club.liberty.asn.au

This morning I started the car up and a puff of white smoke came out the exhaust.. enough for me to see in the rear vision mirror. Naturally, I got out and had a look, but by the time I had walk around to the back it wasnt coming out anymore. At first, I thought it was just condensation (being a cold morning and all) but the smoke hung around in the air. Anyway, the same thing happened when I left work (a little less smoke this time - but still noticeable).

Anyone got any ideas what this could be? it doesnt continue to smoke after the intial first puff and seems to only happen when the car has been parked for a while (ie first thing in the morning and after work)

Im thinking the worst and will go and see ASG but thought I might post it up here and see if anyone else has had this happen to their car

cheers

James

Hmm, that's pretty bad luck, James. Same thing happened to me last year. Every time I left the car for a while (2+ hours), the white smoke would appear from the exhaust whenever I started the car. White smoke gradually got worse and worse. It even appeared during WOT while driving. I spoke with an expert (Phat), and he was 95% certain it was the turbo dying. Since I got the oil line bracket reinforced during the recall, it couldn't have been anything other than the turbo. But I refused to believe it was the turbo since I only had 40k on the odometer! WTF? Car was safely tuned at every stage and everything! How could it have died so early?! Arg!

Anyway, bit the bullet and replaced the turbo (kicked myself because weeks later the VF52 became available) with another factory VF turbo. That fixed it. Upon closer inspection of the turbo that was pulled out, there was a hairline crack which caused the oil to leak in.

But that's just my experience. Could be a different problem with your smoke issue! Good luck!

it could also be blow by too...... catch can would fix that.

btw have you had a service and top end clean in past few days?

hmmm... bugger, hope it isnt a stuffed turbo. All mods have been done carefully so I didnt expect this..
I did have the car serviced last week (by Subaru).. I was thinking of taking it back to them to explain (but work has been keeping me at the desk during business hours). Would this be covered by warranty?

btw, there was smoke again this morning but seemed like less, more of an extended puff than a cloud (funny way to describe it I know )

cheers

J

There have been a couple of times over the past two years when I have noticed a puff of smoke when starting the car. But each time has been an isolated incident and never whilst driving.

What sort of oil seals do the turbos in our cars have? Are they knife edge seals or something else?

the top end cleaner can cause some smoke for a while after the service I'm told. The fuel additive is known to also

smythie wrote:the top end cleaner can cause some smoke for a while after the service I'm told. The fuel additive is known to also

fingers crossed its that (does seem like a coincedence that its happened after the service)... I will try and get the car to Subaru to check it out

TorpedoCreative wrote:

smythie wrote:the top end cleaner can cause some smoke for a while after the service I'm told. The fuel additive is known to also

fingers crossed its that (does seem like a coincedence that its happened after the service)... I will try and get the car to Subaru to check it out

Its actually the result of the top end cleaner doing its job, of buring all the carbon build up in your engine.

James ASG can do your log book services too.

James did they do the engine clean last week and the smoke only started yesterday? Or was it smoking ever since the engine clean occurred?

Service was Thursday last week. smoke was yesterday morning...

Dave, I might check out ASG for the services... can they do it through the lease company?

J

TorpedoCreative wrote:Service was Thursday last week. smoke was yesterday morning...

The reason I ask is because should the engine cleaner take that many days to kick in and start smoking up due to the carbon build up burning off?

took me a few days to notice it

Arith wrote:

TorpedoCreative wrote:Service was Thursday last week. smoke was yesterday morning...

The reason I ask is because should the engine cleaner take that many days to kick in and start smoking up due to the carbon build up burning off?

phew... hope you are right Jim

Hmmm - I was going to use the cleaner this w/e... Might wait to hear what you find out.