sickmazdasix

Hey I bought a 1994 Toyota Celica ST and it has a T3/T4 turbo running 8 psi. The car had been sitting for about a month while he was trying to sell it and was working on a different car. Well the car has white smoke coming from the exhaust. I've never owned a turbocharged car so i am assuming it needs new oil. Am I in over my head? Should I sell this thing to someone who knows more about turbo's than I do? The guy I bought from said the oil had built up on the servo and it's just burning it off. What the hell is a servo? The car is sitting in my parking lot cuz im embarassed to drive it due to the smoke. Please help!

grant90

I don't know much about Toyota's/turboed cars, but is it a pure white, or more of a greyish blue smoke? Worst case it could be a blown head gasket, If you check your oil cap and it looks milky you could be burning coolant.
Something similar happened in my first Civic, and it turned out to be a blown headgasket. Hopefully Fabrik8 see's this post, he's the guru on VaDriven for tech talk.

sickmazdasix

it's pure white smoke. it only smokes at idle. it drives great though and there's no weird noises besides the ridiculously loud hks bov.

tgjg19

bov sounds sweat! lol uhh mabt ur turbo seals went bad ..on the turbo

sickmazdasix

shit, i don't know anything about turbos. maybe i should just sell it.

sickmazdasix

mod list:

Performance
Full 2.5" custom exhaust
stage 2 exedy clutch
NGK wires & Plugs
Apexi Neo
460cc Denso Fuel Injectors
3Bar Map Sensor
Walbro 255lph Fuel Pump
T3/T4 Turbo running 8lbs.
HUGE Mishimoto FMIC
HKS SSQ BOV
Custom 3" downpipe
Apexi Turbo Timer
Generic Oil Catch Can

Suspension
tein s-tech springs
kyb GR-2 gas struts
GT-4 Rear Strut Bar

Exterior
17" Enkei rims
erebuni 404 lip kit
35% tint
HID 30,000K
Jet Black Paint Job
VIS Carbon Fiber Rear Hatch
Smoked Tail Lights

Interior
custom 8 ball shift knob
Lotek 3 gauge A-Pillar
Prosport Boost, Oil Pressure and Air Fuel Ratio Gauges. (blue/white series)

Fabrik8

How much smoke are we talking here?

Fabrik8

Don't sell it because you don't know anything about turbos. Learn about turbos and keep the car.

Most of the problems that your car will have are the same as any other car. Turbo systems aren't complicated, they're just additional parts that non-turbo cars don't have.


The internals of that engine should be strong enough for long term boost use, because factory turbo cars are built pretty strong. Given the amount of mileage on a 1994 car, and the fact that the car probably has a boost controller (so it can run greater than stock boost levels) it's very possible that the head gasket has failed.

It's also likely that the seals in the turbo are shot and you're probably leaking a little oil into the exhaust. A new turbo or a rebuild of the stock one will fix that problem. Seal failure comes with time and mileage, and it's just a fact of life with turbo cars. Factory turbo cars usually rack up a lot more mileage than non-turbo cars that have a turbo added at some later point in their life, so seal failure is pretty common on factory turbo cars as they get old.

sickmazdasix

it's not like a cloud of smoke or anything, it just puffs out when its at idle. i scheduled an oil change for tuesday so hopefully that helps. i have a replacement head gasket and turbo seals that came with the car. i just don't have the resources to be working on this thing all the time.

Fabrik8

Not to rain on your parade, but you bought a '94 factory turbo car that has probably been beaten on for a lot of its life. You'll probably need to work on it a bit to keep it maintained and repair it. It's 16 model years old, so it's going to need some miscellaneous TLC. If that's a problem, you should probably get a newer car.