White smoke issue? *Turbo HELP!

[igdrasil]

Well....I dont know if this is an issue on proteges, or an issue on garrets or an issue on spool turbos.

But, on every ride i take in my car, if I spool up the turbo at least a bit enough to hear it, like in normal driving, not flooring the pedal; after one minute on idle ... the car starts to smoke ridiculously white. I hate it.

This is interesting, it doesnt leave any kind of residue on the tail. No water, no oil, no carbon, etc. But it smokes ugly. Smells different but its close to burned oil.

The only solution I found is to let the turbo cool down, and if it starts to smoke, I take a little ride of 5 minutes without spoolin the turbo. And 90% of the times, it works.

IS THERE ANY KIND OF FIX, A WORKAROUND to stop this from happening? Because, if I leave the car on idle, waiting for the smoke to stop, its like 5min or more. And sometimes it stop smoking, I say, ok it stoped, and suddently it starts again.
:mad:

please....help

 

[dficken]

I think this was covered here...

http://www.protege5.com/vbb230/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18722&highlight=white+smoke

Not sure if you already read that one or not, but it seems to answer the question.

 

[PaulMP3]

I have never expierenced any smoking of any kind with my kit. Sometimes a gas smell after i turn the car off, probally because im running really rich.

 

[Little Beavis]

You have a PM.

Sent to you by the owner of a car that used to be a chain smoker!

 

[dominoy2k1]

damn igd, didnt you have similar problems before engine was rebuilt?

 

[LinuxRacr]

Sure you don't have a rotary in you P5?

 

[Matthew]

just wondering, how many miles you got on the turbo? for like several days worth of good driving my friends turbo on his civic smoked and scarred the piss outta him...but it turned out to be packing grease burning up on the turbo when it heated up

 

[igdrasil]

thanks Beavis...

now i will have to see some pictures, because is difficult to me to follow instructions and order parts that I dont see, if its in english.

Anyone want to help?

 

[dficken]

Beavis, can you post what you did to fix "the chain smoker"?

 

[Ryno]

Check the oil line going to the turbo. You may have a small leak that is burning off---(burning oil=white smoke)

 

[Little Beavis]

Basically, you need to ensure that the oil return line is always going down, no level spots, no upward bends. Just a constant downward drain. You are relying on gravity to return the oil to the pan. The oil out of the turbo is pretty frothy and foamy and as such doesn't drain as well as it should. So, you need to pay way too much attention to the drain.

If the drain has too much resistance than you will leak oil past the seals of the turbo, which will result in white smoke.

To fix the problem, you can "adjust" your line as needed to maintain the downward slope. It is possible to eliminate the smoking with the stock line (a number of people are having no problem, and with careful attention I was able to fix it by adding a ton of zip strips to the line to hold it in place every few inches).

OR you can try to revise the line. A shorter line will obviously have a greater slope. On the Spool system, the turbo is about 8" above the oil pan, so an 8" oil line (minus the lenght of the fittings + where you want to enter the oil pan) produces a line that goes straight from the turbo to the oil pan (no possible flat spots or rises).

I built an overly complicated drain system with a block welded on to the oil pan that made sure the oil was still draining downward as it went into the pan (rather than having to do a horizontal drain into the oil pan). That approach may not be necessary, but it worked. I have a 45 degree fitting out of the turbo, straight down a very short hose, to a 45 degree fitting that is screwed into a block that is welded (at a 45 degree angle) to the oil pan. So, the oil is always moving down. Overkill yes, but no problems whatsoever now. I never imagined the oil return line was that important (but then I tried it, because I didn't have anything else to lose. . .and lo and behold. . .it worked, so I made the complicated system to guarantee no future problems).

Maybe I should make a kit and sell that now too. . .

 

[mikem]

I know this seems basic, but did you ensure the oil return from the turbo was secure. I had a freak occurrence of that damn thing loosening up on me and I smoked like crazy.

 

[spoolinmp3]

Basically what lil Beavis said. You must make sure that the line has no flat spots in it. We currently are running a 10 inch line total length that is a straight drop from the turbo to pan. Just make sure the oil is draining this is whats causing the smoke. The oil is backing up putting pressure on the rear seal.....causing a leak thus leaking into the DP causing the smoke

 

[Little Beavis]

Here's what I did to fix the smoking. . .
As I said, I made a new block that dumps the oil into the pan at a 45 degree angle, then have a very short oil return line (about 7 inches) that has a 45 at the end going into the oil pan block and a 45 is used up at the turbo. So you end up with a straight shot from the turbo to the oil pan, no flat spots, no "slow flow" areas, just an easy dump into the oil pan.

 

[igdrasil]

Here's what I did to fix the smoking. . .
As I said, I made a new block that dumps the oil into the pan at a 45 degree angle, then have a very short oil return line (about 7 inches) that has a 45 at the end going into the oil pan block and a 45 is used up at the turbo. So you end up with a straight shot from the turbo to the oil pan, no flat spots, no "slow flow" areas, just an easy dump into the oil pan.

perfect, now i have an idea....i will do that on my other oil pan.

 

[PaulMP3]

My oil drain line looks bigger than that. What size line is that. Mine is not striaght like that but it falls into the pan with a nice slope. just avoiding my cat.

 

[changedman]

maybe you blew a head gasket and its steam.... HOPEFULLY NOT. just saw a dude in a pickup with that, he blew his head gasket.