Hi all,
Really need some advice if possible.For the last week or so my car's been blowing a little blue smoke at idle. A couple of days ago this suddenly got a lot worse and it's now blowing quite a lot of blue smoke at idle... especially if I leave it at idle for a few mins and then give it some revs. I had a read on the forum and assumed it may be a turbo problem or possibly the turbo oil seal. It's just due a service anyway so booked it in for a service tomorrow.....
Then, driving in to work this morning it suddenly stated producing white smoke from under the bonnet. I stopped it and had a look and it appears to be coming from the driver's side of the engine. A quick look online has me thinking again that this could be a knackered turbo, or possibly a seal or the cam cover gasket.
The car's running fine, no obvious problems with boost, water temp, etc, although there's a definite whine which I think it's had for a few thou miles which I think is coming from the turbo.
So it's booked in tomorrow, do you think it's safe to drive it to the garage?Can anyone think of anything else I should look into?
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Turbo oil seals tend to give off blue smoke and rocker cover gasket leaking onto headers causes white smoke from bonnet area.
Im no expert tho so could be wrong

 

afaik blue smoke is burnt oil and white smoke is unburnt oil as in hot oil leaking into exhaust but not actually combusted, does sound like seals, it should be safe but check your oil level and how far is the garage.

 

The white smoke.... was it raining at the time? Just saying as water splashing on the exahust on the drivers side can also cause this... but more likely to be the rocker cover on the drivers side allowing a little bit of oil through and dripping on the exhaust... mine does this, but not that much... once its warmed up its fine, but allows a little bit of oil drip through when its cooling/cold

 

1. Don't go anywhere near a Subaru dealer. This problem is probably beyond their comprehension level and if you go anywhere near one of them their eyes will sparkle with £ signs and the cash register will be ringing before you leave their premises.
2. Find someone you can trust local to your area. Paul Blamire will not want to do the work but he could give you good advice but there will be other people local to you with the knowledge and facilities to sort the problem out without a drama.
3. With a bit of luck it is your turbo because that is easy to take off and repair or replace.

Sorry I cannot be more helpful. Pity you are 200 miles from us.

 

Thanks for the advice.

I contacted my local Subaru dealership to cancel the service that was booked for today, they also said it sounded like a turbo issue and suggested I contact a local specialist instead.

So it's now booked in tomorrow with Steve at Northants Subaru who seems to get a pretty good write up on here and is only about 10 miles from my house. If the oil levels are good do you think it'll be ok to carefully drive it there?

Now hopefully it'll just be the turbo.... and hopefully I can resist the urge to replace it with a bigger one!

 

so it looks like it's the turbo, just waiting for a compression test to confirm the engine's ok. If I need to get the turbo rebuilt, does anyone know a good place and roughly what the cost would be?

 

You could try TurboTechnics, they're local to you-Sketty Close, Brackmills, 01604 705050 and competetive on price. I sent my MD to Turbodynamics, it needed new seals and a compressor wheel, came to just under £400 but came back as if new. Slightly better price if you go via Lateral than TD direct.
Trev

 

Does sound like turbo but i just hope for your sake it isn't piston ringlands mate,and the rocker leaking onto the o/s manifold is very comman,easy to sort though good luck.

 

Now confirmed it's the turbo and it needs new seals, bearings and the turbo housing's cracked.... but Turbo Technics can't get a replacement turbo housing so looks like I need a replacement turbo instead.

Is there anywhere else I could try to contact to get a replacement turbo housing, or should I just look for a replacement turbo?

thanks for the help so far.

 

Sounds like it's totally shot. I'd get a replacement. Which turbo is it?

 

it's a VF35.

 

Ta Da !

As if by magic the shopkeeper appeared !

I have a VF35 in the for sale section if you are interested ?

Sorry for the shameless plug

 

Ta Da !.... SWEET