if a turbo is faulty, when does it plume smoke?

[arc]

on vivs car, the turbo has been recently rebuilt as it was smokey.

the car is still smokey after the turbo rebuild. filmed the smoke today, and it looks white. also held some paper to the exhaust and revved it. clean, just wet.

http://tackycheese.net/images/cars/alley/220_steam.avi

when is a turbo more likely to dump water if it is faulty, overrun, spool up, or randomly?

 

[SeicentoS]

I thought turbos usually only spout out blue smoke if something is wrong? white is usually the engine side isn't it?

I've never had any trouble with my turbo so can't really help you =/

 

[bulldog5046]

yeah i would of thought thats an engine problem

 

[Phoenix3dfx225]

the odd thing about this smoke out is only when its warmed up, for the first few miles its fine. So engine wise, piston rings would expand and owould happen on start up.

Whilst also valve oil stem would also have leaked oil when at rest so once again would of expected on start up rather than once warmed up???

 

[SeicentoS]

but oil is usally a bloke smoke? white smoke I'd have thought would be engine side, not sure on why its only happening when its warmed up though

 

[Rampage94]

when turbos start going out they smoke when there is a preassure diffrence (ie when changeing gears as you take your foot of the throttle) and thats genraly a blueish smoke unless the turbo is water cooled. then it can be white, or gray if its really bad. but as your saying its hot id take a look at the valves. valves on turbo engines take alot of abuse, and its not unusual for them to kick the bucket after 50k.

 

[faster4_tec]

as rampage.

does the car get driven at WOT from very low revs? I mean flooring a petrol turbo @ sub 2,250rpm kind of low? they don't like that

 

[SeicentoS]

as rampage.

does the car get driven at WOT from very low revs? I mean flooring a petrol turbo @ sub 2,250rpm kind of low? they don't like that

I've been doing that on mine for the last 15000 miles, still no smoke on a car with 85000 miles

 

[jug]

when is a turbo more likely to dump water if it is faulty, overrun, spool up, or randomly?

a faulty turbo cant "dump water" because the water only goes throught the outer jacket, a water cooled turbo is still an oil cooled and lubricated turbo as well, it simply has a water jacket to further aid cooling. for that reason i doubt the turbo is the source of your steaming exhaust.

is the coolant level actually dropping? if it is i'd go looking for head gasket leaks as thats realistically the only way water will end up steaming out the exhaust. the fact that your steam only occurs once it is warmed up also suggests head gasket failure, only once the pressure has built up in the cooling system is water forced into the cylinder(s). thats common on a small HG leak.

 

[faster4_tec]

've been doing that on mine for the last 15000 miles, still no smoke on a car with 85000 miles

the actual turbo don't mind, its valve seats, big ends, and piston liners that don't like it.
not to mention you'll be more suceptable to knocking at them revs with boost going thru it. there was one point when I had the volvotub that any more than 3/4 throttle under 3,500rpm was a no go, but that was down to bad fueling, in part.
I know someone with a golf mk5gti, std, but they've killed it already, piston slap and big end shells gone. milage? less than 20,000m
they kept driving it in as higher gear as they could get it, thinking it would get better economy. you could FEEL the knocking thru the whole car.
poor thing.

and another. my mates dads octavia, diesel pd130 so no high state of tune for that engine. again driving it around at 1,000-1200rpm at WOT expecting it to use less fuel. instead he's cracked the cylinder head on the hot side. egt got way to high maybe because more rev's = more gas moving to take away the heat?*






*you can just tell I got a merit in thermodynamics can't you

 

[Rampage94]

egt got way to high maybe because more rev's = more gas moving to take away the heat?*






*you can just tell I got a merit in thermodynamics can't you

i thought that was common scense??








ohh wait i got thermodynamics drilled into my head

 

[richcinq]

Did the turbo actually blow before? What about oil from the last turbo sitting in the exhaust backbox? It would only smoke when warm. Has he covered many miles with the new turbo yet?

 

[Phoenix3dfx225]

ive tried driving as much as possible to burn off the oil, done over 100miles with smoke. Its booked in at xpart rover specalisit to get a diagnostic / engine tune to check air / fuel ratio as I reckon its also putting in far to much fuel.

 

[SeicentoS]

the actual turbo don't mind, its valve seats, big ends, and piston liners that don't like it.
not to mention you'll be more suceptable to knocking at them revs with boost going thru it. there was one point when I had the volvotub that any more than 3/4 throttle under 3,500rpm was a no go, but that was down to bad fueling, in part.
I know someone with a golf mk5gti, std, but they've killed it already, piston slap and big end shells gone. milage? less than 20,000m
they kept driving it in as higher gear as they could get it, thinking it would get better economy. you could FEEL the knocking thru the whole car.
poor thing.

and another. my mates dads octavia, diesel pd130 so no high state of tune for that engine. again driving it around at 1,000-1200rpm at WOT expecting it to use less fuel. instead he's cracked the cylinder head on the hot side. egt got way to high maybe because more rev's = more gas moving to take away the heat?*






*you can just tell I got a merit in thermodynamics can't you

only time I floor my car at such low revs is from a standing start, and even then I have to feather the throttle due to traction issues, but being a 1.3, theres no point me flooring it at such low revs when driving as I'd be going nowhere in 4th/5th as I don't get full boost until about 3.5-4k

and my engine is 85000 miles old and its still runs brilliantly and I've never had a problem on the engine side of things

 

[arc]

Did the turbo actually blow before? What about oil from the last turbo sitting in the exhaust backbox? It would only smoke when warm. Has he covered many miles with the new turbo yet?

the turbo didn't 'pop' before it was rebuilt, but we noticed when it was off that there was shaft play on it - and there was oil in the air inlet pipes, intercooler, turbo compressor housing etc etc, and the car was smoking - so faulty turbo was diagnosed, and it was rebuilt.

now it has same amount of smoke. more pronounced when warm, and on overrun. It isn't burning oil from the back box as it doesn't have one, and it also blows lots of smoke from a small blow on the exhaust between the elbow and turbo.

it went to xpart as viv said, and passed all it's diagnostics.

 

[faster4_tec]

it is NORMAL to expect some amount of oil in the turbo pipes before induction into the engine. and even to have to emtpy the oil of the intercooler about every 60,000miles, there won't be much, but just enough to run out of the end!

its not a PERFECT seal on turbos, it gets better the warmer it gets, but still never great.


if you got some/thick slime on the inside of your boost pipes after just a few hundred miles of normal use, then erm, bum would be the best word

 

[Phoenix3dfx225]

stripped the head of the car this evening in a rapid 2hour mission. Then removed the inlet manifold. It seems there is a small pool of oil on the back of the valves when looking through the inlet ports. Normally air only travels down there.

Also cant be oil vapour building up from breather pipes as they have been disconnected for the past 50miles!

So hopefully may of found the true problem, valve stem oil seals as suspected if it wasnt the turbo.

 

[100hpJames]

a faulty turbo cant "dump water" because the water only goes throught the outer jacket, a water cooled turbo is still an oil cooled and lubricated turbo as well, it simply has a water jacket to further aid cooling. for that reason i doubt the turbo is the source of your steaming exhaust.

is the coolant level actually dropping? if it is i'd go looking for head gasket leaks as thats realistically the only way water will end up steaming out the exhaust. the fact that your steam only occurs once it is warmed up also suggests head gasket failure, only once the pressure has built up in the cooling system is water forced into the cylinder(s). thats common on a small HG leak.

plus dare I say it, rover engines prone to head gasket failure.

 

[arc]

not on the T series it ain't.