Interesting question

[bradboyd80]

Ok, so I was in NC this past weekend visiting my gf's family. I went to replace the spark plugs and noticed oil in both of my boost tubes. I figured it was just blowby until my gf's brother (a mazda mechanic) said that the turbo seals are probably going bad. So we started it up to see if there was any smoke, but there wasn't. Then he asks me if I'm running synthetic oil.....which I was. He then tells me that Mazda tech service (who they go through for warranty work) has a "secret" workaround that anytime someone comes in with a smoking turbo, all they have to do is a synthetic oil change, and tell them nothing is wrong with it. Reason being, synthetic oil burns clear, so you can't see it.

I do have a catch can waiting to be installed, so hopefully that helps with any blowby. My questions are: 1) after I run with the catch can for a while and there is still oil in my boost tubes, can I pretty much blame it on the turbo seals? and 2) anybody know of any truth to synthetic oil burning clear? If so, that's pretty shady of mazda to do that to avoid replacing a turbo under warranty.

 

[meicalnissyen]

Ok, so I was in NC this past weekend visiting my gf's family. I went to replace the spark plugs and noticed oil in both of my boost tubes. I figured it was just blowby until my gf's brother (a mazda mechanic) said that the turbo seals are probably going bad. So we started it up to see if there was any smoke, but there wasn't. Then he asks me if I'm running synthetic oil.....which I was. He then tells me that Mazda tech service (who they go through for warranty work) has a "secret" workaround that anytime someone comes in with a smoking turbo, all they have to do is a synthetic oil change, and tell them nothing is wrong with it. Reason being, synthetic oil burns clear, so you can't see it.

I do have a catch can waiting to be installed, so hopefully that helps with any blowby. My questions are: 1) after I run with the catch can for a while and there is still oil in my boost tubes, can I pretty much blame it on the turbo seals? and 2) anybody know of any truth to synthetic oil burning clear? If so, that's pretty shady of mazda to do that to avoid replacing a turbo under warranty.

where does he work??

 

[bradboyd80]

where does he work??

Mazda dealership in NC.

 

[oaklandopen]

hmmm...interesting indeed my dear watson

i've been running PP since i stopped running mobile1 since the original oil. so basically i've been running synthetic since the beginning.

and although i have gotten exhaust smoke, for me it's only been during moderate to high load (ie under heavy boost in mid to upper rpms). and i havne't had an issue with it because for one i know this is a rich running car, and i also use max thrust in rare occassion, so it's natural for there to be a good deal of smoke at these instances.

i would probably worry if i could see smoke during idle after the car has been properly warmed up.

about the oil in the boost tubes....i did a little routine checkup of my spark plugs recently and i took a look a the intercooler piping and whatnot and noticed just a little bit of a slick residue on the inside of the tubes. not drenched, just enough to run your finger on and feel that it wasn't completely dry. this is something that i don't know is normal or not. i don't know if it really is supposed to be bone dry or if this is only natural because of the turbo.

come to think of it, maybe my exhaust smoke is coming from buring oil and not so much extra fuel or just shitting out carbon buildup in the exhaust and cats

 

[bradboyd80]

hmmm...interesting indeed my dear watson

i've been running PP since i stopped running mobile1 since the original oil. so basically i've been running synthetic since the beginning.

and although i have gotten exhaust smoke, for me it's only been during moderate to high load (ie under heavy boost in mid to upper rpms). and i havne't had an issue with it because for one i know this is a rich running car, and i also use max thrust in rare occassion, so it's natural for there to be a good deal of smoke at these instances.

i would probably worry if i could see smoke during idle after the car has been properly warmed up.

about the oil in the boost tubes....i did a little routine checkup of my spark plugs recently and i took a look a the intercooler piping and whatnot and noticed just a little bit of a slick residue on the inside of the tubes. not drenched, just enough to run your finger on and feel that it wasn't completely dry. this is something that i don't know is normal or not. i don't know if it really is supposed to be bone dry or if this is only natural because of the turbo.

come to think of it, maybe my exhaust smoke is coming from buring oil and not so much extra fuel or just shitting out carbon buildup in the exhaust and cats

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. I know that a little bit of blowby is normal, but if I install a catch can to fix this, and there is still crap in my boost tubes, then wtf could it be? When I changed my plugs, the old ones had a bit of black on them, which I assume is normal since the car runs so rich. But even when I do get on the car, I never see any smoke whatsoever. So I guess all is fine and I just need to get the catch can installed.

 

[Saskatchewan17]

Yeah... welcome to the L3-VDT, MZR DISI... whatever you want to call it. It has a bad PCV design. A catch can should alleviate your problem for the most part. If there's no smoke after a 20 minute idle, your seals are fine. I helped a friend install an SRI, TIP and BPV on his MS6 with 50+ thousand miles and it had all sorts of blowby and oil like residue in the stock TIP all the way down to a thick black layer of crap around the compressor wheel.

 

[hominemodi]

the intercooler and piping on my car also had a thin film of oily, dirty residue. i guess that's just the nature of this platform and crappy pcv system. pretty sure catch can will take care of this.

 

[Chris08MS3]

A couple of months ago I brought my car to the dealer for the "smoking turbo" problem and that's exactly what they did, change the oil to synthetic. They told me that is Mazda's temporary fix until they can figure out the real problem which he said Mazda has been promising for years. I asked if Mazda was going to pay for my future oil changes with synthetic and he said no. If I didn't want to pay then just change it back to regular oil and if it smokes again bring it in.

 

[bigdaddy]

im more interested about mazda's "smoking turbo" fix...this can't be true about just changing the oil, can it??

 

[bradboyd80]

im more interested about mazda's "smoking turbo" fix...this can't be true about just changing the oil, can it??

Well now that someone has confirmed that this has actually happened, I guess it could be......which is pretty ****** up if you ask me. All they are doing is putting a bandaid on a bullet wound hoping it lasts until after the powertrain warranty is expired.

 

[Sport6]

This changing to "synthetic" might be the changing to 5w40 that Mazda said that they were going to do when they acknowledged the problem last August or whenever it was. They were changing the oil to that until the new PCV system was released.

 

[8.5MS3]

i ran full synthetic and smoked at 15k. am currently running 5w40 per dealer recommendations, and will be doing everything possible to get this to smoke again once the "fix" comes out

 

[Peter B]

Part of that story sounds like poney Sh*t! I'm no chemist, but I am almost willing to bet the title of my car that synthetic doesn't burn clear. Off the top of my head the only things I can think of that do this are pure hydrogen, and some forms of alcohol.

Someone have a quart of Mobil 1 we can test this on? Throw a cap full into something clean and metal and drop a match in it. See what color the smoke is.

Not saying the synthetic doesnt stop the smoking turbo issue, just that I think its for other reasons.

 

[khoney]

At best, switching to synth buys some time, hopefully (in Mazda's eyes) until the warranty is up. I ran Mobil1 in mine from mile 1500. Turbo smoked at under 30K.

 

[bradboyd80]

Part of that story sounds like poney Sh*t! I'm no chemist, but I am almost willing to bet the title of my car that synthetic doesn't burn clear. Off the top of my head the only things I can think of that do this are pure hydrogen, and some forms of alcohol.

And that is precisely the point of the thread. LOL. Wanted to hear what everyone thinks of the "synthetic burning clear" claim. Perhaps part of it could be that a fresh synthetic oil change rids the smoking for a while....not necessarily permanently. But who knows....

 

[gonerogue]

Doesn't make much sense to me. Aside from no indication for why syn oil would burn clear, I highly doubt every person that has had a smoking turbo was running dino oil.

I think they put the 5w40 in as a quick remedy because it's thicker and doesn't slip into places it shouldn't as easily. That's my rationalization.

 

[HondaEat-R]

Or your intake is sucking heavy oil "soaked" air from the valve cover vent, then pushing it through your turbo, and intercooler pipes, coating it all with a thin layer.

 

[oaklandopen]

At least the light coating of oil in the aluminum intercooler will help curb rusting







...wait a minute...

 

[Chris08MS3]

I hope Mazda comes out with this "fix" soon! I was picking up my daughter from school last Friday and while waiting in line my car started smoking like crazy. Looks like another trip to the dealer.... :mad:

How many times does a dealer have until you can lemon law a car? (gun)

 

[HondaEat-R]

How many times have u been in for the same or related issues ?