Short story....turbo blew due to coked oil in the intake line. I caught it before it completely blew, but the exhaust side impeller was a little torn. I replaced the turbo and the catalytic converter. I took the intercooler off and found less than a tablespoon of oil in it. It was very clean already, but I cleaned it thoroughly with brake cleaner as recommended by quite a few people. I put the mini recommended oil and coolant back in. All in all, I followed all of the recommendations I've found on the forums, from JMTurboCoopers, and the Bentley manual. The engine purrs like a kitten and I feel no loss of power whatsoever. However, it looks like I'm the car from Spy Hunter with all the smoke billowing out the exhaust behind me. After reading up a bunch I saw that it is sometimes normal if oil needs to burn out of the exhaust. Unfortunately I filled up the oil, drove about 60 miles (smoke screen all the way baby!) and when I got back I'm about 2-3 quarts low, so it's definitely not the exhaust. I don't know what to do...it seems to me that if it was valves/pistons I'd notice some power loss, but maybe I'm wrong. Does anyone have any suggestions before I take it to a mechanic that I know I can't trust to begin with?

 

Is the smoke blue or white

 

You know...that's a good question. It looks white to me, but then again I guess I'm colorblind or something because I've never seen smoke that I could say was blue. I am guessing you are asking trying to figure out whether it's oil or coolant. The coolant level has not moved at all (still full) while the oil was 2-3 quarts low after a 60 mile drive. The smell is 100% burning oil...no hint of coolant at all.

 

Definitely sounds like an oil leak somewhere......I am going to take a WILD guess and say that the oil is leaking in from the turbo. maybe you didnt catch it in time and somethign cracked and is now leaking oil into the exhaust which is being burned but the cat.......I really have no idea if this is even possible not knowing how the turbo is put together.

If it indeed is leaking, unbolt the downpipe and see if it is wet with oil. After 2-3 quarts it should be wet like an alaskan pipeline