Chance S2K

My car has had exhaust leak problems since first being boosted (currently actually have a cracked manifold, may get it replaced under warranty here soon).

Anyway, I've noticed in the last couple of weeks that when stopped at a light, or even from spirited driving around town, I can smell strong exhaust fumes in the cabin of the car if I have the vent on. Sometimes even when the vent is off.

Today I finally popped the hood while the car was still running after a short drive, and I saw a steady stream of white smoke coming from the turbo. If I revved the engine up, the smoke got a LOT thicker as the RPM's went up. The smoke seems to be coming directly from the top of the turbo, from the oil feed, however I don't see any indication of a leak on that area and haven't noticed any unusual drops in my oil level either.

Anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? It's a journal bearing Precision 55/58, using a .065 restrictor and I a 3an feed line.

Edit: The smoke is definitely white which would indicate a coolant leak, but my turbo is only oil fed... I just did an oil change, maybe that's why the smoke isn't color tinted/dark?

Edit: Video of smoking:
https://youtu.be/TDaobkOVnA4

Chance S2K

Going to gut the exhaust side of the car again (pulling manifold to get it replaced under warranty for that crack).

Anything I should look for since the turbo/downpipe/mani will be out? Also just bumping to see more ideas about that smoke, it's pretty freakin bad. I would have gotten a video of it the other day but my old ass phone was dying on battery.

gsx2004

Any coolant going missing or over heating issues?

Chance S2K

Not at all. That was the only other thought I had, was coolant somehow leaking into the oil and then circulating into the turbo, but my reservoir hasn't moved and I can still beat on the car without it overheating.

No weird sounds/noises either, just a ton of smoke. I didn't end up pulling the mani last weekend like I planned to, I realized I wouldn't have time to ship it out until late this week anyway. Plus I'll need the car in a couple weeks from now, and I doubt I'll be able to process a replacement manifold that quickly.

Not sure what I'm going to do right now, but if/when everything gets taken out I'll be sure to give the turbo a damn good look and try to figure out what the hell is going on.

JuicedS2K

Is your exhaust wrapped? I had same issue. Looked like white smoke was coming from turbo but it was actually the heat wrap on downpipe right near turbo. Pulled the wrap off and issue resolved. Wrap must have gotten contaminated with oil.

vader1

Turbo is leaking oil internally and it is burning off in the turbo if it is coming out of the exhaust.

I have only fried one turbo and when it went it made white smoke, mostly when idling. The seals hold better when the turbo is spooled, that is why you see more when idling. It comes out of the exhaust too, right? FWIW my exhaust was white, not bluish when mine went too. This was on an MR2 turbo, oil leaked into the cat, ignited the substrate and melted it, plugged the exhaust and left me stranded. I thought I was really screwed, but remanning the turbo cost me $300 and a weekend.

How many miles on this turbo?

If that turns out to be the case, I recommend Majestic turbo in Waco for a quick turnaround on the remanufacture.

EDIT** Ok, you do not say anything about it coming out of the exhaust at all. Is it only from under the engine bay? If it is trickling out of the oil feed and the turbo is getting really hot, it might burn off without ever seeing any wet oily spots.

Chance S2K

This is a possibility, and if so really unfortunate as I just replaced the wrap/turbo balnket. I don't know if it will burn off over time and stop or not.

I do get white smoke out of my exhaust on cold starts, but not after running for awhile. I think the smoke from the startups out the exhaust is from a bad valve seal I have in one of my cylinders.

The smoke coming from the turbo is just inside the engine bay. The turbo only has like 2-3K miles on it.

I'll just have to pull this apart at some point and examine everything.

Edit: Video of the smoking

https://youtu.be/TDaobkOVnA4

Chance S2K

Video of the smoking:
https://youtu.be/TDaobkOVnA4

s2000Junky

Does it smell like strait burnt oil? or more unburnt fuel vapor mixed with a little oil? It looks more like blow by gasses. But I'm not seeing anything coming out of the valve cover port/breather What if you remove the pvc line, any vapor?

Chance S2K

It smells mostly like oil I think. I'll have to pay attention again when I drive home.

I'm starting to think the smoke must becoming from the blanket like Juiced said, just because there's no other location that makes sense. If it was smoking internally, all the smoke should be going out of the exhaust. I'm not losing any oil, so I don't think it's a feed issue.

I would have already tried removing the blanket to see if that solves the problem, but the last time I took the blanket off I nearly melted half of my engine bay