In my 08 MCCS I have noticed occasionally that I will get a little white smoke underhood when driving in-town, especially when the car is warming up. From what I understand that is generally written up as condensation evaporating, or as oil hitting the exhaust and burning off. I don't think I've ever seen it once the engine's fully warmed up (I use a Scangauge to track my temps).

Any way to tell the difference? Lately it seems (although I could just be noticing it) that there's a smell - I think burning oil - coming from the turbo area as well. I do not see any oil on top like in this image so I can't tell if it's possibly coming from my valve cover, which I know is leaking slightly as well. Are there any points I can look at or examine that don't involve taking a lot off the engine?

 

Could be the oil line for the turbo. Either feed or return. Common problem.

 

^^ This and usually occurs between 50 and 60k miles. Replace it with http://www.detroittuned.com/detroit-...-oil-line-kit/ and be done with it. If you have it done at the dealer you'll be dealing with it in another 50 to 60k miles. Also, make sure you keep an eye on your oil level while it's leaking.

 

Yeah, that's what I suspect... I just don't want to get this done if it turns out to be something else. What should I expect the labor to run me?

 

Expect to pay for ~5 hours of labor, but make sure they replace the OEM part with the one from Detroit Tuned kit. Otherwise you will be repeating the same job in another 50K miles.

If you want to get a sense for what it would take to DIY this, read the following:
https://store-zhkcqkob.mybigcommerce...0TOL%20INS.pdf

To confirm that it's the turbo oil line, take a look if the top of your turbo looks anything like the pic below). If it does, it's the oil line.

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If you don't get it done, it is quite easy to replace when they put a new turbo in. That burning also leaves deposits inside the cracked line, once they build up enough to cut oil supply it is new turbo time.