Hi all,

 

Ive had my 91 tt for 2 years now. Starting around a year ago, the car smokes, sometimes quite severly out of the left exhaust in idle. It's a kind of 'heavy' smoke.

Now, I've heard some people say that it could be the turbo's packing up, and im hoping it isnt, thats very expensive to fix right?

 

Is there anything else that could cause this smoking problem? Any help will be appreciated.

 

Cheers.

BTW, I dont use the car much. In the two years i've had it ive done about 5k miles, to a total of 65k. Surely turbos wont pack up with a mileage this low?

 

I want to sell the car (Cant afford it anymore :( ), and this smoking prob will surely cause probs with that (1 person already said they wouldnt buy it because of the smoking). So I need to get it fixed!

 

Cheers

do a search mate as this problem has been spoken about no end.

 

things to try are changing the pcv valves.

 

make sure u dont over fill yr oil as this will cause smoke.

 

and as many will say its a rear seal failure on the turbo,its fine wen its cold on idle but soon as the engine reaches temp is plumes out and if u smell it,it smells like fresh burning oil and not being burnt threw the combustion prosess and the smoke is a very light blue colour and not dark like burnt oil if that makes sence.

 

hope this helps.

 

 

 

cheers garry

Smoking to be honest is not really a good sign. As Gary has aready said get the PCV hoses changed first as this is pretty cheap (about £100) and then take it from there. A turbo seal is more than likely the cause which involves having the engine taken out to get at them and this is pricey. Unfortunately the mileage won't have much to do with it as these are 15+year old cars and the seals are usually pretty tired by now. Another cause could be damaged rings or the ring land.

What colour is the smoke?

Thanks a lot for the reply Gazza. I should have done a search, but I totally forgot to even bother! I'll go ahead and do a search, see if I can find anything else.

 

Then i'll go ahead do what you said.

This seal failure on the turbos, does the whole turbo have to be replaced or can you just replace the seal?

Sorry glen, i was writing my last reply as you posted yours by the look of it.

 

Quoted from my MOT refusal (They restested and it pass, so the car got through) its a dense blue smoke. But i'de say it was more white than blue, it has a tinge of blue though.

 

I dont know what you both mean by PCV valves, but I remember there being a help thread on this site, so i'll go ahead and find out :) I'll find out what ring/ring land means too hehe.

Thanks a lot for the reply Gazza. I should have done a search, but I totally forgot to even bother! I'll go ahead and do a search, see if I can find anything else.

 

Then i'll go ahead do what you said.

This seal failure on the turbos, does the whole turbo have to be replaced or can you just replace the seal?

 

no probs jav.

 

the rear seal failure is a metal seal,the best thing to do is have them re-coned.but first do a compression test,there should be posts on that as well.

 

i have had all yr problems too,had my turbos re-coned and had a rear seal failure again.

 

sorted all the problems out and now it looks like an oil ring or poss valve oil seals.

 

am 2k lighter and still no wiser lol.

 

so dont think for one minute yr the only one having a bad deal lol.

 

stick with it and im sure it will come good in the end.

 

there is hrs of good reading on here so dont be shy to use that SEARCH BUTTON,

 

good luck.

 

 

 

 

cheers garry

Ok, i've been reading up. Im going to get the PCV valves changed first (Whatever they are :P )

 

On another thread someone mentioned that the ring problem usually comes with smoke AND bad running. My engine runs smooth, no problems, so i'm hoping its not that.

Also Glenn mentioned on another thread that you can test if its the turbo seal by giving the car a good blast, if it clears up for a day or two its probably the seal?

 

Are there any specialists I can take the car to? I'm guessing that specialists would have this problem no end, and could find and fix the problem much quicker and cheaper than a normal garage, that probably dont know the car?

Scratch the last comment. Took the car out today and now its running rough. I'm gonna try to sell it cheap. Hopefully a mechanic will want it or something, I really cant afford to throw money at it.

Mine was smoking alot when I first got it, but have recently had oil changed to Millers 15/60w Fully Synthetic , and now the smoke seems to have dissapeared.. you should see the smile on my face...

Scratch the last comment. Took the car out today and now its running rough. I'm gonna try to sell it cheap. Hopefully a mechanic will want it or something, I really cant afford to throw money at it.

 

speak to or take it to Andy Duff

 

mean while this may help PCV valves Number 8 on the pic there is 1 each side