Blue smoke >.<

[LPXLTT]

Alright, so I have a problem. Whenever my 03 WRX (105k miles)sits idle for more then lets say 5 minutes, I start to burn oil once I get underway again. Its a good deal of blue smoke coming out of the car. The longer I sit, the longer it take for the smoke to go away. Now, I have google searched and have come up with a huge list of what it might be, between gaskets to turbos to omg you are going to die in a fire.

Anyone have any ideas on what this could be. The car puls fine, does not burn anything noticable when starting up or just idleing. It has the average smoke when its a cold start, but nothing more then my mom's outback.

I have taken it to the dealership and could not get it to show the symptoms.

And to note. All of the 90k and 105k items on the maintenance list were done at 80k when the car was bought. including timing belt.

[KevinWelker]

I will make an ASSumption that the blue smoke is coming out of the exhaust, you just said "coming out of the car" if it is underhood smoke then disregard what I am about to say.....

That being the case, my first inclination would be turbo oil seals. the symptoms you are describing are the classic symptoms of that. Of course it could be a whole host of other things, but that seems to be the most common cause given the description of your car, mileage, etc.

How handy are you at changin out a turbo?

[LPXLTT]

Never really done it, My original plan was to pay off the car, and build the **** out of it. Learning as I go. Then I realized how much wedding costs and now i'm broke until then. I am not opposed to the idea, however, turbos are not really cheap. However; They are considering the rest of the possibilities.

Any suggestions on what I should do. Buy a bigger turbo, or stay stock size?

How dangerous is a leaky turbo seal? can it give out and damage more then just the turbo?

[enginerd]

My car: 02 WRX Wagon with about 130 k on it right now.

Last year I had similar symptoms. Would start-up just fine (no major smoke) but the first stoplight I came to about 2 miles down the road I would get a big smoke cough with a blue tint. After that it would run relatively clean. After a few months i got a small cough at just about every light. Finally at the Central Region Championships (12 runs at max rpm's) it developed a whine/whistle and was finally time to replace it. I did a direct replacement (TD04) to stay in my racing class, with new gaskets studbolts and oil. Did the whole project myself for $300 (found a used turbo). Subaru wanted $1500. At my price I can break the turbo 4 more times. MUWAHAHAHA!:lol2:

Pretty easy project. My turbo was defenitely blown. Shaft play galore. I could move the impeller and touch the housing (hence the whining noise). Other symptoms are quick spooling with lower boost pressures. Basically my turbo bearings/seals were so blown that the turbo had no resistance and would spool up super quick but not reach or hold peak boost levels. There are many posts on this repair on this website. I think I even ran a thread on this last year. Hope that helps!

[LPXLTT]

Just out of thinking out loud there. If I were to go bigger turbo, how much bigger can I go without upgrading anything else? Also, what are the options for quicker spooling turbos with relatively the same power that the td04 has?

[409industries]

Last year I had similar symptoms. Would start-up just fine (no major smoke) but the first stoplight I came to about 2 miles down the road I would get a big smoke cough with a blue tint. After that it would run relatively clean.

Holy crap, this is exactly the symptoms i am having with my 04 STi. literally to the T what is going on. Stock VF39 with 72K on the clock. I wish i had some money for a turbo upgrade... :shocked:

How were you able to identify that it was in fact the turbo causing the blue tint smoke and not something else?

[LPXLTT]

I would like to also know how to identify the difference. I would much rather it be a turbo then my engine >.<

[wolfman79]

Just pray you don't have the same problem I did. First turbo seals started to go a la enginerd, replaced turbo seemed to be fine. Couple of weeks later started seeing smoke again, then one day on my commute from Denver to Casper I notice my oil pressure gauge starting to bounce around. Now I have a nice new VF30 turbo sitting on a motor with spun bearing(s).

[04caliwrx]

sounds like a head gasket to me, does the smoke smell sweet?

[409industries]

yes the blown headgasket is a very serious concern of mine...

[enginerd]

QUOTE: How were you able to identify that it was in fact the turbo causing the blue tint smoke and not something else?

QUOTE: I would like to also know how to identify the difference.
..................
I knew it was the turbo going bad when it started making loud obnoxious whinig noise and smoking, and then I replaced it and no more noise or smoke. Easier solution would be to drop the downpipe and wiggle your impeller shaft to see if it moves. Shaft Play, Smoke, and low boost levels = Bad Turbo!! That's about the best advice that I can give.

[Gravel Crew Rally Team]

Alright, so I have a problem. Whenever my 03 WRX (105k miles)sits idle for more then lets say 5 minutes, I start to burn oil once I get underway again. Its a good deal of blue smoke coming out of the car. The longer I sit, the longer it take for the smoke to go away. Now, I have google searched and have come up with a huge list of what it might be, between gaskets to turbos to omg you are going to die in a fire.

Anyone have any ideas on what this could be. The car puls fine, does not burn anything noticable when starting up or just idleing. It has the average smoke when its a cold start, but nothing more then my mom's outback.

I have taken it to the dealership and could not get it to show the symptoms.

And to note. All of the 90k and 105k items on the maintenance list were done at 80k when the car was bought. including timing belt.

Before going the turbo route, I would do a compression check first. Only judging by the mileage you put down. It may be the cylinder closest to your turbo that may be going bad. At around 115,000 my cylinder let go and had the same symptoms as you. Now I am not saying that is what is happening to your car, but do the compression check as well. It would suck to replace your turbo and not fix your problem. Again, just a suggestion.

[LPXLTT]

Wolf, did your issue have any knock associated with your troubles? My friend says he can hear a faint knock coming from the engine. I do not really hear what he is talking about, but I have far from perfect hearing. He is mostly a ford v8 guy, so I am wondering if he is just not used to the boxer engines. And the techs at subaru do not hear it either (no big surprise there because the engine is under warranty)

As far as compression test goes, I brought it to the dealer the about a month ago. I had an additional issue where a plug wire was loose and not firing correctly, I thought it might might have been a bigger problem so I just said the hell with it and brought it to them. They told me that compression was fine and the spark plug wire was loose, and that I should be fine.

Then the following week this issue happened. I checked the turbo shaft play issue, and there black soot on both sides of the turbo, but I had no shaft at all and no wet oil at all. this was after a cold start and I did not let the turbo warm up enough to burn the oil off.

As far as oil, I am using 5w30 mobile1 synthetic. I change to this in February.

Since it has been warmer this week, i have not noticed the issue, my oil level is fine and the car still pulls fine. The one thing I am noticing that is new since I last posted is that I am pushing about 17 psi randomly when acceleration where I have never gone above 14 before. This is not all the time though.

And for Cali, the smoke is not a sweet smelling smoke.

Thanks for all of suggestions, even though it is mostly doom and gloom so far. Who knows, maybe I will have to get my STI block or VF30 sooner then I thought.

[LPXLTT]

Yup, new turbo for me. It got so bad, that even after sitting for 2 or 3 minutes, I would make an entire parking lot full of blue smoke.

Took it to the dealership, and when they pulled it into the shop, they couldnt see the other side for about 10 seconds. Bad news is, they gave me an Altima as a rental. Rain+2.5L of FWD fury= fail.

[409industries]

That is interesting that it turned out to be the turbo in this case, just like enginerd. I will have a compression test done on my motor before going the turbo replacement route just to be safe.

You are stoked that its all done under warranty, im way outside that...

[wolfman79]

Good to hear that it's being taken care of.

[LPXLTT]

Yes, I am too. The 2300 I spent on the extra warranty was the best money I have ever spent. It has already paid for a transmission rebuilt, ac system replacement, and now this turbo issue.

[LPXLTT]

Update!!!

So... my engine is apart right now, waiting for new seals. So, now I have a turbo and a knock taken car of for the same deductible. Can't complain there!

Anyways, long night.