Blown turbo seals? Or r.i.p turbo?
 

Hi!
First of all I'm glad to be on this forum. I have owned my mazdaspeed 3 gen 1 for roughly 2 months now and everything has been working out perfectly excluding some worn out bushings and the previous owner made a crazy mistake and sprayed water into the spark plug wells which caused the car to misfire like crazy. That is all currently fixed and the only problem I'm having is that the car randomly decides to let out some white/blueish smoke from time to time. It doesn't happen that often but I feel like its becoming more and more present. It does not smoke while crusing mostly when idling and rarely when accelerating at slow speed. Could it be blown turbo seals? Is that something I would be able to fix and put together without letting a repair shop vacuum my wallet .

Thanks in advance,
Daniel :cool2:

Turbo seals are internal in the turbo. There are kits to replace them, but you must remove the turbo and downpipe. A rebuilt turbo is an attractive option for some people. But, unfortunately, the problem will recur, as it is inherent in the design of the turbo and the crankcase ventilation system on our cars.

BNR makes a redesigned turbo using the OEM housing, flange and oil and water connections, but with Garrett GT28 internals with better seals that eliminate the problem. It is BNR S1. Identical flow, plug and play on stock tune. That’s what I did after two stock “smoking turbo” failures.

yeah few weeks have passed and it smokes more and more. Im looking into replacing the turbo. If i decide to go with the original stock turbo replacement should i buy an oil flow restrictor bolt for it? just so it wouldnt go bad again?

The restrictor bolts have been tried. Can't hurt, but don't expect much. Didn't seem to work for me at all. You also may benefit from running heavier oil. Many of us are running Shell Rotella T6 which is a 5w-40 full synthetic formulation. It was originally developed for direct injection turbo diesel over-the-road trucks, but has been popular with high output direct injection turbo cars. Mazdaspeed and Subie guys have found it and it is good for the engine and might help.

If you go with another stock turbo, you could have yours rebuilt. BNR and other companies can do it for about half the cost of an OEM turbo. Should last as long. But, the problem is inherent in the design and they will eventually smoke again. BNR will tell you that. If you can swing it, get the BNR S1 with the Garret guts. That solves the problem.