Blue Smoke From Left Tail Pipe

[vasillalov]

Ok folks,

I posted this on the other forum, but I wanted to get some feedback from the people here as well:

Today I attended a local AutoX event and one of my friends noticed that there is blue smoke coming out of the left tail pipe but not the right one. Smoke appears to be coming out only under heavy boost.

I have a fully divorced catless setup: AR Design downpipes and AE Performance exhaust. Since the blue smoke is only coming out of the left (driver side) tail pipe, I am thinking that one of the turbos is going bad.

Car has just turned 21K miles. I don't have any wastegate rattling or "whine siren" noise. I did however notice that the car has indeed started consuming a lot of oil. That is a recent development! Just three days ago I added 0.5 qt of oil At that time the oil level went to FULL. Today I noticed the oil is one notch below the FULL level. I've not done even 100 miles since I've added oil.

My questions:

* Is my assessment that one of the turbos is going bad? Are we talking about the turbo oil seals? Is this reparable or do the turbos need to be replaced?

* My car still has warranty, which is expiring in December of this year. How should I approach the dealership in order for them to properly assess the situation and replace the turbos under warranty?

* Has anyone else experienced this sort of symptoms this early (21K miles)?

EDIT:
Should it come to the replacement of the turbos and warranty is denied, which of the aftermarket units come with strengthened seals and components? I'd hate to go through the entire trouble of replacing the turbos, only to use the exact same faulty part...

Thanks for your time and comments.

[Kamal]

* My car still has warranty, which is expiring in December of this year. How should I approach the dealership in order for them to properly assess the situation and replace the turbos under warranty?

I would just swap the stock downpipes back on and tell the dealer that you're seeing blue smoke from the tailpipes...

[oddjob2021]

if you're fully divorced the left pipe should be the front turbo, or bank 1. kinda lucky honestly that you dont have an h or x pipe how heavy is the smoke? when you go WOT, oil pressure rises and if it cannot drain quickly enough in the chra it'll go though the slinger sleeve and into the turbine. i never had this issue personally but i have heard accounts of it happening, so dont feel alone. asr is now working on a new oil drain, instead of a -8 fitting they're going up to a -10. reason being is there are a few more mods asr plans to do to their turbo upgrade, i cannot get into specifics but when it's released the community will have all the details allowed. as for which company im not here to sell you something, do the research, the two top dogs in the game are rb and asr, there are slight variances to both and a price differential to match. if you would like specifics PM me as this is not the thread to get into it.

[DarkPhantom]

Interesting to see where this leads, keep us posted OP.

[Itsbrokeagain]

From my last customers install, we had a blown compressor seal on the front turbo....the oil was getting pushed out into the intercooler pipes and the engine was consuming it. The only way I know this is because not only were the DPs coated in burnt crud, but the exhaust manifold itself was also. The only way for this to happen is for the motor to drink the oil. The rear turbo actually had little to no oil in it, considering the PCV is fed into it...the front turbo had road grime and dirt caked around the air inlet, which was the first indicator to me that something was up with it.

His car was like spy hunter with the old turbos..and he doesnt even have a tune on the car...just 30k miles worth of dealer neglect oil changes (bought the car second hand). We changed the turbos and all the gaskets, and the car drives perfectly fine now.

Usually if the oil leaks from the turbine side it will lease a sticky residue on the turbine blades. In this case the turbines were fine, but the wastegate flapper was covered in this mess..and you could see the airflow pattern along the side of the turbine outlet into the downpipe of the oil trail. Id pull the downpipes and see where its coming from...

[vasillalov]

Matt,

Thanks for the reply. I will try to get under the car this weekend and see what if I can spot anything like this. I do know that the intercooler pipes are very greasy, but I always assumed that this is oil from the PCV.

[Sticky]

From my last customers install, we had a blown compressor seal on the front turbo....the oil was getting pushed out into the intercooler pipes and the engine was consuming it. The only way I know this is because not only were the DPs coated in burnt crud, but the exhaust manifold itself was also. The only way for this to happen is for the motor to drink the oil. The rear turbo actually had little to no oil in it, considering the PCV is fed into it...the front turbo had road grime and dirt caked around the air inlet, which was the first indicator to me that something was up with it.

His car was like spy hunter with the old turbos..and he doesnt even have a tune on the car...just 30k miles worth of dealer neglect oil changes (bought the car second hand). We changed the turbos and all the gaskets, and the car drives perfectly fine now.

Usually if the oil leaks from the turbine side it will lease a sticky residue on the turbine blades. In this case the turbines were fine, but the wastegate flapper was covered in this mess..and you could see the airflow pattern along the side of the turbine outlet into the downpipe of the oil trail. Id pull the downpipes and see where its coming from...

Thanks for trying to help him out.

Let us know what it ended up being vasillalov.

[Terminator-N54]

If I'm not mistaken isn't blue smoke Oil/Coolant somewhere and white is a headgasket?

[vasillalov]

I'll be bringing the car in this week. Will update this thread as I get more info from my trusty SA

[Terminator-N54]

Goodluck,

[Irishace]

Yep, good luck man. Hope it works out well for you.

[vasillalov]

If I'm not mistaken isn't blue smoke Oil/Coolant somewhere and white is a headgasket?

Well it can't be because:

1. Car is loosing oil, not coolant
2. Coolant color is fine and dandy

I drove the car yesterday and today a bit more and I was trying to listen for anything out of the ordinary. I did notice a whining sound, but I am still not sure if it is a belt or turbo whine just yet.

Anyways, the truth will come out some time on Friday when the BMW tech gets to poke around the car...

[Terminator-N54]

Well it can't be because:

1. Car is loosing oil, not coolant
2. Coolant color is fine and dandy

I drove the car yesterday and today a bit more and I was trying to listen for anything out of the ordinary. I did notice a whining sound, but I am still not sure if it is a belt or turbo whine just yet.

Anyways, the truth will come out some time on Friday when the BMW tech gets to poke around the car...

let us know what happens.

[vasillalov]

Got a call from my SA. Finally! I've been missing my car already...

He said: they can't find anything wrong with it. They see no smoke coming out and they tested it for a few days. Weird... They did do all the regular maintenance they said they would do: brake fluid flush, new cabin air filter and some other misc items.

Don't know what to think. I am getting the car back this afternoon.

I guess I'll drive the bitch hard and hopefully the turbo will fail before warranty expires in December. If not, I'll be lining up for some RB turbo goodness!

[5mall5nail5]

Traditionally oil leaking from the turbo into the exhaust is a whitish plume of smoke. Blue smoke is from within the engine. Its possible the turbo is leaking into the charge pipe, but for the smoke to be blue the oil is being burned within the motor or just inside the exhaust port (where its hot enough to burn) - a leaking turbo into a downpipe just "steams off" the oil.

[Terminator-N54]

Got a call from my SA. Finally! I've been missing my car already...

He said: they can't find anything wrong with it. They see no smoke coming out and they tested it for a few days. Weird... They did do all the regular maintenance they said they would do: brake fluid flush, new cabin air filter and some other misc items.

Don't know what to think. I am getting the car back this afternoon.

I guess I'll drive the $#@! hard and hopefully the turbo will fail before warranty expires in December. If not, I'll be lining up for some RB turbo goodness!

Could have been a fluke.