[Mk2] [Turbo] White Smoke from Turbo !?

[JLW]

Hi Guys

After a full days "Hooning" yesterday, I noticed in my rear view mirror
that every time I hit boost and let off there is a puff of white smoke
coming from the engine lid ( passenger side because of the rain guard )
It happens exactly when the BOV releases and does it even with a
small amount of compressor surge, but mostly when it completely vents.
It will only do this under load !

I also noticed a couple of times when pulling away at very low rev's the car seemed to run on 3 cylinders
and gave a very distinct Subaru sound for a few seconds and then smoothed out.

It was mentioned to me that this could be the Turbo seals as the car's running
the stock CT20b and recently has been mapped to 1.2 bar with a link G4 storm
with 80k on the clock ?

Any ideas , as Id rather not drive it and cause more damage if I could !

Thanks

Jordan.

[Dale_V]

cracked piston ringlands leading to increased crankcase pressure

[JLW]

cracked piston ringlands leading to increased crankcase pressure

That a definite or just a possible mate, not what I wanted to hear lol.

[Dale_V]

I cant give a definate as ive not seen the car

But its a very very possible. The ringlands do like to crack when the boost has been turned up even on a stock ecu. Even more likely on yours on an aftermarket ecu (leaned out fuelling/advanced timing)

Whats your breather setup like from the catch can to air intake?

do you have it as oem, where it goes direct from the catch can to intake, or have you got the catch can venting to atmosphere with a mini filter on it?

[JLW]

I cant give a definate as ive not seen the car

But its a very very possible. The ringlands do like to crack when the boost has been turned up even on a stock ecu. Even more likely on yours on an aftermarket ecu (leaned out fuelling/increased timing)

Whats your breather setup like from the catch can to air intake?

do you have it as oem, where it goes direct from the catch can to intake, or have you got the catch can venting to atmosphere with a mini filter on it?

Hi Bud

yes sorry I know its not exactly easy to identify over internet,
TO be brutally honest I dont know lol, I could get a shot of the engine bay
tonight in the specific area your mentioning and show you.

But I'm sure its running OEM as the only engine mods I have, are as below:

E N G I N E:
. Link G4 storm standalone ECU mapped by Nispro ( 318bhp @ 1.2bar )
. Phoenix Power side mounted intercooler
. Berk technologies De-Cat pipe
. Blitz Nur Spec R full exhaust system
. Greddy Type R Adjustable BOV / dump valve
. 8MM Magnecor Ignition Lead Kit
. TRD Sports Iridium Sparkplugs - Grade 7
. Apex Power Intake
. TOM's radiator cap
. TRD oil cap
. BRD gearbox linkage bushes
. Bosch "supreme power" battery
. SAMCO boost pipe hoses
. Ceramic coated intercooler pipes

[Dale_V]

Yes please get a photo of the engine bay.

Also take the spark plugs out, inspect the condition. One (or more) may be fouled up with oil from the cracked piston letting oil blow past

I've had the exact same happen to mine on 3 engines. I didn't even bother investigating any of them. Just removed the engine and on strip down the pistons were cracked each time

[JLW]

Yes please get a photo of the engine bay.

Also take the spark plugs out, inspect the condition. One (or more) may be fouled up with oil from the cracked piston letting oil blow past

I've had the exact same happen to mine on 3 engines. I didn't even bother investigating any of them. Just removed the engine and on strip down the pistons were cracked each time

Hi Bud

ok ill get a photo of the bay tonight,

Ive actually just spoken to Walton Smith at Nispro who fitted the Link G4
and mapped and he agreed with your diagnoses, he's said I should get a
compression test done first. and if even across the board, then it could have
been from the increase in oil temp from the hours of hard driving yesterday.
( 6 hours of hard hard driving for a Monky London review )

He mentioned that the 3 cylinder running would be because of increase engine
bay temps and then stopping for a second the inlet temps would work a bit
funny until air flow resumes, which made sense.

Ill get the photo asap.

thanks,

Jordan.

[Dale_V]

Shame you're not up here in Yorkshire, I'd have had a look at it all for you.

With regards to the catch can set up..It's jus a curiosity that's all...If the catch can is venting via a mini filter then the excess blow by will be viable by it coming out of the filter..

If it's oem set up then blow by will come out of the dump valve

So either check the mini filter or bov, look for oil.. There should be quite a bit

Either way would be visable from the rear view mirror

[Odin_S]

Ah sorry to hear this I'm looking forward to your monkey London video.

Did you notice before your hooning? or your ECU install?

[JLW]

Shame you're not up here in Yorkshire, I'd have had a look at it all for you.

With regards to the catch can set up..It's jus a curiosity that's all...If the catch can is venting via a mini filter then the excess blow by will be viable by it coming out of the filter..

If it's oem set up then blow by will come out of the dump valve

So either check the mini filter or bov, look for oil.. There should be quite a bit

Either way would be visable from the rear view mirror

Hi Dale

Appreciate the help nonetheless, I'm pretty sure to my memory their is no
small filter for the oil breathing. Tonight ill check the BOV to see if there is any
oil deposits also.

Ah sorry to hear this I'm looking forward to your monkey London video.

Did you notice before your hooning? or your ECU install?

Hi Bud

Me too, tbh yesterdays driving was 50/50 with me and ML and most of the
hard driving / launching / flyby's where me and I tend to drive it that way anyway. Its had very little time driven with the new power and Link ECU so,
could have happened at any time.

Getting a compression test done tomorrow and that shall shed some light.

Jordan.

[mr2magic]

Are you sure the smoke is white? Rings/ringlands/turbo seals/Valve shaft seals etc. all lead to oil burning..which burns blue.

[JLW]

Are you sure the smoke is white? Rings/ringlands/turbo seals/Valve shaft seals etc. all lead to oil burning..which burns blue.

It looks white to me, but thats just me in the car looking through the
rear view mirror through a tinted rear window. But I've had a car blow
blue smoke before so understand the difference.

If white then any other issues it could be ?

[Dale_V]

Everytime I popped my ringlands the smoke was more of a light grey colour, never blue.

I guess its hard to concentrate while on boost and looking for xxxx out of the back.

[androo007]

Likely to be ringlands chap If not now, it will be at somepoint.

All go at some point once you crank up the boost.....

I had one with ringland gone and had excessive blowby only under boost too.

[mr2toby]

My rev3 was showing exactly the same symptoms. Mapped TD06 on a link G3. A compression check revealed 50 psi less on No.3

My car is currently with Pete at Sbits having a forged engine installed.

[JLW]

Hi Guys

yes the signs are all there it seems, at least it wasn't before the video lol.
managed to get some engine bay shots for you Dale V.



And also ran my finger inside the opening of the BOV and found quite a lot of oil deposit !

[Dale_V]

that doesnt look too bad. its more soot than liquid

get the plugs pulled out/inspected and do that compression check

[JLW]

that doesnt look too bad. its more soot than liquid

get the plugs pulled out/inspected and do that compression check

Ok cool mate, it was wet but not incredibly. But that could have been from
The engine heat drying it out and then it's sat for a day ?

Guess we will know tomorrow. I'll check plugs also.

[Dale_V]

yeah if its behaving ok on cruise/idle and not been boosted for a while then I guess the majority of the oil may have been burnt off.

I was gutted when I blew my Turbo ringlands... for about half a day, then I thought fook it, lets make it a strong reliable engine with the ct20, and got on the hunt for forged pistons...

Then I thought fook that too, if im having forged pistons I may as well make the most of it, bought a GTX3076r and the rest......

Forging an engine isnt really expensive if you keep what youve got and are happy with that ( turbo/injectors/ecu), its when you take advantage of the pistons that it gets expensive

[2barGee]

i'd take the induction kit off and see if there is a load of oil in there. It happened to my mates mr2 and oil was actually dripping out of the induction kit cone filter

The oil will then be sucked into the turbo and then flying out of the dump valve i rekon.

If you've caught in nice and early lets hope you can just fit forged 86mm pistons and you dont need to bore out the walls.