Smoke after turbo replacement

[nikvik1]

Hi,

I recently took my 2001 bugeye WRX to a random local mechanic to have the VF30 turbo replaced with a VF35 due to a crack in my old exhaust housing and now it seems to be smoking at idle when the car is hot. I’ve read many things online about damaged turbo seals, blocked oil drain line etc but the guy who sold me the turbo claims it’s in 100% working order. 

I’m going to remove the new turbo and fit the old one back myself (because I should really learn to fix my car) by following online videos to do so. So any tips would help, thanks.

My question is, could there be anything that the mechanic did during the instal to make white\blue smoke come out the exhaust or is it a duff turbo?

Thanks 

Nick

[Sandals]

What colour is the smoke? I take it that the smoke is only coming out of the exhaust?

[nikvik1]

The smoke is a whiteish colour but I suppose it could be classed as blue. After I got the car back there was smoke under the bonnet but that’s because the daft bugger of a mechanic bust my power steering when installing the turbo inlet, so oil when everywhere. The engine bay doesn’t smoke anymore now, so the smoke is just out of the exhaust. It’s very sporadic too. Sometimes it pummels out other times it doesn’t. I’m just thinking maybe the mechanic missed a washer or used the wrong bolt or something that could be causing this?

[Tidgy]

First off need to confirm the turbo is fitted correctly and all lines are correct.

Has it been mapped for the new turbo? has it been driven without being mapped?

 

[mattiekane]

It's not massively clear from the picture as to what colour the smoke is(or at least not to me)

On saying that I think I'd lean more towards the blue than white, blue been oil getting burnt.
Now if the turbo was the last thing to be played with I'd start there, there is a chance the seals have gone in the turbo, checking the turbo outlets on both hot and cold side should give you an idea.
Failing that oil *could* be getting into the combustion chamber a number of ways, valve stem oil seals, piston rings, scored bore or could even be a incorrectly rebuilt breather system.

(White smoke is coolant been burnt. There are less ways this can happen but could be more expensive, head gasket been one of them, but I don't think it's white personally)

Ultimately, I'd take the car back to they guy that has done it and argue the toss, he sold you a turbo that's possibly duff

Loud pipes save lives

[nikvik1]

8 hours ago, Tidgy said:

First off need to confirm the turbo is fitted correctly and all lines are correct.

Has it been mapped for the new turbo? has it been driven without being mapped?

 

Ok, great tomorrow I will check all lines visually look and there is nothing sticking out. The car was mapped to the VF30 turbo and the replaced turbo is the VF35 so very similar 

 

[nikvik1]

3 hours ago, mattiekane said:

It's not massively clear from the picture as to what colour the smoke is(or at least not to me)

On saying that I think I'd lean more towards the blue than white, blue been oil getting burnt.
Now if the turbo was the last thing to be played with I'd start there, there is a chance the seals have gone in the turbo, checking the turbo outlets on both hot and cold side should give you an idea.
Failing that oil *could* be getting into the combustion chamber a number of ways, valve stem oil seals, piston rings, scored bore or could even be a incorrectly rebuilt breather system.

(White smoke is coolant been burnt. There are less ways this can happen but could be more expensive, head gasket been one of them, but I don't think it's white personally)

Ultimately, I'd take the car back to they guy that has done it and argue the toss, he sold you a turbo that's possibly duff

Loud pipes save lives
 

Well the car never smoked before the turbo was fitted which makes me believe it’s directly related. The mechanic that fitted the turbo didn’t seem to know what he was doing and messed up my power steering so I am gonna steer clear of him again.

 

I purchased the turbo from a bloke on Facebook so I think it’s dodgy to be honest. I told him about it and he said it was all working fine when he shipped it but Don’t believe him. 
 

I payed through PayPal and I am currently trying to claim my money back for the turbo. 
 

My guess is the exhaust seal is bust and this bloke thought he could sell me the turbo and get away with it. 

Tomorrow morning I will attempt to remove the turbo and see what’s what. 

 

[Tidgy]

1 hour ago, nikvik1 said:

Ok, great tomorrow I will check all lines visually look and there is nothing sticking out. The car was mapped to the VF30 turbo and the replaced turbo is the VF35 so very similar 

 

It will need mapping for the new turbo.

[nikvik1]

To be honest I don’t think I’m keeping this new turbo because of this oil leak. I’m just wanting to know what could be causing the problem. I will be re-installing the old VF30 that the car was originally mapped to. 
 

I just wanted to know if there was anything like a line that could get bent or a missing washer or anything along those lines that could cause oil to pass down the exhaust.

Today it’s raining so can’t work on the car but possibly Monday morning I can remove the turbo and take a look

[savage bulldogs]

I dont know much about the vf30 or what type of core it has ? .

Afaik the vf35 has a journal core and bearing core turbos require less oil pressure.  The way subaru adjust turbo oil pressure is through different size holes in the banjo bolt on the turbo oil feed .

Do you know if the vf35 was fitted with your cars original banjo bolt or was there a banjo bolt supplied with the vf35 ?

If your going to refit the old turbo make sure you use the original banjo bolt and buy new turbo outlet , up pipe to turbo and downpipe to center section gaskets.as even if they were new when fitting the vf35 , they're a "crush type" so don't seal well second time around 😉

The likes of import car parts will sell genuine subaru gaskets ,as cheap copies dont seal for long (if at all)

[nikvik1]

On 2/1/2020 at 1:42 PM, savage bulldogs said:

I dont know much about the vf30 or what type of core it has ? .

Afaik the vf35 has a journal core and bearing core turbos require less oil pressure.  The way subaru adjust turbo oil pressure is through different size holes in the banjo bolt on the turbo oil feed .

Do you know if the vf35 was fitted with your cars original banjo bolt or was there a banjo bolt supplied with the vf35 ?

If your going to refit the old turbo make sure you use the original banjo bolt and buy new turbo outlet , up pipe to turbo and downpipe to center section gaskets.as even if they were new when fitting the vf35 , they're a "crush type" so don't seal well second time around 😉

The likes of import car parts will sell genuine subaru gaskets ,as cheap copies dont seal for long (if at all)

Thanks for the heads up about the gaskets, I will definitely look into it.

I’m not sure which banjo bolt was used when installing the VF35 but after looking at my VF30 there is no banjo bolt there so I think it must have been from the VF30. 
 

 

[nikvik1]

Ok, so I attempted to remove the turbo about a week ago but unfortunately got stuck because I could not remove 3 bolts holding the turbo to the uppipe. I have been driving the car since and the smoke has stopped now. It seems very intermittent. This happened before where one day there was smoke on idle and other times not. I can’t see anything linking these times as I’ve tried on long drives, short drives, under pressure and taking it steady. Does this sound like a bad turbo? 

[nikvik1]

Still no smoke today after a long drive. I’m wondering if the mechanic filled it with oil when fitting it and it’s just slowly been burning it off. I was also told that leaking turbos should have play and this turbo doesn’t have any. Not sure really, any advice would be a big help 🙂

[savage bulldogs]

Difficult to say , oil burning can be caused by numerous things ... 

turbo seals normally smoke on boost but my last one only smoked after idling at traffic lights and pulling away .

Valve Stem seals are normally on start up but with the boxer engine being flat the oil doesn't seep past the seals with gravity (like normal engines)

Constant smoke can be turbo or rings .

Blocked pcv can cause intermittent oil burning (so might be worth a look )

 

[nikvik1]

I’ve been driving the car all day with the hope of keeping this turbo and all was looking good. After a full day of no smoke (I’ve been checking it all day) when I arrived home it decided to start smoking again. 

This seems to clarify it, I think I must have been sold a damaged turbo. I will book the car in tomorrow to refit my cracked VF30 and try to claim my money back on the damaged VF35.

Then try to buy another one hoping that the next one will be fully functional.

Thanks for you advice 😀

[nikvik1]

I unfortunately didn’t get a refund for the turbo through PayPal they said it was because the turbo had been installed. Doesn’t make any sense but I’m now stuck with it.
I took it to the mechanics who said the intake pipe was bent and that is the reason for the smoke. We changed the intake pipe and it’s still smoking. The mechanics said the smoke was not oil because it didn’t smell like 2 stroke. It only does it when the car is idling or when I am in reverse which is a bit odd and it’s only after this turbo was installed. It’s a big puff of white smoke. Could it be coolant leaking through the turbo somehow?