What are know reasons for oil smoke spewing from exhaust at idle?

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nig3

Member
On my 08 speed3 it will randomly spew out clouds of smelly oil smoke, not all the time, though. mostly once after the car has been drivin hard and sits at idle. seems to only do it at idle and randomly comes and go, somedays it wont happen at all???? Ive heard too much oil, bad turbo seals, wrong oil ect... what seems to be the most reasonable explanation so far??? thanks
BTW i have no cats but the car was fine like that for awhile. also the dealer had me putting 5w20 in for the first couple oil changes, maybe cause the oil isnt as thick as 10w30 its leaking IDK??? any ideas???
 
nig3 said:
On my 08 speed3 it will randomly spew out clouds of smelly oil smoke, not all the time, though. mostly once after the car has been drivin hard and sits at idle. seems to only do it at idle and randomly comes and go, somedays it wont happen at all???? Ive heard too much oil, bad turbo seals, wrong oil ect... what seems to be the most reasonable explanation so far??? thanks
BTW i have no cats but the car was fine like that for awhile. also the dealer had me putting 5w20 in for the first couple oil changes, maybe cause the oil isnt as thick as 10w30 its leaking IDK??? any ideas???
Click to expand...

Your dealer is an idiot. The MS3 needs the film strength of 5W-30 due to shearing downward and fuel dilution.

I do believe the PCV valve circuit to be the root cause of at least some of the smoking and plan to install a catch can soon, even though I do not currently have a smoking problem. A catch can cannot cause a problem.
-enganear
 
Just gotta look at the sig....
Mods- CAI, Corksport DP, No cats, TurboXS boost controller. CS motor mount inserts= 270whp and 310wtq
 
a catch can has fixed thi sissue for SEVERAL other members. if it is only at idle it isnt a turbo problem.
 
wow, why are dealers so stupid like that. and they void our warranties for their mis-information. as eganear said 5w-20 is not a good choice due to fuel dilution. Nig3- dont put in 10w-30 either its 5w-30. put on a catch can and drive it for like two weeks and see if the problem goes away. many people say it does in a situation like yours where it only smokes once in a while at idle
 
Well, I'm one of the lucky ones to have smoke appear at idle after about 20-30 seconds the same day after installing a catted dp. I'm convinced that whatever it is was hidden with the two stock cats in place. I've checked it every time I'm parking the car, and so far I'd say about 70% of the time it will slowly start to smoke so I turn the ignition off incase it gets out of hand.

I've been cooling down the turbo after each drive for 40 seconds since day 1. About 90% of my daily commute is highway cruising. I use mobil 1 synthetic every 3k miles. I'm about midway b/w an oil change now. I first thought it was the new cat breaking in, thought maybe something was coated on it from the factory. After 40 miles with the dp, I was waiting for a train to cross when I saw the cloud of smoke drift past the front of my car. The next two times I parked, I noticed it. The next time it idled over a minute without anything. Then the next time it came back. Now 120 miles after install, I take my camera to work to capture it, and it won't smoke for me. I'm going to catch it on video and show the dealer. I know if I put the stock dp back on it will hide the issue again. I just want the dealer to determine if its not the cat breakin in and that its turbo seals or oil coming thru the pcv valve and go from there. The intercooler and boost tubes showed no trace of oil during the dp install.
 
i feel its the pcv on most of the cars on the forum, im not saying that the seals dont like having no backpressure and some have gone bad. but i think most of the smoking is from pvc and lack of cat or high plow that cant burn it off in time. ive experienced smoking mainly at idle and a couple right hand sweepers. pcv on the left side of engine high rev and high g.
 
Did anyone with the CPE catted DP notice smoke at idle for the first few drive cycles? I've been driving with my digital camera to capture it, but the last 4 times I've jumped out of the car to catch it on video, and its no where to be found anymore. Maybe I jumped the gun on this one. Could have been something on the new cat breaking in. I'm still a bit paranoid reading all the turbo horror stories.(confused)
 
its not anything breaking in. its pcv blowby and there is nothing your dealer can about it. they will see your mods and say ...too bad ! just like i have told the hundreds of others..... put a catch can on it and it will stop. EVERY person who has done so has had the smoke stop.
 
tru-boost said:
its not anything breaking in. its pcv blowby and there is nothing your dealer can about it. they will see your mods and say ...too bad ! just like i have told the hundreds of others..... put a catch can on it and it will stop. EVERY person who has done so has had the smoke stop.
Click to expand...

I will try that. I recently installed the CS dp and the smoke as been coming out at idle all the time. It is annoying. Lets c with a catch can install could help out the situation. Thanks.
 
Before I begin, let the records show that I'm not calling anyone out in the information you're about to read so don't take it the wrong way. It is purely to get a better understanding of pcv valve systems varying from vehicle to vehicle :) :

So how come WRX's or other vehicles don't experience oil passing thru the pcv valve (someone will probably call me out on this one because I'm guessing that some do) when they upgrade their exhaust to a free-er flowing system? Do Vettes or Mustangs exhibit this when upgrading the exhaust? Is it more prominant on turbo vehicles with relatively high boost applications? Poor Design? Why do some of our Speed3's with the same mods experience this and others do not? Is it in the oil viscosity/life? The way the motors were broke in/wore? Are the tolerances in building the engine allowing more oil to pass thru some and not others?

Again, these are all serious questions, not bashing. I'm tired of pondering to myself, so I want to see what you guys have to say. If my smoke comes back after some hard driving, I'll probably try this route. I just want to know why I need it.
 
lack of cats in a boosted car has nothing to do with it. your friends srt had a bad turbo. My car had a 3" catless exhasust and just about every bolton you could have. My turbo never burned oil once or threw any in the hot pipe
 
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