oil coming up from intercooler?

[tropical 87t]

My 87t has been blowing white smoke out the exhaust for a few weeks now. I removed the air hosed leading to the 3000 tube and noticed there is oil pooling up in the plastic elbow / air hose coming up from the exit hose of the intercooler (near the airbox/airfilter).

What's the most likely source of this oil. Is is coming from the turbo, going into the intercooler, out of the intercooler, and blowing through up to air intake and combusting? I don't have any oil in the 3000 tube or the throttle body.

It's an 87 turbo, totally stock. Top and bottom end rebuilt 10,000 miles ago. It runs smooth, like new. I lost some boost yesterday, but I found a big crack in the rubber air hose that connects to the 3000 tube.

Thanks for any help.

 

[koulee]

Is it a little bit of oil or alot of oil? If its a little bit, then its probably from the pcv system. If its alot, then its probably blown turbo seals thats dumping oil into it.

If its a little bit only, I wouldn't worry too much about it because the pcv does dump into the intake just before the turbo. If its alot, then I'd check the turbo to see if it has any shaft play/leaks.

 

[Bishop92t]

Typically smoke on decel and after extended idle is blown turbo. Smoke on startup is valve stem seals, and all other times is usually rings/PCV.

One thing though, white smoke is coolant, blue smoke is oil. Bad turbo or active PCV system won't blow white smoke. Look at the smoke carefully, a lot of people mistake blue for white, it's a very light blue.

 

[1_slo_92]

I had this problem, these guys got me worried to death it was rings. Looked for blow by in the cylinders, did a comp. test. Nothing, so I swapped out my turbo for 10 minutes (completely rebuilt no run time on it untill we put it on mine) No more smoke after that, ordered a new turbo and should fix it when it comes in unless this one's shot too.

 

[tropical 87t]

Typically smoke on decel and after extended idle is blown turbo. Smoke on startup is valve stem seals, and all other times is usually rings/PCV.

One thing though, white smoke is coolant, blue smoke is oil. Bad turbo or active PCV system won't blow white smoke. Look at the smoke carefully, a lot of people mistake blue for white, it's a very light blue.

Thanks for the tips everyone, very helpful.

Bishop,

Those are my symptoms: smoke on decel and extended idle. The smoke does seem to be a very light blue. The smell is horrible too. Totally different smell than the BHG burning coolant smell. When I'm at cruising speeds, I don't notice any smoke. If there is some smoke, it may be blown away/dispersed so quickly I don't see it. Some threads said it because the leaking turbo seal is temporarily sealed by certain pressures on the shaft?

If I need to replace the turbo and do not want to upgrade turbo size, injectors, fuel pump, intercooler, and electronics, what's the best bet for a new turbo besides a CT26?

 

[johnathan1]

A stock CT26 is your best bet if you aren't going for anything above stock psi or a little bit higher... You could ask around on here, I have seen one's in good condition go for as little as $75, and it isn't horribly difficult to replace...

 

[tropical 87t]

A stock CT26 is your best bet if you aren't going for anything above stock psi or a little bit higher... You could ask around on here, I have seen one's in good condition go for as little as $75, and it isn't horribly difficult to replace...

Ok, thanks for the tip. I thought if I upgraded everything, it probably would involve a couple grand at least, right?