Current thinking on turbos gone bad?

[badun]

I'm the original owner of a 2008 MS3. No modifications from stock at all and it has 144k miles on it. I've thrown tons of money into it for ancillary issues (a/c, drivetrain, etc.) but until recently have not had any powertrain issues. About a year ago I noticed occasional puffs of gray smoke (might have been light blue but it didn't resemble the massive mosquito foggers of my V8 youth) under acceleration but no change in behavior. Last week I heard an expensive metallic sound under the hood and immediately checked the oil. It had been changed less than 3 months ago but it barely registered on the dipstick. Since then, I've had to add oil ever 2 days and I'm still hearing the metallic mechanical sound on startup. Performance still seems fine but if it was a gradual decrease I likely wouldn't have noticed it.

There are about 9 million different threads on this subject but not a lot of current ones (with the original turbo, that is). What's the current thinking on diagnosing and resolving these issues? At this point I'm just looking to keep the car on the road and running well, not any increases in performance. Thanks!

[speed23]

Mechanical sounds on start-up? Better search "VVT gone bad".

[badun]

Originally Posted by speed23 Mechanical sounds on start-up? Better search "VVT gone bad".

Damnit! That sounds exactly like the mechanical noise issue.

[5doorsoffury]

Originally Posted by badun Damnit! That sounds exactly like the mechanical noise issue.

It sounds like 2 issues. Search vvt noise in YouTube. Vvt doesn't eat oil...
Blown turbo can eat oil and so can piston ring issues. Compression and leak down test will let you know if its pistons or turbo but eather way the vvt needs attention especially if its the original one.

[badun]

My "Damnit!" was recognition that there are multiple problem$.

[badun]

Now that I've had a chance to figure out where the hell I'm going to get the money, I want to make sure that I'm buying myself enough time for the car until I can get a new one. Other than the turbo and VVT is there anything else in the powertrain that is likely to bite my ass? I'm excluding brakes, suspension, clutch, and transmission because it's at the age where if they haven't needed work already it's to be expected. I'm talking about stuff that is pretty unique to the MS3, like the turbo that serves as a bug fogger and the timing chain that etches dirty words on the valve cover.

[aackthpt]

One of these days your PMM will take a shit and squirt its gooey goodness all over the US passenger side of your engine compartment.

[speed23]

Turbo and VVT - and ensuring fuel pump is upgraded before adding a tune/power parts is the main stuff.

[MSMS3]

Get that compression and leak down tests done and report results here before assuming it is the turbo. If it is the turbo, you can have it rebuilt for about $350-$400 if I recall what I paid. VVT will be a dealer thing unless you have the appropriate timing tool.

These people are turbo experts and rebuild the K04 or offer the BNR upgrades. They are in the same town and are affiliated with BNR.

http://www.turborepair.com/mazdaspee...daspeed-6.html

[badun]

Originally Posted by aackthpt One of these days your PMM will take a shit and squirt its gooey goodness all over the US passenger side of your engine compartment.

I'm actually ahead of that monster! Got that taken care of two years ago. Trying to select the right mechanic now for the tests/repairs (my DIY days are over, except for minor stuff). If a turbo is needed then I'm definitely going with the BNR stage 1. No sense in going cheap with such a crucial component.

[badun]

Got my car worked on last week but then Hurricane Irma kind of screwed up all plans after that so I haven't been here in a while! The shop I took it to wanted to be very conservative given the age of the car so they didn't jump right in and start siphoning dollars off of me. They believe the oil consumption issue was the PCV valve so they replaced that and I'll monitor oil use to see if that was the root cause. However, they did not try to address the mechanical noise that is perhaps caused by the VVT gone bad. I don't know if they were in a hurry because of the approaching storm, wanted to protect my wallet, or simply didn't know how to diagnose it without disassembly. To that end, how can one diagnose VVT issues without peeling back the skin and poking at the guts? I'm happy that I may have delayed the turbo investment but I'm not going to ignore potentially expensive noises!