Mystery Oil Smoke from Built Turbo LS Motor Stymies Youtuber
With no obvious oil leaks, LegitStreetCars is wondering what could cause a puff of smoke from his turbo LS Trans Am.
Things always go wrong with built motors. But that’s part of the fun, right? Well, tell that to Alex Palmeri from LegitStreetCars. His 1000 horsepower turbo LS Trans-Am has a mystery burp of oil smoke and he can’t narrow down where it’s coming from. It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with the little puff of smoke, but Palmeri wants this car to be as drivable and as normal as a regular street car. So even such a small item is a bit annoying for him.
A bit of a back story on the car. Palmeri has owned this car for 20 years, and it has been boosted for most of its life. The current turbo setup has been solidly reliable for a number of years. But he hasn’t paid much attention to this car as other projects have taken priority.
Some may say “oh, it’s the valve stems that are leaky” or that it’s some sort of other oikl leak that happens when sitting. But Palmeri describes the unique way this oil smoke occurs. It doesn’t happen when the car has sat and is cold-started. It also doesn’t happen when the engine is up to temperature. “It’s gotta be [re-started] in this tiny little window of time,” he notes. If you let the car cool off for just 20 minutes, the smoke happens. Any sooner, and any later, there’s no smoke.
One thing that Palmeri made sure to check was the plugs. Generally these offer the best insight into engine health. They were potentially a bit fouled out. And the engine ran significantly smoother after they were changed. But the smoke still appears.
Could it be a tiny bit of oil from the turbo? If the turbo is left to sit for a while, the oil would potentially drain clear and result in no smoke. And if re-started right away, the oil hasn’t had time to seep through any potential leaking area, with the result being no smoke again. So maybe that’s it?
The car hasn’t been run without the turbo to see if that eliminates the problem just yet, but it would at least be the starting point from where we remove variables. But, with our vast knowledge in the forums, if you’ve come across this problem before and have a solution, we’d be happy to hear it!
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