Intermittent Smoking

[manteiv]

Hello TD people,

Has anyone experience random smoking from their cars? I caught my turbo neon ('98 r/t) smoking for a few seconds while decelerating with it in gear. It was white, maybe a little blueish, smoke. It has only happened twice in the past month or so.

I'm hoping its not the turbo going bad. Its a VNT GT25 turbo with 20k miles on it. (the turbo in my old neon was original and has 180k on it. . .no smoke at all!)


Thanks!

brian augusta, ga

'87 glhs '98 neon r/t VNT

[Bkwales]

well.. there will be others that know ALOT more about this than I do..... but I did own a 1979 Mustang Indy Pace car that did the same thing... smoked badly in deceleration when there was no pressure on the foot pedal.... and it was the turbo..... now before anyone says anything.. I realize alot of things wouldve changed over the years..... but for mine it was the turbo being shot....

Brian

[manteiv]

Yeah, I talked to a Grand National freak at work. He has lots of experience with turbos going bad. His first reaction was bad turbo bearings. A definite symptom is smoking while idling. One thing I thought was funny was he said that most turbos only last 20k or so!?!?! That was the first time I heard that.

Someone suggested that its a result of oil from the pcv valve, so I'll check my intake to see if its coated with oil or anything. I know the air filter in my glhs is always coated with oil on the bottom quarter or so, but it never smokes (knock on wood...)

Anyone using a catch can, or rerouting their pcv line to prevent oil from getting into the intake?

Thanks for the response! I'll let you know if I find the definite cause.


later,
brian

[Andre Parker]

If you are using a turbo with a carbon seal, this is a sign that the seal is or has failed. My Daytona did that with a fresh rebuild and I used my old turbo as it was still good. It would smoke sometimes for no reason, under boost, idle. It wouldn't do it all the time either, just some times. Pulled head off and sent turbo in and was advised the carbon seal was going out. Get the turbo rebuilt.

[manteiv]

unfortunately, no one likes to rebuild the VNT's . Too expensive and labor intensive. Once its worn out I'll most likely be getting a standard garrett (T3/T4 or similar)...


I guess I'll just milk it for now..




Thanks,

brian

[manteiv]

(another old thread)

Just wanted to post that my smoking problem went away when I replaced my pcv hose. The hose wasn't a pcv hose, but a fuel hose. Oil deteriorated the hose, started to seep through, and was dripping on the turbo/manifold and smoking. I replaced it with fresh hose and also fixed the slow leak on my oil-drain and the smoking stopped.

A weird random problem, but maybe the fix will help someone else who used fuel hose to replace their pcv hose. . .


later,