Burning oil

Shawn1234

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Mar 7, 2009
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I own a 1990 Supra with a 7MGTE engine. It has recently started burning oil as it is disappearing and grey/blue smoke is coming out the exhaust. This happens upon stating the car and letting it idle. It will also contunue to smoke as I drive accelerating and when I come to a stop it just keeps smokeing. I am trying to figure out why. I purchased and installed a rebuilt engine from Jarco two years ago. I have not had any problems with this engine. I also recently had purchased and installed a rebuilt 57 trim turbo from Driftmotion. So in trying to solve this problem I checked the turbo inlet. There is some oil on the lip and the compressor wheel does have play. I read it is suppose to have some play (please correct me if I was misinformed) but I do not know how much play is acceptable. I took a video hopefully this can help. I also removed the lower intercooler pipe coming off the intercooler I have a custom pipe which is bent in a U shape so it would be the best place for oil to collect however there was only oil residue and a small puddle not larger then a dime. I then checked the pcv system and everything is clear and flowing good. Next I did a compression test. I followed the TSRM in doing this. I did remove all 6 plugs, throttle open and checked all 6 cylinders with exactly 7 cranks. My results were all minimum 175 to a max of 180 being the gauge is difficult to pin point. On the first crank every cylinder hit approximatly 130 on second and third about 150 to 160 then on cranks four to six 170 and every cylinder on crank seven hit 175to 180. On the second cylinder bacvk from the front I did notice after reaching 180 on the 7th crank it did loose some pressure about 3 to 4 psi. So I really dont know what to do now I would like to perform a leak down test but I dont have the tools to do it. I hope this information can help you guys help me. Thanks alot. [video=youtube;SkDUtpfzxUQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkDUtpfzxUQ[/video]
 

hvyman

Dang Dude! No Way Man.
Staff member
Apr 17, 2007
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looks like your turbo needs a rebuild.

does it smoke all the time hot and cold?

did you look into the cylinders to see if there was any oil in there?
 

Shawn1234

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Mar 7, 2009
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The turbo doesn't even have 5,000 miles on it. Yes it smokes all the time hot and cold. As soon as I start it there is smoke. There wasn't any oil in the spark plug valley and when I took the spark plugs out I did see what I think was oil in the threads of the plugs but the bottom of them looked fine just dry carbon deposit as well as the cylinders from what I could see however I need to get a better light so I can see
 
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hvyman

Dang Dude! No Way Man.
Staff member
Apr 17, 2007
12,568
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Fullerton,CA
did you prime the turbo with oil prior to first start?

it looks like the fins are touching the housing when you move it. it should have very little to no shaft play side to side and very little forwards and backwards.
 

Shawn1234

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Mar 7, 2009
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Yes I installed per TSRM instructions puting oil in the inlet of turbo and I also built up oil pressure in the motor prior to starting it. Would a faulty turbo make the car smoke all the time like this. The rest of my ic pipes are as new as the turbo and they are very clean.
 

Failure14

Banned
May 29, 2009
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Yea thats wayyyy to much shaft play...

Did it have that much shaft play when you first got it?
or did you not check?

Cause if it was tight when you first got it and its gradually gotten looser
i definetly wouldn't trust it at all, i mean who is to say that thing just wont
eventually obliterate while driving.
 

Shawn1234

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Mar 7, 2009
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The first thing i did was check for play and to be honest I was nervous because it had some play but not as much as it does now. About 4 to 5 days after installing it I heard this scraping sound while boosting. I boosted again hard to hear it and I did but then it went away. So I checked out the wheel and it appeared to be touching the houseing and had alot more play. I put it back together and didn't hear that awful sound but I did think the turbo was no good. But anyways would this cause my car to smoke on startup and at idle and while driving even with very clean intercooler pipes.
 
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Shawn1234

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Mar 7, 2009
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This is kinda of stupid on my part however I was looking at the car again today and I took it out for a ride for the first time in a while and I noticed the smoke coming from the exhaust is really more white than blue. There really isnt much blue smoke at all though I am going through some oil. But the smoke is pretty much all white smoke and alot of it too. So today I ran another compression test and my numbers were all between 170 and 180 today. The results do seem to vary a bit from last time I tested however my concern is on the third cylinder back from the front. Today I had to give it 8 cranks to get it over 170 rather than the 7 cranks I was doing on the rest. Does this indicate anything? Also my turbo being in the condition it is in could it also be leaking coolant and thats the cause of this white smoke? I didnt even see any coolant lose today and I drove it about 5 miles. My resevour level didn't change but im getting alot of white smoke from the time I start the car and if I rev the motor up to like 3,000 rpms then left off it really lets out a clouds of smoke. Is it possible to have a BHG and still get good compression test results as well as not going through almost any coolant but still smokeing alot? Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks alot.