redzcstandardhatch

so the other day i put a "new" volvo turbo on, it seemed to be in great shape.....and 5 minutes after i install it, it seemed i blew my head gasket (white smoke-tons, and crap coming out of the breather.). the engine is an a6, its been boosted for a while. so i threw a rebuilt a6 head one, d16z6 head gasket, along with arp head studs, which i torqueds, loosened, and re-torqued several times to "stretch" the studs. everything went very smoothly with the head swap, then, 30 seconds after i re-start it, while its just idling, it starts billowing white smoke again. its running PERFECTLY too. no "blown headgasket" symptoms, such as stumbling, running on only a couple cylinders, etc..... granted, i didnt drive it, but it was idling and reving fine.

could my problem be that the turbo is blowing coolant into the exhaust? its an older volvo t3......oil and water cooled. please help, im frusturated. thanks in advance.

nocom

Mine smokes a lot of white smoke occasionally but I think mine is caused by my turbo oil seals going bad or because of a kinked oil return line.

*I've fixed my oil return line and tada! white smoke's gone


Modified by nocom at 1:59 PM 9/3/2004

redzcstandardhatch

could the white smoke be oil? it didnt appear to lose coolant before when i drove it while it was smoking (about 1 hour to get home).....and the coolant didnt get all brown like my other engines have when the've blown headgaskets. and, it doenst smell "sweet", like coolant, stinks like burning oil kinda. maybe its just the turbo. any one else?

EFbomb

i would un-hook the coolant lines to the turbo, and see if ti still smokes. At idle you shoudl be allright without coolant for a little bit, as long as you have the oil lines hooked up.
that would help rule out the turbo coolant leak.

or swap out the turbo for one that is good if possible and see if thats the prob.

oil smoke is generally more of a blueish tint to it, it still comes out looking a little white, but if its oil it will have a blue tint to it. coolant is generally all white, and has a distinct smell.

redzcstandardhatch

yeah, that was my plan of action for after work tonight.....

we'll see.

has anyone heard of a turbo leaking coolant into the exhaust or intake?

EFbomb

not usually coolant unless the turbo is way cracked in the center section...could be different on that turbo tho, im not too familiar with volvo turbos. but if it were cracked more than likley it would have some serious shaftplay and/or woudlnt turn.

Del_Slowest

coming out of the breather means the rings are gone

redzcstandardhatch

or that there is pressure inthe crankcase from a leaky headgasket, or so i've heard. the rings seem fine to me, perfect cylinder walls, runs just fine. no smoke upon start up, until the exhaust gets hot, then it smokes like crazy.....