smoking engine
Turbo Mini Forums

i have rebuilt my engine recently but it smokes really bad on start up it seems to be white smoke anyone have any ideas cheers lee

valve stem seals

rings

bore

turbo



Alex

AlexF

afaik if its white smoke, then it's supposed to be water. could be condensation, or could be something more sinister like a head gasket.

on the other hand, if its blue smoke, then see alex's list

And on the 7th day........... God created turbochargers!

I would go for condensation too, what does it smell of?

Dave

Speedster turbo under construction

could be running too rich if the smoke is white

its not like a little bit of smoke its loads i start it up and it fills the garage completely then it chokes me to death im woried

well generally speaking you have three types of smoke,

white=water
blue=oil
black=ovrerfuelling

probably woth doing a compression ckeck, see if the headgasket is gone?

And on the 7th day........... God created turbochargers!

Just another thought. If this engine has just been put in, could it be oil on hit surfaces such as exhaust, turbo etc. Could it be shit thats getting burnt of hot sufaces ????

white = oil too if theres lots of it, if you say mashed the springs in the oil controll rings..

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

sent my head away and had it rebuilt still smokes tho the turbo is new and im getting 170 on evry cylinder i dont know what it could be

ok then, another idea.....

where is the smoke coming from? what does it smell of? could be paint burning off the exhaust or other surfaces? (or oil as mirage said)

next idea.... is it drivable and fairly road worthy? if it is take it for a blast round the block, (on low boost mind, dont want to hurt it) i have had a couple of engines that smoked after work being done on them, and on both ocassions it cleared after about two miles.

HTH

Pete

And on the 7th day........... God created turbochargers!

mine was smoking very badly at idle

When i check the CO it was so high it was a joke .... i think it was over 10 !!

TurboLessTosser

right lads the turbo i bought was new but had been stood about for about ten years so i think the seals have perished or summet another think is i took off my turbo and theres only oil in 1 branch of the exhaust manifold when i first got my car running i washed the bores with petrol bye mistake i put fuel pipe on wron g 1 but i still have good comp i just dont know

if there's oil in one of the branches of the manifold i'd be checking out the rings and valve seals. which branch is it? the one off cylinder 4 by any chance?

I'd have thought that the oil could only get into the manifold if it came from the cylinder right? might be wrong seeing as i'm still kinda new to all this engine stuff.

Nick.

yes cylinder 4 how did you know

cylinder 4 is usually the culprit because it runs hotter than the others because of poor cooling.. time to check those rings mate.........

quote 'when i first got my car running i washed the bores with petrol bye mistake i put fuel pipe on wron g 1 but i still have good comp i just dont know ' ................... i did this aswell and mine smoked badly....changed the petrol contaminated oil and it stopped

regards mark

Edited by mark4765 on 2nd Sep, 2004.

(mental note to self - must change fuel contaminated oil)

Speedster turbo under construction

I know it needs doing, I was told when I bought the donor car I should change the oil even though it had been freshly re-built. Seemingly, even if you aren't driving the car and are just using the engine to move it in and out of the garage (VERY short trips) it is wise to change the oil before using the engine properly as these engines are renowned for getting fuel contamination in the oil. Sure enough, even before I kinked the fuel return and flooded the engine, the oil stank of fuel.

Dave

Speedster turbo under construction

Generally white smoke on power IS the Turbo unit.
On a new engine, Blue smoke is normally the valve guides often a problem when the oil pressure is high and the stem seals cannot cope, normally after a few thousand miles the engines setle down if the're built properly.

http://www.avonbar.com

have to disagree there (ian?), ok maybe a diference of opinion , i would say first sign of the turbo on its way out is continuous blue smoking on idle , valves guides are usually blue smoke on start up and or overrun , worn bores blue smoke under load and crank case pressure from breathers
white smoke is usually water /oil mix as when the head gasket blows on a high revving engine
?????
over to you alex ?

learning fast .lol.

Everyone knows that instructions only have to be read if the thing doesn't work....