turbo car blowing smoke dammit

[freshstart]

What a sick feeling huh? Last week after I left work I noticed a sudden and significant James Bond style blue smoke screen out my rear view mirror. UGH The temp gauge also went into the red pretty quickly so I did shut it down fast.

I fired it up this morning for the first time since just to evaluate and sure enough the smoke is still there... damn it didn't heal itself.
I suspect the turbo unit because I noticed a small amount of oil leaking into my intercooler piping a few months ago. I am confused about the overheating though. There is no coolant leaking or any other external signs of problems either... in fact it seems to run fine and smooth. Dare I say blown head gasket EEK! Of course I'm not getting on it or anything, just a one mile drive to my shop so I can get it up on my lift and check things out.

If I do need a turbo rebuild what do you guys recommend? Ship it to Turbonetics or is there someone in Portland, OR that can do the same? Is there an advantage to having AA rebuild it? They just outsource anyways don't they?

Also you AA guys, this is a stage 1 kit, if I'm already spending the cabbage, is now a good time to upgrade that turbo unit? I'd gladly spend a few hundred bucks more now for something better.

[single]

Upgrading your turbo setup is going to be quite a bit more than rebuilding your turbo, but with that said you will have more power. What generation is your turbo setup? Internally or externally wastegated? There are several places I can highly reccomend rebuild you turbo, but its not going to be cheap.

Just to give you an idea about the overheating issue...I was all the way down to 0, yes I said 0 ounces of coolant and my car ran just fine on 60 degree days, and trust me, I don't drive my car easy. I just found I have an oil leak myself, and it did a lot more damage than I dare think about.

What color is the smoke exactly? If it is thick white, I would look at your headgasket or your turbo's oil-return line. If its any other color, post back.

Wes

[freshstart]

The smoke is blue (god I hate saying that) and there is plenty of coolant, it lost none.

I believe it's a gen 2 (stage 1) AA turbo. I'm not 100% sure because I'm the 3rd owner since it was installed by AA and at this point I'm not taking anything for granted.

So to rebuild the turbo we're looking at what... $1000? I think I can yank it out and reinstall it myself to try to save some $$.

[BMWGuy206]

You're going to have to do a better diagnosis on your vehicle.

Do a compression and cylinder leakdown test first.

Does your heater work? If not then the water pump is shot.

How low is your engine oil? Can the cause of the leak be the turbo seal?

[forrest]

if the turbo is the problem. I have one i could sell you from my stage 1 gen 2 kit. I am upgrading. i live pretty close to you as well you could come look at it in person. mine has been changed over to external wastegate tho.

[jonsibal]

it could possibly that the seals in your turbo went bad. The worst case scenario from what you have posted is that you would need to replace your piston rings. Check your plugs to see if theres any oil in it.

The overheating part, that Im not sure..

[freshstart]

Thanks forrest, I'll consider your turbo if it comes to that.

I suspect the turbo because the smoke problem happened fast... it didn't slowly start smoking over time. I know rings piston rings or head valves don't just suddenly wear out like that, especially with this motor having less than 50k miles.

I don't drive this car in the cold much but now that you mention it Jon C., the heater did seem to be not very effective.

After work tonight I'll get it up on the lift and remove the turbo outlet pipe and see what kind of oil volume I have there. Then maybe I'll remove the thermostat housing and see if I can see the water pump impeller. I read in here somewhere that you should be able to see it that way.

[volvoperson]

just wondering how much boost are you running and are you letting your car warm up before driving and cool done after driving?

[RAiMA]

Originally posted by jonsibal
it could possibly that the seals in your turbo went bad.

Yep, I would say the same. If the car was shut down pretty quickly he should be ok.

Originally posted by freshstart
I fired it up this morning for the first time since just to evaluate and sure enough the smoke is still there... damn it didn't heal itself.

This probably wasn't the best idea, especially without checking the oil levels. If the seal was broken, it could have drained the oil sufficiently overnight to cause damage to the engine on restart.

Hope it's as simple as replacing the seal. Good luck

[freshstart]

All my fluids were fine, I did check that first... I'm not THAT much of a rookie.

Anyway... the turbo does have a small leak of oil that needs to be addressed but that is not the smoke problem. The outlet pipe only had a small amount of oil residue, not enough to produce the kind of smoke I'm seeing.

I'm pretty sure it's a trip to the repair shop and let them diagnose it from here.

[MKIVTurbo]

...I hate to say this but signs point to internal damage** Being around highly modded turbo cars all my life I can tell you that a mere blown turbo will not cause a motor to overheat as seriously as yours. *It might not be the turbo at all * I think you've either cracked a piston, or more likely, the piston rings are shot. If it were just a head gasket issue you'd have clearly white smoke along with some condensation (being that coolant is being burnt). I can even smell the anti-freeze in some cases on cars with blown head gaskets. But if your saying that your getting clear and honest blue smoke in large doses WITH overheating as well...thats a clear internal issue. I guess after all the years of boost on the stock motor its finally started to let go...
If thats the case rebuild with forged pistons with a beefy turbo friendly head gasket and bolts too...you might as well fortify it for higher boost

[freshstart]

...now you didn't have to go and say that!!! I knew that possibility all along. Now you've scared my wallet BAD!

I'm just HOPING these other things could be the culprit, but I've owned enough cars and yes, even blew one (scattered parts all over I-205) to know that blue smoke is death smoke.

Seriously though, I appreciate your input and if it is more than a head gasket or leaking valves, ie it is in the basement, then I will prolly be here banging for more advice...

... to be continued.

[MKIVTurbo]

...I can completely understand your feelings and emotions right now...especially if your M3 is your daily driver/primary transportation* And I'm glad to help anyway I can...

...but don't be TOO saddend by this. IMHO your turbo system itself is probably all fine. And a simple swap to lower compression forged pistons with a better head gasket isn't extremely expensive. If you find a decent shop you can probably have the whole thing done for you under 3-to-4K (for everything, part & labor). But what you'll THEN have is a bullet proof motor ready for 15psi all day long reliably