now I just hope that the turbos were really my problem...I think they are, but it will suck if I drop all this money into a new set and find out they it still smokes.

9BASE3

Scott,



Just FYI I had the SAME PROBLEM over a year ago. One day I started the car and it smoked JUST like you say. Like a cloud. never stopped. WELL, I had the oil coming out of the turbo & **** too so I pulled them. While at it I put a streetport and single on the motor.. Guess what? STILL ******* SMOKES. I'm pulling the OMP today to see if that's the culprit as I just can't see it being the motor.. Point being, check everything else.



Justin

lane_change

Well Justin, hopefully I am not as unlucky as you.



I got my twins off today....and I am just waiting on my new set to arrive and then I guess all I can do is hope for the best. I really hope it is not something else...because I can't afford to have another FD down for a year. My last one was the same way...except it was a coolant seal, but I just went ahead and built the motor, went single, huge fuel system, etc....and almost 1 year later to the day, I got it started again. Not this time...I want to enjoy my FD this time around...not just work on it.

9BASE3

God I hope not.



If it turns out not to be the turbos.. try deleting the PCV and running BOTH nipples to a vented catch can.. worked on 2 cars so far.



J