Blue Smoke under deceleration

[Tam]

Hi all help needed....

Well just spent the last week fitting the goodies i recently bought off Steve-vr4-ish and this consisted off a de-cat pipe, Apexi BOV (with the rigid pipe connecting to the y piece situated behind the drivers headlight), Apexi back exhaust (from the cat back), K+N filter and the Cusco Rear Strut along with a few small other items to reduce the list of needs the Leggie has. Also did an oil and filter change putting in fully synthetic 5W30 instead of the 10W40 she had in her.

Prior to all this she smoked a little on start up but it cleared,which could be the valve stem seals, but some have said not to worry about that in some of the threads i have searched.

However now when i left off the fun peddle she blue smokes a bit but is clear when on boost. I have done some seraching on the threads and it seems that the turbo seals are most likely to be at fault, but it never smoked under deceleration prior to this work and surely it would start smoking and slowly get worse and worse. I will take her out for a drive and see if i can find a decent hill to attempt the downhill, 3rd gear approx 2000rpm trick to see if she still smokes. Just need to find a hill around wokingham. If i was to carry on using her would it just be a case of the smoke getting worse or would it all let go in a spectacular fashion.

Also some threads mentioned the PCV getting blocked so i will have a look at that and give it a clean and see if it does anything.

If the turbos are goosed i noticed in a thread that Davezj had rebuilt his turbos with a kit and i was wondering if the kit is available and where i might be able to purchase it, or is it best just to get some secondhand turbos. I would prefer to rebuild them so i then know the history of the turbos.

However on a positive note she sounds awesome and with a little BOV dumping.

Cheers for any advice given.

Marc

[Nick Mann]

Sounds like you have got the next steps to take sorted already.

It could be the exhaust has less damping material in it and is letting the oil out more easily, so the problem is more obvious?

Assuming your diagnosis is right (it certainly sounds right at the moment) then the issue will get progressively worse. Mine ran like that for 6 months or more and became undriveable simply because the smoking was getting to the point I was mildly embarassed by it - especially if lifting off after boost. I got to the point where the oil vapour was igniting on a spirited drive!!

Rebuilding turbos yourself is considered to be a second rate way of doing it, simply due to the possibility of introducing an imbalance in something that spins at incredible speed. You can buy second hand if you are on a budget, you can attempt a self build or you can buy professionally refurbished units. apeman69 bought refurbished units on an exchange basis a couple of years back and they looked brand spanking new!

Good luck.

[Tam]

Hi nick
Cheers for the quick reply is there anyone or anywhere you would recommend getting refurbed turbos from and what sort of cost am I looking at?
Cheers
Marc

[Nick Mann]

I can't remember the details on Alan's tubs but searching on his name and appropriate words should bring up some details. I'd try for you but I'm on my phone and it is cumbersome for involved replies.

[orionn2o]

If you do wish to rebuild your turbos yourself, there are some good companies out there who will balance them for you afterwards.

[Davezj]

If you do get refurbed turbos balanced don't use the service that says they will balance the compressor wheel and exhaust wheel without the need for the rest of the cartridge section.
it is pointless doing that, you will have to fit them to the cartridge you have and you don't know if they are balanced to eachother.
you might as well rely on the fact that when you turbo was new the compressor and exhaust wheels were balanced at this point and if they are still in good condition without damage then they should still be balanced as individual items now, so it does not matter what rotaional orientation they are put back to gether in.

go for a full cartridge balance, but you will probably be paying the same for the balanceof one turbo as you can pay for a second hand Pair of turbos.

personally i think you will be better off ensuring the compressor wheel, shaft and nut are all put back together in exactly the same aligment as they were before you took them apart, you have much better odds of getting a turbo that works well doing that.
this is of course relying on the fact the turbo was working well making lots of boost before you took it apart to refub it and the only reason you are refurbing the turbo is due to an oil leak.
if you have any wheel or housing damage, you might as well through the turbo away and buy a second hand replacement pair.

[Tam]

Well cleaned the pcv and took off the rear turbo pipe and it did not have loads if oil it did have a little bit but I thought nothing major. Could not do same for front. Took her out today and she started doing it again off boost so think one of the seals is gone. But going to keep using it till it gets really bad.
Where would I be able to get rebuild/seal kits from?
Marc

[horndog]

I think Saf68 had some used turbos for sale in France, he upgraded to bigger tubs
Might be a cheaper stop-gap before a turbo rebuild?