mossi

iTrader: (1)

Hi , ive got a smokey impreza 1999, with a relativly new engine, covered 32k,it puffs out acrid smelling oil smoke on start up in mornig and evening, but doesnt smoke once started, ive been told its more than likely the oil seals on the turbo causing this, has anyone attempted or changed these oil seals , and any pointers how to do it, is it simple or do i opt for a turbo change, incidently is it a TD04 on a late 1999 impreza turbo?
cars only upgrades are sti intercooler and st steel cat back exhaust
thanks

Splitpin

TD series turbos can be serviced quite easily quite easily but the difficulty is ensuring that the rotating assembly stays correctly in balance afterwards. Given that you would need a rebuild kit (in excess of £50) plus the possible cost of getting them professionally balanced, if it does turn out that the turbo is the culprit you might be better off buying a secondhand one from somewhere like eBay.

However, all that said, who has told you that it is "most likely" the turbo oil seals? There are unfortunately a significant number of possible causes for the symptoms you're seeing and the turbo seals would probably not be top of the list. If they'd significantly gone, you'd probably be seeing smoke all the time, not just when the car's been parked up a while.

The best thing you could probably do at this point is to get the car examined before speculatively replacing parts.

mossi

iTrader: (1)

Eurospec commented its more than likley the turbo seals blown, haveing called them backthey said that they also reccomend its cheaper to replace the turbo with a low milage second hand one than to try to replace the seals as you have to balance up the turbo, and this can take time and money, also said go for a TD05 jap turbo, more power !

so

anyone got a turbo for sale ?

scoobyhoobydoo

Unbolt the intercooler and look for oil in there, if there is a large amount then it could well be the oil seals in the turbo. You could try a 2nd hand turbo or depending on how much you wish to spend try here AndyForrestPerformance

As said, check this is the cause first before spending your cash.

Splitpin

Who?

They might be right, but as above they might well be wrong.

Did they also mention that doing that would instantly incur something over £500 for the remap you'll need?

Fitting a non-standard turbo doesn't sound like a particularly good idea given where you are at the moment. Firstly "low mileage" TD05's are quite difficult to find given that they haven't been standard fitment on an Impreza for something like 14 years, and all of those are right-angle entry so will need converting to fit yours. Secondly if you fit a non-standard turbo, as above you're facing additional costs to get it mapped.

Thirdly if you do all of that, and find that the car's still smoky, that means the problem was elsewhere all along and you just spent a lot of money getting a non-standard turbo and a custom map.

I just typed "Subaru TD04 turbo" into eBay's search field and got four or five on the first page of results. In your shoes, if you're going to speculatively replace the turbocharger, for the reasons above I wouldn't replace it with anything other than the same.

Splitpin

Unfortunately, a "large amount of oil in the intercooler" tends to point as much (if not more) to poor compression/piston (ring) damage than it does to turbo oil seals. As such, that isn't a particularly informative "test".