Bad Turbo Results in New Block

[batman]

I thought it would be beneficial to share my experience dealing with what started as a smoking exhaust on my 2007 Mazdaspeed 3 (w/ ~31k miles).

When I first discvoered the white smoke coming from my exhaust, it was at times of acceleration. I was worried I had a coolant leak. Being under warranty, I took it in for service. I was informed it was the Turbo that was smoking and that Mazda (corporate) recommended increasing the weight of the oil from 5W-30 to 5W-40. This sounded like an odd fix to me but I let them do it and took my vechile back. Within a few days the smoking returned just as profusely.

I returned the vehicle to the dealer and they did further analysis. They deteremined the Turbo was "shot" and wanted to replace it. The part was on back order so it took them two weeks to get the part and replace it. This is where it gets interesting...

A few days after being informed they received the part, Mazda called me and said my "variable valve timing" didn't sound right and they wanted to replace it and it would be a few more days. I'm thinking "varaible valve timing is a feature not a part". I was informed it was the "VVT actuator" that went out. Another day goes by and I receive another call saying "We reported our results to Mazda [corporate] and they want to analyze the whole block so they're sending us a new block to swap out".

A new block?! Sounded crazy to me but sure why not.

Two days later I was told my car was ready to go. I picked up the vechile and was shown by the machanic the work. Sure enough it's a new block (shiny). I received my invoice (totalling $0 just the way I like it) and looked at the mechanic's notes which are as follows.

CUST STATES VEH IS SMOKING OUT OF A TAIL PIPE WHILE SITTING AT IDLE -- CHECK AND ADVISE. VERIFIED CONCERN CONTACTED TECHLINE AND WAS INSTRUCTED TO REPLACE TURBO. WHILE DRIVING VEHICLE JUST STALLED OUT. NOTICED VARIABLE VALE TIMING ACTUATOR CAME APART. PERFORMED CYLINDER TEST AND NOTICED #3 100% LEAKAGE. CONTACTED TECHLINE, SENT PHOTOS OF ACTUATOR AND TEST AS PER MAZDA REPLACE BLOCK. INSTALLED NEW ENGINE ASSY...TRANSFERRED NEESSARY PARTS, REPLENISH FLUID AND ROAD TESTED VEHICLE 20 MILES AND IS GOOD AT THIS TIME.

I would love to get everyone's feedback on this. I have to say throughought the entire experience, my dealer (particularly the service rep) was super helpful. I was given a loaner the entire time and even though they had the car for just shy of a month, he kept me constantly in the loop and even got my car detailed as a sort of apology for taking so long. From my perspective, I went in for a smoking turbo and got a new turbo and block out of the deal.

[JumpingJackson]

Wow.. i wish all dealers were this nice haha

[felt]

Damn nice

[JumpingJackson]

Did you do all of your oilchanges / service through them?

[batman]

Originally Posted by JumpingJackson Did you do all of your oilchanges / service through them?

No actually. I've done all regular maintenance myself. They did request my oil change records which included receipts for all the oil and filters as well as my personal log of date, mileage, etc.

Originally Posted by YammerR1 Your block was replaced because your cylinder 3 failed a compression test, that's the same reason why my block was replaced under warranty. Has nothing to do with the smoking turbo.

Agreed. Though I have a hard time taking cylinder failing "all of a sudden" while under there care. Someone drop something into the opened up engine and then fire it up perhaps?

Originally Posted by wankular Did you have any mods on at the time?

Just a short shifter.

[wankular]

Did you have any mods on at the time?

[flyrevs2]

nice, I'm rockin DISI #2 as well

[Fobio]

this was basically my experience with the smoking turbo, minus the new engine...

turbo was on back-order from Japan...I did some prep wotk with the smoking turbo TSB prior and showed them I'm already running 5w40...they kept the car for 3 weeks and gave me a loaner 2010...droped the car off with all mods and just unmarried the AP...

[YammerR1]

Your block was replaced because your cylinder 3 failed a compression test, that's the same reason why my block was replaced under warranty. Has nothing to do with the smoking turbo.

[Lex]

The smoking at idle can very well be related to a loss in compression of cyl 3 as that would increase crankcase pressure which would cause smoke at idle.

Aside from the smoking turbo, how did the car drive?

[batman]

Originally Posted by Lex The smoking at idle can very well be related to a loss in compression of cyl 3 as that would increase crankcase pressure which would cause smoke at idle. Aside from the smoking turbo, how did the car drive?

It actually ran fine would and wouldn't smoke constantly just at times of acceleration and sometimes at idle.

[Darksun280]

Originally Posted by batman It actually ran fine would and wouldn't smoke constantly just at times of acceleration and sometimes at idle.

hmmm sounds like i dropped a cyl. i need to get the fuck out this car......

[Silver Ecstasy]

I really hope Mazda is hard at work on this... Like, seriously..hard at work figuring this bs out.

Glad OP got his engine replaced!!! What did they transfer over? Everything except the block?

[batman]

Originally Posted by Silver Ecstasy I really hope Mazda is hard at work on this... Like, seriously..hard at work figuring this bs out. Glad OP got his engine replaced!!! What did they transfer over? Everything except the block?

No kidding.

Yeah everything else was transferred over then new fluids added, etc. Runs like a top now I'm just scared to do any mods. I don't think Mazda over-engineered this vehicle as much as they should.

[Silver Ecstasy]

Originally Posted by batman No kidding. Yeah everything else was transferred over then new fluids added, etc. Runs like a top now I'm just scared to do any mods. I don't think Mazda over-engineered this vehicle as much as they should.

Screw it, mod it. By the time you need DISI #3, they'll have it all figured out...

[wakeboarddude]

Your one of the lucky few!

[dscsk8er55]

That is some awesome luck. Good to hear that there are some decent dealers out there.

[flyrevs2]

anybody up to DISI#3 yet ?

[Silver Ecstasy]

Originally Posted by flyrevs2 anybody up to DISI#3 yet ?

By DISI #3, I would have ditched this thing for SOMETHING. Shit, put me in a Kia Forte before I go through 3 DISI's.

[cpolly69]

I know your story - Except the dark side...
http://www.mazdaspeedforum.org/forum/foru...erience-47657/

YouTube- Something Something Something Dark Side

YouTube- Something Something Something Dark Side

[FreeFlyFreak]

Originally Posted by batman WHILE DRIVING VEHICLE JUST STALLED OUT. NOTICED VARIABLE VALE TIMING ACTUATOR CAME APART. PERFORMED CYLINDER TEST AND NOTICED #3 100% LEAKAGE.

Interesting..........
So what came first..... the chicken or the egg?

Could the VVT actuator coming apart cause a cylinder problem, or the engine to blow?
Or did a cylinder problem cause the VVT to self destruct.
Is this the "smoking gun" of blown engines?

If the engine had blown a hole in the block they probably wouldn't even have looked anywhere else, and would not have noticed the vvt problem.
But it stalled, they investigated and found the VVTa broken and a failed leakdown/compression test.......

Surely a leakdown.compression test would have been done when they were initially investigating the "smoking"???

Curiouser and curiouser.

[blacksin]

Originally Posted by FreeFlyFreak Interesting.......... So what came first..... the chicken or the egg? Could the VVT actuator coming apart cause a cylinder problem, or the engine to blow? Or did a cylinder problem cause the VVT to self destruct. Is this the "smoking gun" of blown engines?

Now I'm curious too.... Just picked up an '07 MS6 last week with 26K miles. I haven't noticed any smoking while idling, but I did look through the vehicle's previous service records... I noticed that under the warranty history, a solenoid valve and "variable valve timing actr" was replaced at the same time in Sept 09... Gonna keep this thread in mind.

[Darksun280]

MY VVT actuator is making all types of noises and now im pouring smoke on idle and WOT. I noticed both things at the same time. I'm honestly just waiting for this motor to blow....again......

[bf360]

Originally Posted by Darksun280 MY VVT actuator is making all types of noises and now im pouring smoke on idle and WOT. I noticed both things at the same time. I'm honestly just waiting for this motor to blow....again......

better hurry up with that 240

i smoking more lately also fuck

fuck this fucking car in the asshole so fucking hard

lol fml

[Silver Ecstasy]

Originally Posted by bf360 better hurry up with that 240 i smoking more lately also fuck fuck this fucking car in the asshole so fucking hard lol fml

OR, drive the piss out of it and not worry about the boom. If it's inevitable, it's inevitable. Let it keep exploding until Mazda either A) Fixes the issue or B) Goes bankrupt.

[802MS3]

^^cold temps could make the exhaust look like its smoking...

I've only smoked once, and it was after I ran the car fucking HARD for about 3 straight hours. I haven't seen it come back yet.

what dealer was it?

[cpolly69]

i just don't understand why all you guys that are smoking don't do compression tests on your own - the gauge is like $20 and it take like 20 minutes to do.... it's very simple and you really know where you stand..

[Darksun280]

Originally Posted by cpolly69 i just don't understand why all you guys that are smoking don't do compression tests on your own - the gauge is like $20 and it take like 20 minutes to do.... it's very simple and you really know where you stand..

Would you want to know if your down a cylinder and don't have a warranty? Especially when you've replaced the motor once out of pocket? Ignorance is bliss my friend.....

[cpolly69]

yeah i drove mine around for many miles after i discovered i was low on compression - it didn't even feel bad until the smoke started really coming out of it - i guess it would be better to just not know- my car is actually almost fixed, i should have it back next week...

[2007speed3]

3 weeks ago i stocked out and went to dealer for smoking problem. They called up mazda and gave me 5w-40. Worked for about 3 days smoke came back.

I went back to dealer, smoked out the garage and they decided it was a bad pcv valve. They replaced that and i thought i was fine.

I just took an emergency trip back to NY from FL Thursday night. The car was running for 16 hours, never turned off. i stop for coffee in VA at 330 am the car just start pouring smoke out of the exhaust.

I get out check oil and coolant, all it fine. This car is just weird sometimes. It hasn't smoked at all since then.


After the new pcv i put my occ back on, if it wasnt 20 deg i would check it but its too cold for that.

[cpolly69]

the reason i see (reading various forums & experience) that people always say it smokes some times and some times it doesn't is because if it's a pcv issue it takes certain conditions to get the smoking going & sometimes people are creating those conditions and some times they aren't - the conditions for smoking from the pcv issue:
sitting for an extended period of time at idle (the worse your pcv flow, the less time you have to sit at idle before you would see smoke) but crankcase pressures aren't being transferred in/out from valve cover-valvetrain area to intake manifold and the turbo isn't draining oil properly b/c of the excess pressures (this is the theory anyway, and i've seen it in reality)
the other option is that people are actually leaking compression - which i see more and more of these days (scary - it happened to me) the conditions that would make this show up more are:
apply large load amounts while driving the car - you will see the smoke more frequently and regularly - (you can get a definite determination on this if you just do a simple compression check)
yes i know i'm saying stuff that all the experienced people on here know, but it's obvious (as we get new members here every day) that there's lots who don't know, and i'm just trying to help out.....

[Biggu]

well its good they took care of it instead of just sending you away.