nord
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Mar 5, 2010
- Location
- Southern Tier NY
- TDI
- All turned back to VW. Now a 2017 Hundai Tuscon. Not a single squalk in 10k miles.
I'm curious. Have you ever considered unhooking the intake pipe from the intercooler just for snits and giggles? I don't mean heading out on the road. Only for a short interval at startup to see whether you have any smoke.
Two advantages here... You should see raw oil being pushed up the pipe if the turbo is leaking and there should be no puff of blue out the exhaust unless there's another source of oil. (Obviously I can't rule out a bad seal on the exhaust side of the turbo.)
Assuming no appreciable oil from the intake pipe and still a puff of smoke, then there's obviously more to the story. Are you absolutely certain this is oil smoke? If so, then there's little question that you have a problem. Given your description it's fair to assume that the oil is migrating from the top end of the engine. This, of course, implicates valve guides as a general rule but another possibility has been overlooked.
Your head may well have a crack or porous casting on either the intake or exhaust side. If a minute crack, then the buildup of heat would very possibly close off the passage of oil due to expansion and then no more smoke. In the case of a porous casting or a minute crack I'd expect a small puddle of oil in either the exhaust or intake area after a period of rest. Oil smoke as the engine started but not enough loss after that point to cause noticeable smoke. Either way there wouldn't be enough oil migration under normal operating conditions to cause excess smoke. You'd only see it after a period of time when the engine was off and oil had a chance to migrate and puddle.
You speak of oil use over time. I don't care what others say, oil use over 10k miles should be all but unnoticeable. When one speaks of "only" a quart over that time I get uneasy as there is a problem. Maybe not a major problem, but a problem all the same.
I wish you well in your quest. Sometimes these "minor" problems are very difficult to diagnose. Not that I recommend it, but my guess is that if you bolted up a new head the problem would disappear. And I'd further bet that an X-ray or dye migration test of the old head would lead you to the problem very quickly.
In other words I don't hold out much hope that your turbo is pumping oil into the intake or exhaust... Not that I would wish this to be the case anyway.
Good luck!
Two advantages here... You should see raw oil being pushed up the pipe if the turbo is leaking and there should be no puff of blue out the exhaust unless there's another source of oil. (Obviously I can't rule out a bad seal on the exhaust side of the turbo.)
Assuming no appreciable oil from the intake pipe and still a puff of smoke, then there's obviously more to the story. Are you absolutely certain this is oil smoke? If so, then there's little question that you have a problem. Given your description it's fair to assume that the oil is migrating from the top end of the engine. This, of course, implicates valve guides as a general rule but another possibility has been overlooked.
Your head may well have a crack or porous casting on either the intake or exhaust side. If a minute crack, then the buildup of heat would very possibly close off the passage of oil due to expansion and then no more smoke. In the case of a porous casting or a minute crack I'd expect a small puddle of oil in either the exhaust or intake area after a period of rest. Oil smoke as the engine started but not enough loss after that point to cause noticeable smoke. Either way there wouldn't be enough oil migration under normal operating conditions to cause excess smoke. You'd only see it after a period of time when the engine was off and oil had a chance to migrate and puddle.
You speak of oil use over time. I don't care what others say, oil use over 10k miles should be all but unnoticeable. When one speaks of "only" a quart over that time I get uneasy as there is a problem. Maybe not a major problem, but a problem all the same.
I wish you well in your quest. Sometimes these "minor" problems are very difficult to diagnose. Not that I recommend it, but my guess is that if you bolted up a new head the problem would disappear. And I'd further bet that an X-ray or dye migration test of the old head would lead you to the problem very quickly.
In other words I don't hold out much hope that your turbo is pumping oil into the intake or exhaust... Not that I would wish this to be the case anyway.
Good luck!