More Bad News

[SallySpeed3]

Well officially add me to the "smoking turbo" list. As if I haven't had enough problems in the last 2 weeks with having to send me ECU to cobb because my AP froze in the middle of flashing, and recently my car running rich because of a MAF problem. I drove my car home from Midas who was looking at it to make sure nothing else was wrong. It was running great. Picked up a can of MAF cleaner on my home. So between me driving my car home, and cleaning off my MAF sensor, I now have a s*** load of white smoke coming out of my tailpipe and it reeks! How is that even possible? One minute running fine, 5 minutes later, turbo seals leaking. I'm wondering if I should even bother with the PTP fix, gaahhhhh

 

[AutoEuphoria]

Smell like coolant?

 

[skallen]

I thought white smoke was a head gasket??? Not that that is better

 

[AutoEuphoria]

Well, if it's just white "smoke" with no smell it's usually nothing...when it smells sweet like coolant, it's coolant getting into the combustion chamber, which could come from the head gasket, but could also come from a water-cooled turbo that is leaking coolant into the hotside of the turbo.

 

[SallySpeed3]

Hmm I'm not sure if it smells like coolant or not. All I know is the old ladies behind me in traffic were not pleased about it. After driving it around for a few minutes the car definitely felt like it was running oddly. What should I do?

 

[MSMS3]

How did you clean the MAF? What kind of cleaner did you get? Did any of the cleaner get into your intake?

If you contaminated the intake either with MAF cleaner or because there was oil or fumes in the intake from crankcase vent back to the intake, either of these could temporarily cause your "smoke." It might clear.

White usually means water vapor. Blue would more likely be oil. Black is running too rich. Many different reasons for each color. And it could be a combination of more than one.

 

[coololddude]

At least you do not have any mods to blame it on!!

 

[SallySpeed3]

How did you clean the MAF? What kind of cleaner did you get? Did any of the cleaner get into your intake?

If you contaminated the intake either with MAF cleaner or because there was oil or fumes in the intake from crankcase vent back to the intake, either of these could temporarily cause your "smoke." It might clear.

White usually means water vapor. Blue would more likely be oil. Black is running too rich. Many different reasons for each color. And it could be a combination of more than one.

I used the MAF cleaner from Autozone. I can't imagine any of it getting into the intake. If any did, it wasn't alot, certainly not enough to cause the amount of smoke I was getting.

At first I figured it was water because I had just washed my exhaust tip, but the more I drove it the worse it got, and it seemed to be bogging down. The smell also leads me to believe it's not water. In any case, I'll try starting it up tonight and see what happens

On a plus side I called the dealer that I purchased it from and told the service guy of my problem. He said no matter what the problem is I would be covered under warranty up to 60K miles. I even told him that the only mod I have is the intake (which is a lie, I'm going to put everything back to stock except the intake cause I threw it out, lol) and he seemed cool about it. He said the first step is giving it an oil change with a different weight to see if that does it. Only problem is the dealer is over an hour away, thats alot of driving with a potentially BAD problem. If it is just water or coolant getting into my combustion chamber, that can cause damage right?

 

[RaiderMS3]

PTP fix worked for my car. Fixed it in like 2 days, no more smoke. next step is to get a catch can to collect the crap.

 

[destrux]

Coolant smoke disappears much faster than oil smoke. Especially on a hot dry day with no wind.

 

[SallySpeed3]

Yeah, it did dissapear rather quickly and actually the longer it idles it seems to go away, but comes back as soon as I start driving or give it gas. My only worry is driving the car while it's like this.

 

[skallen]

Hmmm...sounds like a gasket problem to me. But then again I am pretty new to the turbo crowd. So, there is probably a plethora of s*** that it could be. I'm just going on expereince with my old Honda

 

[madvillian]

Yes, turbo smoke = black/blue smoke. White smoke means your cars ******.

 

[SallySpeed3]

Well now I'm really confused because just started her up, let it idle for a few minutes, gave some gas, nothing. Took for a drive and it seems fine. Don't want to get my hopes up, we'll see what happens tommorow.

 

[madvillian]

how're your coolant levels?

 

[SallySpeed3]

I believe I checked the overflow reservoir which is to the left in the engine bay? Pathetic I don't know where it is, but everything looked ok.

 

[SallySpeed3]

Started her up again this morning, I noticed a bunch of water mixed with black soot shoot out the tailpipe, so maybe it was just water from when I washed the exhaust tip. In any case, drove for about 15 miles and nothing happened. I guess for the time being it looks like it was a one time thing, but I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on my coolant levels and the rearview mirror for any smoke.

 

[creedns]

if its your turbo its no biggy drivin an hour on it lol hopefully its stop and go traffic so u can smoke people out while stopped. i laughed my ass off when mine would do it at drive thrus. looked like a snoop concert after i left

 

[meicalnissyen]

how're your coolant levels?

+1

 

[SallySpeed3]

well I spoke too soon, it seems that for short drives, 15-20 miles its ok. Once i've turned the car off and let it sit in it's own heat for a while the problem comes back. The exhaust smells sweet, definitely, but I haven't seen my coolant levels go down, Going to contact the mazda dealer thats closer to me and see what kind of vibe I get from them.