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Possible turbo issue Posted by Ari [Email] ![]() ![]() |
Hello folks - sorry for being away so long - life's been busy.
I saw a post a few weeks back on a problem similar to one that just cropped up for me. I'm looking for help here. I think it's a turbo issue, but I want to be sure before I swap it out. I've been very lucky and have had no turbo seal/rotating part issues before.
1997 9000CSE, auto, 150K miles. I get lots of blue smoke for the first five minutes after a hot start, but mostly only at idle. If the car has been sitting long enough to go cold (>4 hours), there is NO smoke at start-up or while driving, even after I come to a stop and idle. If I restart the car in 15 minutes or a half hour, I get lots of blue smoke, mostly at idle. There is some while driving for a couple of minutes after I drive off, but I think it's burn-off from the idle time. If I restart the car 5 minutes after shutting it down, no blue smoke.
If it it turbo seals, it is strange. It is almost as if the only time I get smoke is when some parts of the engine have been able to cool down more than others, opening up a gap somewhere and oil gets through. It may also be related to the intake side of the throttle butterfly, because it seems worse at idle - maybe high vaccum is pulling the oil through the gap.
If it were just oil leaking past the seals on cool-down, I'd expect to see smoke on every startup. I don't get any during a cold start, but the amount on a hot re-start is pretty impressive. So if all I were to do is drive the car to work and then back again at the end of the day, I'd never know there was a problem. If I'm running quick errands, I'm a one-car smog alert.
I re-torqued the head. I've also done a valve seal check - long drive down a hill with the throttle closed, then stomp on it - no burning oil. This also came on quite quickly.
Because of the mileage, I'd just swap in a rebuilt turbo, and not worry about fiddling with seals. But I'd hate to replace a good turbo if it were some strange valve seal issue.
Suggestions?
Thanks-
posted by 69.183.24...
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