turbo gods are calling my name

[nothingbutwin]

A little back ground.. Picked up this car about 3 weeks ago, it needs a lot of help interior, and exterior, and apparently now drive train wise

I picked it up from an old friend, The timing belt and accessories were just replaced prolly 20 miles before i picked it up. it needed the heater core replaced, coolant level sensor wires fixed, and sometimes the fuel level sender wouldn't read. I replaced the heater core so that i could put some local miles on it and make sure everything was sound before putting 100+ miles on it a day driving to work and back.

After replacing the heater core (which i never want to do again) and triple checking for leaks i put over 250 miles on it last weekend, The car had some random misfires which i was going to look into this weekend (plugs, boost leaks, etc.) i did some heavy pulls on friday close to home to pull some logs, switched ICMs, blah blah blah (always letting it warm up and cool down properly). anyways, went to take it yesterday, started it up pulled out of the driveway it was covered in snow from the dusting we got monday night. got about a 1/4 mile from my house and looked in the mirror, it was a mix of snow and heavy smoke. turned on a side street and slowed down and it was a go go gadget smoke screen. White heavy smoke. drove back home. still smoking like no other pulled back in got out and took a wiff of the smoke. it almost smelled like hot electrical. now the car has a GIAC tune on it and has 174xxx miles on it. with not having any time to diagnose the issue yesterday i left it at home and took my other vehicle to work.

Today i went out and started the car, this is what i got.
https://youtu.be/9W1jFvs0dtY

i wasnt going to take it out of the driveway in fear of it breaking down somewhere and not being able to limp it back home. it started out pretty blue (oil) then clears up a bit until the thick white smoke starts to come out... which then that cleared up a bit. After the video I lightly reved it up and the white smoke would come back and then slowly go away. It is kind of hard to hear in the video, however since i got it, every time i started the car i could hear almost what sounds like a power steering pump on a GM sucking air....yeah i know we all drive Audis.. but with the hood open it sounded like it was coming from the driver side back of the engine...turbo area.

So, now i can only assume that the turbo gods are calling my name. which isnt a big deal i was planning on replacing them anyways with a set from Audis4parts. I do not plan on upgrading at this time, because i do want to swap in a 6MT swap this fall. and at that time do some other upgrades with the car

While the motor is out, I plan on porting and polishing the exhaust manifolds. at the same time i will prolly pull the exhaust side off of the new turbos and polish them, and piggie the downpipes at that time as well. Ill Prolly fab up some bi-pipes at that time to see if i like them, if not ill make a 2 in 1 out FMIC

Its going to be a slow process, as work is currently on 65 hour weeks, and it doesnt seem to be letting up any time soon. pipe fabrication is the business to be in theses days!

[christianb5s4]

First thing you should do is check your coolant and oil for any mixing, could definitely be a turbo issue.

[nothingbutwin]

I've been playing with a few things lately. Mostly trying to get my friends built 2jz is300 out of the garage so that i can start on the audi..

But i have checked there is no oil in the coolant. still pink and clean. I have since pulled the lower intercooler hoses looking for oil, and possibly pieces of the turbo fins... found very little oil in the intercoolers... I did more searching about cars smoking under load and which got me to checking the PVC and spider hose on the car. i removed the pancake valve from the y pipe, its not caked with crap but there is a lining of yellow oil/condensation... as well as in the breather hoses on the valve covers.. i left them off (incase the pancake valve was bad, or there was an obstruction in the system) and went for a short drive down the road. little to no smoke.. this time it looked blue and wasn't thick..

So at this point im kinda lost, do i pull the motor and check turbos? it really seems to come and go with how bad it smokes

[vavJETTAw36]

You could check the turbos via a camera through the inlets or drop the downpipes and check the turbine wheels.


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[MikeyB3]

Cold start on a cold morning... doesnt seem to be anything out of the ordinary here. You'll know when you have smoke. It's like a smoke screen out of James Bond. AMHIK.

[axnjaksn]

kinda agree with mikeyb3, if you live in green bay, I know its cold, I live in socal and on cold mornings my car will blow white smoke until I get to work, just burning out the condensation that's in there, if it was coolant it would smell sweet, if it was oil, well you would no there too. do a compression test, if your really that concerned. when turbos go, its like stated friggin smoke screen, like clear the road cuz you wont be able to see. as for the coloring in the pcv, you need to change the oil and filter and be sure to run good gas. make sure you let the car get nice and hot every time you drive it, condensation in the oil from not getting warm enough and leftover combustion by products cause that nasty stuff in the pcv and on the oil cap.

[nothingbutwin]

The day or so before I posted this, I drove it and that's when it was like James Bond smoke screen. It was nuts. The next day I took that video and it wasn't as bad, and since then it has cleared up. When I say that it was James Bond smoke screen. I mean I came to a stop sign bringing it back home and I couldn't see out my side windows. I honestly don't know what could Make it smoke that bad one day and then clear up right after.

I'll mess with It today some. I have access to a bore scope camera that I'll see if I can fish down into the turbos..

If I find nothing I'll do a compression test and see where that brings me.. as well as a boost leak test..

[Corradovolksb]

To follow up with what people have said I have heard of the Pcv valve freezing causing vacuum to suck oil from the crankcase and cause the same thing you are describing. Before you go after your turbos make sure your Pcv system is working like it should

[nothingbutwin]

To follow up with what people have said I have heard of the Pcv valve freezing causing vacuum to suck oil from the crankcase and cause the same thing you are describing. Before you go after your turbos make sure your Pcv system is working like it should

The day that it was smoking it was pretty cold, and I drove it the night before so the pancake valve freezing up was my thought after it stopped smoking... makes me wanna build a catch can setup.