Ok, so I've just got in after a day working on the car. I'm cold, stiff and just plained p****d off.

I have just changed the turbo on my 03 bugeye (for reasons I'll mention later) and took good advice from the forum and how true they were. Seized bolts, awkward to get at, the whole nine yards

Anyway, the car was all back together topped up the oil and coolant and ready to start. On starting there wasn't any blowing from the exhaust (success i thought), no leaks from oil or water around the turbo (this is looking good). But I did have white smoke coming from the exhaust - however i put this down to coolant making a dash for freedom down the header pipe during removal and the fact the car hadn't been driven for just over a week. There was a small amount of smoke/steam coming off the turbo/manifold once it had warmed up, but again I put this down to spilt fluids. I left the car running for some time to burn it off, but it was still there So I decided to go for a short test drive to check it out... oh boy, loads of white smoke coming from the engine bay straight back home and on the drive.

Having checked the forum, alot of people mentionded the rocker cover gasket leaking oil onto the manifold - Could this be it? Bearing in mind that I did not replace the turbo heatshield as I wanted to make sure there were no leaks first.

Any suggestions or agreement on this diagnosis ?

CG

PS - The turbo was changed due to oil starvation and subsiquent bearing failure

 

Run your hand down to the bottom corner nearest the bulk head on the rocker cover and feel around the corner and the bottom to see if its damp.
Mine leaks like mad as I need the drivers side replaced. You should also see, if you look close enough with a torch, the top surface of the exhaust would be a little damp with oil. You would see the smoke rising from there and the first 5 - 10 mile drive, you would smell the oil inside the car.

Best time to check would be if the car has sat overnight.

As for anything else mate im not sure.

 

check the oil drain on the bottom of the turbo is on properly.. no kinks etc..

you say white smoke, does it smell of burning oil? or is it water burning? one of the water pipes leaking on to hot turbo?

Simon

 

i had similar on mine after changing turbo it was just the coolant/oil that escaped when disconnecting pipes burning off soon stopped after a few miles.

jgm will probably remember it when he mapped as we had to pull in to layby to check it was ok.

 

very true, it is difficult as one persons lots of smoke and another persons are not the same imho there was not much off yours

 

The other place it may be coming from it the oil feed pipe. The bottom bango that connects to the engine block can be made loose if you moved the pipe too much when changing the turbo. I did this on mine and its a bitch to do up again - luckily I had the gearbox out at the time, otherwise not sure how I would have got a spanner on it!

 

Not just the WD40 or similar used to lube the bolts burning off is it?

Simon

 

i have just changed the turbo on my my98 and it done the exact same thing white smoke pouring out the back took it for a blast and then smoke started to pour out the front, i think it was just the excess lube i used on the bolts took about two days to stop smoking.

 

First of all, thanks for the suggestions. So I thought I would post an update.

I didn't drive the car last week for fear of something major as I drive a lot of motorway miles. So yesterday was the first time the bonnet had been lifted since my post.

After checking for oil from the rocker cover as suggested I found a small leak (more of a smear), but not enough to be cause. So i fired her up to see if the smoking continued . . . nothing I let her run for a bit to get nice and hot and noticed a small amount of steam coming from the expansion tank area. After fiddling with the pipes I noticed a small squirt coming from the turbo to expansion tank hose. So I have just replaced the crappy spring clips for something more substantial and the leak has stopped. Whilst doing this I did noticed how much coolant stinks when it hits the exhaust

After a test drive around the block there was a small amount of 'steam' but nothing compared to last week. There was a smell of burning plastic which I am putting down to residue burning off and no heat shield. The scooby is cooling down now whilst I write this so i can refit the heatshield and go for another run.

Thanks again for the help and hopefully it's all sorted now.

CG