So I noticed my fJCW started sounding a little louder and the exhaust, possibly the downpipe area sounds like its blowing a bit on lower revs- as its coming from the front of the car.
I opened the bonnet to have a look and noticed the turbo area has a thick layer of black dust, carbon?

I had the turbo replaced 3000 miles ago and it didnt ever look this way, not even the first turbo.

Can anyone comment on what is going on?

Thanks in advance

 

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Maybe , Turbo mounting gasket. or oil line.
http://dotwei.blogspot.com/2013/06/2...turbo-oil.html

 

Yea could be one of the gaskets. I had the same thing (but less extreme) and went ahead and replaced the oil line thinking it was the oil line leaking. When I took off the heat shield I noticed the turbo to downpipe gasket looked like it had blown out on one side. I went ahead and replaced it. Take a look at it, that could be it.

 

V-band not sealing properly? Not unheard of.

 

Can this cause any problems if I still drive the car like this?

 

There's definitely no oil. It's black dust. Is this carbon?

 

You'll probably eventually throw a CEL from the exhaust leak but no it shouldn't cause any huge issues.

It's exhaust "soot" but it's not been through the catalytic converter yet. So it's some parts carbon some parts lots of other little things.

 

People have reported seeing black "soot" when there turbo line starts leaking. With the turbo right there the lines get very warm and if there is a slight leak, the escaping fluid get cooked and turns to soot. I would guess thats your problem, just by going with what has been reported here. Probably time for new lines, which, I would have thought they would replace them then, but I guess some say, "If it's not broke don't fix it!" Not with these cars!

 

That is exhaust soot, if you replaced your turbo and not your catalytic converter there is probably pressure building in your exhaust system. Pressure in the exhaust is what kills most of the turbos on these cars and if you don’t replace the catalytic converter you didn’t fix the issue that probably caused the old turbo to fail. The new turbo will have a new rear pressure seal and will prevent the exhaust pressure from escaping into your engine and forcing it to find a new path to escape if the catalytic converter is clogged. If you don’t replace the catalytic converter immediately your new turbo can fail rather quickly, and sometimes instantaneously (Click here to see how the fail happens, see the second reason http://www.jmturbocoopers.com/Cooper-N14-Weak-Piston-Issue.html)

If you have a down-pipe than you may just have an exhaust leak, but the exhaust would have had to be installed really loose.

 

Thank you for all the input.

I will take the car back to the dealer and see what they say.

The black dust is definitely increasing around the area. I'm getting the blowing sound amplified since I last posted. My exhaust sounds broken on low revs, this noise is coming from the engine bay side.

Car is 100% stock, never modded in its life.

Am I still safe to drive it about?