Holy smokes! (Smoking turbo)

[James614]

I just got a 93 Touring Wagon 2 days ago (impulse buy, even though my wife and I already have a set of perfectly good L sedans. But those are FWD, mine has no rear swaybar, they're as exciting as a Toyota Camry And let's not get started on the constant "Ain't those things all-wheel-drive?" every time I get stuck in the snow )

I noticed that after enjoying my boost for a while, my turbo will start smoking. Other than that it runs awesome, no leaks or bad noises (just good ol' turbo jazz ). I'll have to wait until the weekend to clean off crud in the engine bay to see if that could be the issue, I'm hoping it is. If the turbo otherwise sounds and performs great, and doesn't burn up my oil, it should be fine, right?

On a side note, low-end torque ROCKS!!! I'll probably save tons of gas smoking fart-piped Civics and Accords at 3000-4500 rpm instead of winding my L sedan up to 6500


EDIT:

Also, should I get some sort of foam pad or something to go over the turbo's inlet? And why is it there? The car doesn't actually draw air from the hood, does it?

[BSOD2600]

I occasionally see smoke rising out of my hood too -- got some small oil leak either on the back of the block or around that area. Leaks onto the exhaust and bingo. Checked for leaks yet?

As for the foam, you mean a heater blanket type thing? No, it doesn't draw air from the hood. Stock config it's primarily for the chimney stack to cool the turbo. Modifies, makes a great place for an intercooler .

You want more fun? Swap in a 5MT

[James614]

Actually, I read the article of the 5mt wagon swap months ago and it concreted my preference towards obtaining a sleeper Touring Wagon some day, instead of waiting years for a sport sedan to creep up in my area



By the foam pad, I mean like the pads you put over an air filter if you drive off-road to stop it from getting beaten with large dust & dirt particles, like this stuff. Supposedly it only blocks 2% of airflow but traps 90% of the dirt. But if the turbo's inlet is just for ventilation and cooling, I guess it's not much of an issue.

[Imprezive]

That chimney type shroud that goes over your turbo is to simply to direct the air coming in from the hood scoop to cool the turbo. Don't worry about dust getting in there, it wont be sucked up by the turbo or anything.

If your turbo is smoking first off make sure its the turbo and not a nearby oil leak.

Enjoy your turbo.

[Steeper]

my 91 turbo caught fir the first time I bagged on it, it had built up oil all over the exhaust and I think me driving it was the first time it had gotten hot enough to burn the oil. good thing it was winter and I was rally beating it in the snow, gave me stuff to put the fire out!