Turbo blown? :(
Turbo Mini Forums

Once the car warms up, im getting alot of white smoke from the car at idle, like clouds of it and it does smell like burnt oil. The oil pressure is about 30 - 40 psi, which seems lower than it used to be.

It doesnt smoke when being driven or even when on boost, i even got my dad to drive it so i could follow him in my golf. It only smokes when idleing and i noticed abit when he changed gear.
And it doesnt smoke when the engine is cold.

Does this sound turbos going?

If it's doing it when its warm then it sounds like the seals have gone in the turbo.

id have a look at the valve stem seals

i had the same thing when 3 of the buggers worked their way off. superglue soon sorted them.

shaun i had that problem when i had mine running. i hope my seals havnt gone :( is that expensive?

Blown turb smokes all the time, check your stem oil seals.

Own the day

the stem seals seem to look alright. look to be seated properly.

White Smoke??? Isn't that usualy water/head gasket related??

oil smoke can be white, especially if its heavy

Well bit the bullet and pulled the turbo out today. Was hoping to find an obvious sign of there being loads of oil in the exhaust housing. but seems pretty dry, maybe just burnt off as i havent started the car in a few days.

Heres a video of the shaft play, seems to be quite alot doesnt it, you can hear it when you move it from side to side. Theres no movement up and down though.

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y83/Gibbo...2009014-002.flv

I have the exact same issue, doesnt smoke wheb drive because the turbo is pressurised, exhaust is caked in oil though

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


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shaun has this problem just developed ?

also how olds the turbo some 20 years old?

Just seen your video.

Bloody hell, that's some radial play you've got on the turbine.

What's the compressor like ?

If it's the same, I think it's time for a recon Shaun.

Minivanless, but reluctantly happy living with the decision. There'll be another one day.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=minimadmotorman#p/u

shaun, just seen the vidio and i can assure you its TOTALLY..... !!!!

...............**** "FOOKED" *****

worst one i have seen running.

Yeh this problem has only just developed. Turbo was bought new from mirage at the end of 2007.
compressor wheel has the same sort of movement, but there was no oil in the intake

That looks a lot of play. Obviously you are going to have to do something with the turbo. But before you fit a new one please double check your oil supply to the turbo to ensure you have adequate lubrication, as otherwise your new turbo could suffer the same fate.

well its FOOKED shaun, its a wonder it makes ANY boost whatsoever

i'm suprised its goosed after that short time.

i would say the same as tom, somethings gone wrong which might not be the turbo so check everything over well.

I know Minimark had issues with turbos for a while, think it ended up being the oil supply.

Yeh, im definitely going to check everything over.
what should i do to check the oil supply? just stick a gauge on the end of the supply and make sure that im getting the same oil pressure as i get when im cranking over?

Dunno whether to take this opportunity to put a T25 on as its a straight swap on mirage manifolds.
Would look at putting a gt17 on, but then i gotta put a bulkhead box in, gotta get new manifold and downpipe.

Thats pretty conclusive. stick the end of the line in plastic bottle and see if you get any flow.

Own the day

i would put it back in the oil filler cap, saves wasting oil and risk it running out with the engine running

When I first ran mine last week I initially put a temporary return into a 2l clear plastic lemonade type bottle, lower than the turbo - that way you can see the flow and also see how much oil you've pumped out of the sump, it also represents the gravity return - putting it back to the filler isn't representative of gravity return.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???