White smoke and no spool up

[Darrick147]

Ok, I've got a 97 eclipse gst, and just recently I've started getting no spool up whatsoever through the turbo and getting huge clouds of white smoke out of the exhaust at idle and at full throttle (even bigger clouds when I shift). What are some things that I can check to find the problem, or if you've had the problem before, how did you fix it?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

--Darrick

[Scrapper]

sounds like blowen head gasket or turbo shot to hell do a compression check see what you come with..

[Darrick147]

Did a compression check and the compressions were from left to right: 155, 145, 155, 160... My dad took off the radiator cap and found air bubbles coming out while the engine was running, he thinks it could be a blown head gasket also. Also, how much shaft play is there on the turbo shaft? I took off the air intake from the turbo and it seems like it has a lot of play...probably an inch or so from side to side. I would think that a non-blown turbo wouldn't have that much play, if any at all.

[Thor06]

Yikes! Yep, your turbo is fucked. There should be a little shaft play, but little meaning like a millimeter or something. The compression difference is a little troublesome too, but its manageable I think.

[Darrick147]

What usually causes that? Just lots of mileage or could it be something like my oil feed line being clogged or anything like that?
Should I buy a new stock turbo or is there another turbo that I could put on that won't require any big changes such as the fuel system or exhaust upgrades? And how much would a stock or slightly upgraded turbo possibly cost?
There are a couple of things I'm looking to upgrade since I'm having to take all of this stuff apart anyways, such as the air intake and exhaust manifold. My major problem is getting everything in and put on the car in two weeks before I leave for college. Here's a big kicker too, my budget for everything is $800-$900. Although if the turbo is going to cost about that much I would just stick to getting that fixed since it's the only thing that's really broken.
After taking off the heat shields I also noticed that if I don't upgrade to a new header, I'll need to find just a bolt set to the stock header. Haven't been able to find a set anywhere. ??
Anyone have any advice?

[Thor06]

I dont think its possible to put a finger on one thing that did it in, but I'd guess that its one or a combination of high miles, too long on the oil changes, low oil levels, or maybe a few other factors.

If you have $900 and two weeks I wouldnt even bother dude. Just get a replacement turbo (T25) and start doing research about mods. Here's some useful sites, happy reading.

Manifol to turbo studs: http://www.maperformance.com/dn-perf...-and-nuts.html

Places to buy other aftermarket stuff:
www.maperformance.com
www.extremepsi.com

Places to look for another T25:
www.ebay.com
www.dsmtuners.com/classifieds
www.dsmtrader.com

Places to read about DSM mods, problems, and all that jazz:
Here!
www.dsmtuners.com
www.vfaq.com

[Darrick147]

Thanks for the sites. And that's two weeks of nothing to do. No job, no school, nothing that I really have to do, other than work on my car. I've already gotten the broken turbo, exhaust mani, and air intake pulled off and started looking for another turbo. That's why I wanted to go ahead and do the few mods while everything is torn apart....If I can. lol.

[Thor06]

Well, after spending the money for the turbo you wont have a whole lot left... not by mods standards anyway. When was the T-belt last changed? Tranny fluid? Brakes done? Oil changed? Plugs? Wires? How's the airfilter? I'd make sure the car is well maintained (especially since you are going away) and left over money should either be saved for beer/women in college.

[Darrick147]

Timing belt was changed at 95k (has 115k on it now). Did tranny fluid the last time I changed the oil. Changing the oil since I'm doing this work on it. Just put tires on it about 4k ago, and brakes were done about 500 previous to that. The plugs looked pretty worn out so I'll be putting new ones in. I did most of that kind of maintenance a lil after I got the car. I take care of my baby haha. How often should you change the air filter? I havent changed that since I bought the car and who knows how long ago the previous owner changed it. Besides all that, even if I go a lil over budget it's not a crisis cause my dad has offered to pay for it since I'm leaving, I guess as a really good goodbye present . He said he would at least buy the turbo and possibly the exhaust manifold if I can find one for less that $200, which I found a tubular manifold on ebay for about $150 including shipping. Which means the only thing I would be buying out of all of this would be a new air intake, I think I can spare enough for that.

Turbo
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car-....c0.m245.l1318

Tubular Mani
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car-....c0.m245.l1318

Well within my budget . Not sure about that mani tho, I'm not too crazy about it.

[Darrick147]

Bought a rebuilt turbo, dad found one on ebay for 450$ including a $100 core charge so it was technically only 350. New manifold is on the way, but won't get here till wednesday . Sprang for a nice DNP tubular manifold.

Got some pics of the old turbo, and now i see why it wouldn't get any spool up. Also oil was just dripping out of it so there's the reason for the smoke. Also, Firestone is going to be doing a rack and pinion swap on it since it's had a p/s leak since forever.