Hey everybody, thanks for reading this post and any help is greatly appreciated.

I've been trying to diagnose the following problem.

- Intermittent White smoke from exhaust for about 3-4 mins each time. Seems to occur at random, not necessarily under acceleration.
- Does not smell syrupy, if anything it smells a little burn rubber.
- When it smokes its quite a bit, the cars in traffic behind me change lanes.
- The only pattern that i notice, and i'm not even a 100% sure, is that the 1st smoke of the day happens at least 30-45 mins in.
- Coolant levels are good
- Oil checked, also good.
- Car pulls strong.
- I have AFR and Boost Gauge, seems to be within normal.
- PCV seems good
- 1st start in the morning does take a little longer, but not sure if it is related.

Mods (basically all the bolts ons)
3 port
CAI
AMS intercooler
No CAT
Specialty X Exhaust
AMS Downpipe
BOV
Catch Cans
Whiteline sways

Ivey Tuned 348/WHP

The car is a 2008 GSR, 1st and only owner. I did have a 3 year hiatus where i left it undriven and stored outside (Became a father). The issue has been happening for a couple of weeks and the car was brought back to life in February.

I'm just kinda stumped on what it could be. I'm really trying to get the car back in best shape possible for a track session. This would be my first one. Now that i'm a little older and wiser and the car is no longer my DD I hope I can turn it to a track car eventually.

Again, thanks for the input.

Steve

PS anybody interested in doing a track day together? or already have plans for one? The closest ones to me are Limerock, NYST, and NJMP.

 

Sounds like oil from the smell description. Synthetic seems to burn light grey instead of a dark grey/blue like dino oil.
How full are your catch cans?
3-4 minutes of smoke is a LONG time.

Blowby or oil seals in the turbo would be my suspicions

 

Thanks for the reply.
A mechanic friend took a brief look over and suspects the same thing, a "tiny seepage" and says he wouldn't worry about it.

Is there any for sure way to confirm it? And if it be that, is it a cheap, easy fix? or is it time to go bigger since it would need to be pulled out? And how serious is a turbo seal issue, can wait it a little longer before fixing or changing it or is it must do asap.

 

burning oil is certainly bad for the oxygen sensors and CAT. I'm pretty sure you could have the turbo rebuilt for a fairly reasonable price. If you have the budget though, there are some pretty good bolt on turbo options out there.

 

O2 sensors yea, but he has a test pipe.

 

Oh yah I missed that, good thing too because Cats are expensive.

 

Thanks for the feed back, sounds like it won't do damage to the block just sensors.

Maybe i'll hold off a little on an upgrade while I do some research.

Any recommendations for a turbo upgrade?

I would be looking for something with a nice powerband for the track. Don't need huge numbers. Maybe a small bump to 400whp would be nice but i wouldn't want sacrifice reliability and over doing the stock block/internals.

Thanks,

 

MHI 18k

 

I have a link to a video on how bad it gets, i was on the high way and i couldn't pull over in time so its trough the review view mirror.

Video

 

Here I'm thinking they're one of the cheaper parts to upgrade/replace. Boostin has one for $299. Seems like a pretty decent price for high flow and extra bung for W/B.

Isn't typcial diagnosis for white smoke coolant burn/blown headgasket? Wouldn't a leakdown test to make sure be cheaper than a turbo?

 

Yeah, I'm going to go with turbo oil seals for $1000, Alex. I agree that the MHI 18K is perfect for your current supporting mods and goals.

 

Probably can't do a track session before I fix or replace the turbo right? I mean the organizer probably wouldn't let me run if cars behind can't see.

here is a link on youtube.
So to compare

Rebuild turbo ~ $1,000
vs
new turbo, install, plus retune ~ $3,000?
Does that sound about right?

 

You shouldn't even be driving the car. It has a major issue and it also creates a safety concern for people on the road behind you.

 

$299 for a non-carb compliant cat sure, there is even cheaper out there. These are things that don't have to break, there is already something wrong with the car. Adding hundreds of dollars for no reason onto what could already be a hefty ticket is just dumb.
I
can't think of a remedy for OP's problem that doesn't involve doing most of the steps involved in pulling the turbo anyway. I'm certainly not advocating OP just buy parts without first verifying the failure.

That is unless you want to do upgrades anyway while you are in there. It's a bit risky without knowing whats wrong, but if you want to economize your time or your labor dollars it makes sense.

 

There was mention of cat pipes being expensive, that’s what my reply was focussing on. If you’re just hunting for a reason to call people dumb, I’m the wrong person. Not all states and countries follow CARB btw so again with your assumptions....