Yup..Clouds of White Smoke from my turbo

my car smokes like a ******* chimney after a hard drive, and only after a hard drive, i just pop the hood, put a fan on the motor, and let it idle for 5+ minutes and it cools down just fine. otherwise, it doesn't ever smoke. i take it easy on my car though, i seriously only get on boost like once a week, im disciplined.
 
like someone else said, try a heavier weight oil such as a 5w40 or 10w40. others have used it with great success in solving the smoking problem. i myself am giving it a try now.
 
Don't be fooled guys, this isn't a 07 versus 08 issue either.

Our turbos rely on certain amounts of backpressure to keep the turbo properly lubricated. Something like "floating oil bearing seals" I read somewhere.

It's almost a promise that exhaust mods will cause this issue. And the original poster's modification of a Mazdaspeed Cat-Back is cause for concern that it's a guarantee it'll happen no matter what you do to the exhaust.

It is nowhere near a promise and far and away not a guarantee. If it were then everybody who has been running a DP or mid-pipe or CBE for any length of time would be having this problem. Since there are any number of people with one or more of these exhaust mods running around with no problems whatsoever, this is clearly not the case. Even if a reduction in back pressure does at some point cause floating seals to leak oil, it seems highly unlikely that the threshold is any mod to the exhaust. Single-factor analysis FTL!
 
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Ignorance is bliss my friend.

So when a buddy installs a test pipe on his MS6 and a couple weeks later his exhaust starts smoking? On a meticulously maintained MS6 that was in perfect working order prior to that?

Fact is, it's an eventual happening. You don't need to be in denial with your turbo. Eventually with your mid pipe, you'll develop some form of smoking.

But, to each is own. If you want to deal with it, go ahead.

Smoking turbos = is a single factor analysis.

Not a single person with minor engine mods has a smoking turbo. Your theory of the engine running richer or adjusting it's fuel trims because of the intake, causing more oil to spew into the exhaust is hardly realistic and has no grounds of proof.

I've got the rest of the forum as proof. It's an obvious assumption given that almost EVERY time you install some form of exhaust modification to our cars, they will indeed smoke.

Don't believe me? Scroll through this thread:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123691179
 
While there seems to be a pattern that indicates major exhaust mods such as removing the cats might speed the failure of weak seals, it seem unlikely that a CBE would decrease the backpressure enough to make much difference in anything at all. I haven't heard any claims of power or MPG improvements from a CBE, and it seems like both would go up if the backpressure was reduced significantly. When I put the Mangaflow CBE on the only thing I noticed was better sound. Gas consumption didn't change at all and I felt no difference in the performance. Seems like the factory cats are providing most of the back pressure.
 
Our factory CBE is pretty damn efficient from my understanding. For this reason amongst others I can’t justify spending 500.00+ on an after market piece. Oh and like others have already stated, it does seem like exhaust MODS (DP/MD/TBE/CBE) seem to cause the majority of smoking turbo issues. Not worth the gamble to me.
 
Ok guys there are plenty of threads and s*** about this i know for a fact that its not an aftermarket exhaust, i ve had a dp and gutted cat for a year no smoke, A few months ago it smoked for 2 days i was a lil past due for an oil change. ive changed my oil and it hasnt come back. Take your TMIC off and check the hoses for oil that would tell you if your seals are done.
 
bad turbo seals? too much oil pressure? frequent oil changes? my turbo use to smoke at every light also until i restricted the oil going into the turbo

Thank you! I threw out that idea awhile back for the guys with smoking turbos because no one had actually confirmed they had bad seals. Do you have any pics of the stock restrictor? I was thinking they either forgot to add one, or the size was incorrect
 
Ok guys there are plenty of threads and s*** about this i know for a fact that its not an aftermarket exhaust, i ve had a dp and gutted cat for a year no smoke, A few months ago it smoked for 2 days i was a lil past due for an oil change. ive changed my oil and it hasnt come back. Take your TMIC off and check the hoses for oil that would tell you if your seals are done.

Oil in the pipes does not mean your turbo is bad, this is a common occurance among turbo cars. If it is excessive, maybe your turbo is bad, but a oil film is common and normal
 
the factory recommended oil seems to thin out in the turbo at idle which is when we see smoking. it's apparent that some oil makes its way past the seals, it doesn't take much oil to make a lot of smoke so just a few little drops could cause a lot of smoke. just because of this doesn't mean your seals failed and your turbo is now worthless. many of us like i've said before have switched to a 5w40 or 10w40 and the car no longer smokes. this is because the oil is thicker and will not make its way passed the seals. if you don't believe me give it a try yourself.
 
Ignorance is bliss my friend.

So when a buddy installs a test pipe on his MS6 and a couple weeks later his exhaust starts smoking? On a meticulously maintained MS6 that was in perfect working order prior to that?

Fact is, it's an eventual happening. You don't need to be in denial with your turbo. Eventually with your mid pipe, you'll develop some form of smoking.

But, to each is own. If you want to deal with it, go ahead.

Smoking turbos = is a single factor analysis.

Not a single person with minor engine mods has a smoking turbo. Your theory of the engine running richer or adjusting it's fuel trims because of the intake, causing more oil to spew into the exhaust is hardly realistic and has no grounds of proof.

I've got the rest of the forum as proof. It's an obvious assumption given that almost EVERY time you install some form of exhaust modification to our cars, they will indeed smoke.

Don't believe me? Scroll through this thread:
http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123691179

I have been following these issues pretty closely over the years I've been on the various MS forums, but I will go through that thread some time and tabulate the number of smoking exhausts correlated with mid-pipe cat deletes. So far you have pointed to one, but that's gotta be counted as anecdotal even though it's your buddy. And what kind of smoke? Billowing smoke? A little smoke at idle? Smoke on hard acceleration? If one is meticulous, a little smoke could be taken as something more serious than it is. And only after a few weeks? That's pretty soon if the idea is that it happens eventually and eventually will happen to everyone with an exhaust mod. Did he get a new turbo b/c of the smoking? Also, there have been smoking turbos on completely stock cars and those with just the MS-CAI, so that in itself should be enough to show that it isn't caused simply by any and all exhaust mods.

One thing I'm pretty sure of is that there will be zero smoking exhausts correlated with an aftermarket CBE. The stock CBE has been shown to be very free-flowing already. And it seems unlikely that Mazda would offer an MS option that risked causing turbo seals problems b/c of the reduced back pressure. Not out of the question, but unlikely.

DP's may be another story, especially catless DP's. But even there, it may that the cats are just masking smoke that is there with or without exhaust mods. It seems more likely to me that the substantially reduced backpressure may simply allows turbo to spin out of it's efficiency range.

Lastly, I fail to see how the whole forum is backing you up on your simplistic single-factor analysis.
 
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the factory recommended oil seems to thin out in the turbo at idle which is when we see smoking. it's apparent that some oil makes its way past the seals, it doesn't take much oil to make a lot of smoke so just a few little drops could cause a lot of smoke. just because of this doesn't mean your seals failed and your turbo is now worthless. many of us like i've said before have switched to a 5w40 or 10w40 and the car no longer smokes. this is because the oil is thicker and will not make its way passed the seals. if you don't believe me give it a try yourself.

Thanks this is the truth. IMO
 
Not using the factory recommended oil doesn't seem like it would be so great for the car in general. Yeah it might stop the smoking issue but... Plus you could get voided for not using oil of factory specs
 
Not using the factory recommended oil doesn't seem like it would be so great for the car in general. Yeah it might stop the smoking issue but... Plus you could get voided for not using oil of factory specs


in the austraillian manual it recommends 5w40 as one of the oils. in the US they recommend oil that gives the best fuel economy. a 40 weight is not going to hurt this engine. go do your research as i have for the past 6 months.
 
in the austraillian manual it recommends 5w40 as one of the oils. in the US they recommend oil that gives the best fuel economy. a 40 weight is not going to hurt this engine. go do your research as i have for the past 6 months.

Before you go trying to bust my ballz why not use some 4th grade reading comprehension. I didn't mention a particular spec oil; I said oil not within factory specs.
 
can we stop arguing about oil, if whats his face wants to use 5w40, let him, if u dont think its good because of warranty and all that, then u dont use it.

its as simple as that. whats the point of winning an argument of which oil is the best to use (which NO one knows).. to prove your smarter.. in what way?

because you know which oil to use on your car! wow man thats gonna win you a lot of tollhouse cookies!

just drop it guys and let the guys with the smoking turbos do there thing, and u can give recomendations on what to do blah blah, but dont start a stupid open argument about it.
 
well seeing as how the factory recommended oil in the US is 5w30, that would be the oil you were implying. people want a resolution on what resolves oil smoking and this is just it. i've read of at least 5 people using 5w40 and don't have smoking after switching. but whatever i hope your turbo smokes.

and matt, saying what oil to use is part of helping with the smoking issue so pipe down.
 
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