Burning Oil!
Turbo Mini Forums

Has anyone ever experienced / had a blue smoking engine just from oil leaking past the seals on the hot wheel of the turbo?

Yes, except my last turbo was leaking into the compresser side too, and i have LOADs of blue oily smoke

Did it smoke bad on tick over but clear when it was reved?

no, smoked very badly on tickover and left clouds behind the car when reved or driven.

Have you had a look at your plugs to see if they are oily?

There is no oil on the plugs, or in the inlet system - pipes carb etc..

When you first start the car there is a small puff of blue smoke then it clears. Once the car is up to temperature, it blue smokes badly on idle but clears a lot if you bring the reves up.
When driving the car (I had someone follow for this bit) there is lots of smoke when stationary the when accelerating there is only a tiny amount if any. And some times it is totally clear.

I did take a spark plug out, straight after turing the engine off and there was no oil but lots of white smoke, coming from the head.

There is no misfire or any other dodgy noises from the engine. It drives as well as the day it was rolling roaded.

Any ideas?

I thought maybee a head gasket problem. But am not to sure as oil can burn white if it is hot enough.

symptons sound exactly the same as I had on mine a while ago.

Turned out to be the head.

I thought turbo too and got mine fully reconditioned with Double oil seals on the shaft.
Then an ?80 GRPA head gasket and then the new head which finally did the trick
(and another bloody Grp A gasket never again! waist of time/Money)

soton - Was it you valve guides? Or a warped head?

Cheers!

symptoms are most likely turbo

not definately so but certainly most likely

chiller - Was guides I think
Had my old head on a straight edge at work and it looked ok

Iain - I do agree sounds like turbo,
which is why I did my turbo first when I had the exact same symptoms, but turned out to be the head in that instance

Chiller - sorry for confussion but could still be either.
how olds your turbo what condition???
how olds your head and what condition???

Iain knows his stuff so probably best to do the turbo first

id just try a lcb on if you have one, sure fire way to see if its the turbo of not. You can get cheap ones for about £25 so may be worth getting one or borrowing one. cheaper than having a turbo rebuilt for no reason

I think its prolly the exhaust gides.

If it was the inlets you would have oily plugs

Have you ever had you head off, any idea what the play is like within the guides?

On mine which is smoking as we speak, it chucks out loads of blue smoke, when it gets hot the smoke gets less, simple to tell its the turbo on mine (Midget rather than mini) as I can get to the oil supply for the turbo. As soon as it started to smoke I blanked off the turbo oil supply and smoke stopped, put oil supply back on and smoke back. Also then checked which side it was and its just the exhaust/turbine side as I removed the plenum to check it it was compressor side

Running a turbo without an oil supply will no doubt ruin the bearings in a very short time, running dry for a few seconds will destroy the bearings, I wouldnt recomed doing that.

It sounds like the exhaust valve stems/seals, (two of the seals had come off on mine, and it did exactly the same as yours)

As my turbo is over the clutch housing I split the core and left the turbine housing in the exhaust, blanked off the hole with a thin piece of aluminim then ran the engine to see if the smoke stopped. I dont know how easy this would be with a metro turbo set up.

Once I new it wasnt this it was obvious when i removed the head as to which ports were covered in oil,

Phil