white smoke?

[PowerSTOKED_Bryan]

hey guys,

im posting this up for my friend. he has an early 99 with roughly 210,000 miles on it. he has a straight pipe and a dp tuner with economy, 120 race, and 140 extreme. he has a burning oil smell and white smoke on idle and when he puts it in race tune he has a blackish white smoke. apparently the check engine light says its either a turbo or injectors. im not sure what the code is exactly...i will get you guys more details as i get them. he just text this to me.

[PowerSTOKED_Bryan]

ok, he just called me. the check engine light came on at a dirt drag about a month ago while he was power braking to launch. the code was for the IPR values too high or too low. i dont have the number...he said the white smoke is similar to when you start a truck up on a cold morning before it warms up. however with his truck its constantly white smoke...it doesnt clear up. he said he pulled the boot on his turbo yesterday and he has some play side to side.

[timmyboy76]

rebuild turbo, before bigger issues happen.

Have him unplug the MAT sensor..(located in middle of spider assy), see if smoke disappears. It sounds thouhg he gots injector / oring issues.

[PowerSTOKED_Bryan]

i suggested for him to get a new turbo. what is the MAT sensor? is it the sensor on the intake manifold?

[Turbostang500]

The turbo is suppose to have side to side play. end to end is bad and TOO much side to side is bad. if the wheel isn't touching the housing when he is checking, it should be an ok turbo. Now, if he is running these tunes and needs more air, that is a different story.

Does the truck have any kind of burnt antifreeze smell? White smoke is one of two things. Either it is unburned fuel or burning antifreeze. Unburned fuel could be an injector issue or a compression issue.
Blue smoke (burnt oil) can be mistaken for white smoke so some clarification should be done here.

[PowerSTOKED_Bryan]

he says it smells like burnt oil. i asked him if there was oil or fuel in the antifreeze and also if the oil on the dipstick was milky...apparently both are ok. apparently its white smoke and almost enough to be seen idling at intersections during the day..

[Turbostang500]

Is he losing oil over the course of an oil change?

Burning oil can be a few things. Injector orings, worn out turbo, blow-by causing oil to be pushed into the intake (only if it still has the stock ccv setup). There are some other things but those 3trucks are the most common.

The first thing your buddy needs to do is to determine exactly what the engine is burning/not burning so we can further help diag.

Black smoke= burned fuel lack of air
white smoke = burnt coolant OR unburned fuel
Light blue smoke= burnt oil

[timmyboy76]

Help 7.3 missing, no codes, did buzz and contribution tests

[PowerSTOKED_Bryan]

thanks guys. im going to have him try and unplug that MAT sensor

[PowerSTOKED_Bryan]

Alright guys. Pretty sure i found the source of my buddy's issues....I had him unplug the MAT sensor and he noticed a substantial amount of power loss and crazy amount of soot...figured that wasn't the issue....i looked at his turbo, and on the hood and between the compressor and exhaust housings, there was a large amount of oil. So i figure its time for a new turbo.