i just bought a civic with a small turbo on it recently, when i test drove the car it drove perfect, made it home (4hr drive) with no problems at all. today is the fourth day i had it and it started smoking a little bit from the tube where the "air breather" usually is. it wasnt really bad so i figured id drive it only when necessary (to work, etc). then during my break i test drove it to see how it was running again, and it wasnt smoking at all so i started to head back home, and i got on it a little bit and the turbo didn't kick in at all and smoke was coming out from underneath the hood and out of the exhaust. i immediately put it in neutral so i could cruise to a parking spot. the car turned off by itself before i could even get off the blvd so i cruised to the first spot i could find. i popped the hood and there was oil everywhere underneath the hood. i degreased the engine and started it back up to see if i could find out where the problem was coming from and all i could see was smoke coming pretty close to the turbo and around there, but too much smoke i couldnt see exactly where. so now the car idles nasty, smoke from the engine, and there is a popping/missing sound when it idles too. anybody that can look at it for me or give me some suggestions please help me out!!! thanks (sorry so long)

 

I hate to say it but that almost seems like a cracked ringland...

 

umm let me see, check the oil return line if its loose it could easily be causing smoke. Hate to say this but a lot of the time imports with not the best fuel management will run really different when temperature change. Make sure you waste gate is still working and thats easy to check. But I am hoping its a very minor problem cus I would hate to see a turbo car not working. One time when I was on a drive up in the mountains my waste gate got stuck and I kept on messing with my boost control and I couldnt get the car to run under 13psi and i had a stock d series at the time and i was only trying to run 5-7poounds to needless to say the turbo gave up on me and now im non turbo. Check compression if you can, i could see if its a problem cus all the oil and smoke. I wish you the best of luck to get the problem fixed, but dont let it drag you down to much. Turbos arent like girlfriends and are easy to replace unless your dealing with the T70s and such. later

 

yeah im hoping its minor too. im suppose to have somebody look at it tomorrow, if they dont know, then i guess im going to take it to millinium auto sports

 

either that or if you have any buddies that are good mechanics that have some spare time. Any kind of mechanic shop will charge ridiculously high prices for any kind of turbo repair or even assesment. If its aftermarket then they price gouge.

 

blown turbo? if its not spooling and there's a lot of smoke, it may be seized.

 

yeah sounds like the turbo's blown.

 

any weird noises when it did it? oil pressure ok? how much oil did you lose?

most of the time, when a turbo goes out, it will send oil out the exhaust, not all over the engine. it sounds like you have excessive blowby, aka cracked ringland or broken ring, etc.

there is a procedure to follow for checking, dont just start changing parts.


it is possible you have merely a blown turbo, but i have never seen one blow oil all over the engine when it goes out.

 

turbo still spools but there is no boost behind it. i had somebody look at it today and he pulled the plugs out of the block one by one and the engine stopped smoking when he pulled the plug out of cylinder one. so he said the piston in cylinder 1 is probably shot.