Ok so here's the scoop, as I'm turning into the gas station I start to smell burning (like burnt popcorn) and I thought it was one of the surrounding restaraunts but within like 6 seconds it gets wayyy more intense so I pull over real quick and white smoke is pouring from my hood. I quickly pop it and the smoke is coming out from the heat shield over the turbo and where my dp connects. The thing is the smoke stopped within 20 seconds and didn't reappear when I started my car back up. I checked over everything and everything seemed to be good (I hope). As I drove him I turned my defroster for my winshield and the smell appeared again. Can anyone gauge what my problem would be? All and any help is appreciated, I just hope nothing severe is damaged!

 

wow dude scary.

while i don't know the answer, you may want to add some details.

how hard do you drive? track? WOT all the time?

Last oil change?

Radiator coolant?

 

Sounds like you are leaking coolant which is what you are smelling, coolant burning off. Have you checked your coolant level? Have you done anything in that area? The smell coming back is most likely because you were getting fresh air when you turned the defrost on and it was pulling air from the engine bay area. I would check your heater core hoses (which are in that area, should be about center firewall or so) and your turbo coolant lines if possible and check your coolant level and see if any fluid is leaking on the ground. How was your temp? Like above stated, more info would be helpful.

 

Maybe something fell in there through your hood scoop and caught on fire against the turbo? I don't know.. that is strange tho. Even tho there wasn't smoke after, there was prolly still that smokey smell in the air system.

 

This would make sense. There are coolant lines in that area. If some leaked down there it would def smoke alot

 

I drive normal most of the time. I was driving real easy yesterday, not even going past 3,000 rpm. I don't track my car or anything like that. I need an oil change, but not desperately. My coolant levels were good and temp shoulda been fine because I just let her warm up for a minute and drove 5 minutes from my house on suburban roads. Nothing crazy.

I called one of my buddies and he thought it could be my turbo blown. I couldnt imagine that happening when driving so catiously. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks again for the help.

 

check the back of your car. If it was turbo seals blown, and obviously on the hot exhaust side since it was smoking, it would be dumping oil into the exhaust and it would be all over your rear bumper.

I doubt it is though.

 

Yeah there wasn't any oil so take that off the list. Thanks for the input ^^^

 

Another easy way to tell if you really want to rule the turbo seals out, just pull one of your charge pipes off real quick and see if there is any oil in that.

Like everybody else said, if it was white smoke, its probably coolant.

 

Take it to the dealer right away, man. The best even the best expert here can do is guess.

 

This. I'm a mechanic and without more information all we can do is tell you what to look for or do step by step which could take days and still come up with nothing. Have them check it out, if you are still in warranty, shouldn't cost you anything and they will more likely find something.

 

were you running the car hard before you turned into the gas station and the smoke started?

 

No because It was real cold outside. I was driving it as easy as I could.

Can anyone give input on why the smell would just start when I turned my heat on? Because I didn't notice any abnormalities when I was actually driving the car. I let it run for a good 5 minutes after this happened and it didn't start smoking again and I also gave it some gas just to see if something happened at higher rpm's.

 

For one like I said, when you turn the heat on, it draws in fresh air from around the engine bay, therefore you are bringing in the smell from there into you cabin. Haven't you ever driven past a feed lot with the HVAC on and the smell from the feed lot drifted in? Same concept. Have you checked the backside of the motor and underneath for signs of fluid leaking yet? Coolant will leave behind a sign as it burns off, it will look like dried coolant.