As i went to leave work started the car to big cloud of smoke and the worst clattery type of noise coming from the engine.. Been thinking the turbo is on it's way out, but any ideas what the noise is?

Been finding it difficult to trace the noise and i don't wanna run it too much just incase i do more damage?

 

model year first mate

 

Oh yeah just so annoyed forgot.

2001 Bugeye WRX

 

Impossible to do any more than take a wild guess what this might be without sticking head under bonnet and listening to it at first hand. Where was this "cloud of smoke" emanating from, the engine bay or exhaust pipe? What makes you think the turbo's failing? Was the car misbehaving in any way on your journey into work?

Probably the best thing you could do at this moment would be to tell us whereabouts you are so someone can suggest a convenient local specialist or dealer to take a look at it.

 

yeah i know it's all guessing, the car was fine on the way to work, i think the turbo is on the way out due to a puff of smoke as the boost comes on,

The smoke came from the exhaust and nowhere else

 

Would be unusual for a dead turbo to "rattle" in the way you seem to be describing up top - would need a pretty catastrophic failure for that.

Did you try pulling your cam breathers off to rule out the smoke emanating from the crankcase? Whereabouts on the engine do you think this "rattle" is coming from? Turbo or elsewhere?

 

to me it sounds like the right hand side (passenger ) when looking at the end, but i'm deaf in 1 ear so find it difficult finding noises. It almost sounds like it's running without oil ( but this is full)

i haven't tried pulling any pipes off yet. what would that mean if smoke comes from the crankcase?

 

ive never heard a turbo rattle to be honest and ive had a lot off turbos go on me especialy ford cosworth rs turbos etc they just blow lots off white smoke out

 

it sounds like engine noise rather than turbo to me, I'm annoyed as i only got the car last week and it ran very nicely no smoke noise rattles at all. The only thing i realised is that the oil wasn't on the dipstick so i topped it up, this is when i noticed the puffs of smoke on boost and thought the turbo is on the way out or seals etc, but now today i have this god awful noise, it does get quieter if you leave it to idle a bit

 

when was the oil last changed was it changed prior to you buying it have they done the correct procedure ie disconnecting cam sensor and cranksensor have you overfilled your oil how long have you had the car

 

i've had it a week, no they didn't change the oil, i've topped it up. I don't think i over filled it.

Whats the correct procedure?
i've had the car for 10 days

 

Yes, would (unfortunately) expect "rattling" to be engine internal related rather than turbo. So how long did you have the car before you noticed the low oil level, and was it emitting these puffs of smoke before you topped it up?

If you get a load of smoke coming out of the crankcase, that suggests a piston failure - although you could also have had a bearing gone. Ideally it needs to be looked at, rather than guessed about.

Did you buy the car in a private sale or from a dealer? Was there any warranty attached? Everything you've said so far points in the direction of (likely significant) internal damage, so if you have any options in this area, it would be worth checking them out. As above letting us know where you are is probably not a bad idea either.

 

id get my money back that where abouts are you whats the mileage

 

Now there's a possible clue!
How much oil did it take, to get it back to the top hole on the dipstick?

JohnD

 

it took 1.25 litres of , oil.

I have phoned the dealer i bought it from as they are 1 1/2 hours away from me in Weston-super-mare.

They've said take it to a local garage to diagnose the problem,

The cars got 66K miles

 

theres your answer then personaly i think the engines fooked and will cost 3k to rebuild they will endevour not to payout let them diagnose the problem and hand it back if they are not prepared to fix you have rights

 

yeah that's what i'm afraid of, will be speaking to them they can deal with it all.

 

keep us posted mate good luck

 

1.25 litres to bring it to what level, just onto the dipstick, or to the high hole?

 

That was to the top hole

 

i had this on myn when i brought it and it was piston failure and bearing it doesnt take long on an engine with alot of stress on it to **** it up,not cheap when it happens as most of us scooby owners know.

 

your tensioners run on oil pressure & if this pressure drops it is possible the timing may have slipped & bent valves & nackered the top end. This is just a guess & i may be wrong but i speak from tensioner failure experiance. Stop running the car to locate the noise and seek some pro help. Good luck n keep us posted.

 

You are. The timing belt is not tensioned via engine oil pressure and thus a drop will not directly lead (or increase the risk of) the belt slipping.

The tensioner on these cars is hydraulic, yes, but it's an independent sealed cylinder and nothing at all to do with the main oil system.

Dodd1980: If it took that much to raise the oil to the full mark, that implies there was around 3.25 litres in the system prior to being checked. Running with that sort of level is by no means ideal but probably isn't quite low enough to cause significant oil starvation on a standard-ish car, unless you've been caning it round corners. Have you seen the oil warning light on the dash come on at any point when you've been driving?

As such, the puffs of smoke (and implied oil usage) you were reporting are likely to be symptoms of another problem rather than the direct cause of it.

As above you need this looked at with reasonable urgency.

Incidentally, and edited to add, when you check the oil level now, if we assume that a third of the oil in there is now effectively new, what colour is the stuff you wipe off the dipstick? is it black/brown, or does it look reasonably fresh? And does it smell strongly of fuel?

 

I'd have it towed to a specialist and give them the dealers number and let the dealer deal with it.

The dealers obviously going to try and worm there way out of paying but if you have only had the car a week then I cant see them having a viable excuse, I cant believe they have sold a car in the first place without at least doing a mini service on it, i.e at least checking all the fluid levels especially on a subaru.

This sounds expensive so hope it all go's well and you do get the car repaired properly

 

I will check the oil tomo and see where is the closest garage to me

 

Wasnt awesome imports was it? Just thinking around that area.

As said, leave it and get it looked at. If you have a copy of your warranty start reading the small print

Good luck mate

 

Ok Splitpin fair play mate. But is tensioner failure not something he may want to consider? I've had 1 go on me before and its not a pleasant noise. At 66k i would be checking history and reciepts to see if i could find anything relating to pully and tensioner replacement when timing belt was done.

 

Sorry to add to the stories of woe but my WRX also died at 62k which was 2k after I brought it from a dealer.

They started with, your warrenty covers you for only £500, I replied with a letter explaining how they were fixing it at their cost as its failure was unreasonable compared to the value and age of the car. They backed down and paid for an engine re-build.

Sale of goods act is your friend.

 

if you want to put your mind at ease or find out the dreaded for the time being till you get it looked at, drop the oil (from the sump plug, leave the filter) and see if there's any fash in there, if there is, something's fooked big time. if there isn't who knows, but also measure 4.5 litres of the oil when you put it back in, if there's loads left you know you've over filled it!

 

just to let you know the second garage nominated by the dealer has told me the piston ring has gone on 1 cylinder.

assuming the cylinder isn't marked can you just replace the piston ring? or is it full rebuild regardless?