Huge clouds of smoke after turbo swap

[pmey335]

Hey guys, so I recently ordered DynamicAutowerx Stage 2+ for my BMW N54.

Now that I have installed the turbos, I am experiencing a big issue: the car is smoking incredibly much. Clouds of white smoke (which I’m guessing is oil related).

Before the turbos, my car smoked but not this much. Is this normal after a turbo swap?

i let the engine idle for 25 mins and then again a day later for 10-15 and as soon as I put it in drive, the car just starts smoking by the clouds.

Any insight that maybe I did wrong?? I’m really lost here

 

[fmorelli]

Did you install new oil drains when you installed the turbos, or reinstalled existing?

Also - you could have two problems, in part because you had some smoke before and more smoke now. You could have a PCV/VC issue and then kinked an oil drain on the install. Unfortunately as you might tell from comments here (which have been mostly from very experienced N54 people) these cars need careful and thorough maintenance and inspection around the valve cover, gasket, PCV components. I do NOT work on these cars without a good torque wrench and make sure all fastener thread surfaces are clean.

Good luck. It will get figured out. Keep posting and folks will help when you have questions.

Filippo

 

[pmey335]

I'm going dual catch can setup and checking drains soon, I'll report what I find. Really appreciate the help, glad to be a part of this community

Did you install new oil drains when you installed the turbos, or reinstalled existing?

Also - you could have two problems, in part because you had some smoke before and more smoke now. You could have a PCV/VC issue and then kinked an oil drain on the install. Unfortunately as you might tell from comments here (which have been mostly from very experienced N54 people) these cars need careful and thorough maintenance and inspection around the valve cover, gasket, PCV components. I do NOT work on these cars without a good torque wrench and make sure all fastener thread surfaces are clean.

Good luck. It will get figured out. Keep posting and folks will help when you have questions.

Filippo

^ I reinstalled existing oil drains :/ ... oh and yeah I got me a digital torque wrench before tackling this job

 

[fmorelli]

^ I reinstalled existing oil drains :/ ... oh and yeah I got me a digital torque wrench before tackling this job

Standard protocol for folks is to install new factory oil drains, or RB drains if you feel compelled. So there's that lol

Filippo

 

[pmey335]

Standard protocol for folks is to install new factory oil drains, or RB drains if you feel compelled. So there's that lol

Filippo

Maybe I’ll swap them at this point but I’ll inspect first

 

[pmey335]

So... finally got around to inspecting the car (still blowing smoke):

Oil drain lines - not bent or kinked, clean on the outside so I think they’re not leaking, as well as good clearance (>.5") from everything around it.

Inspected valve cover, no visible cracks

Valve cover gasket appears in good shape: no oil externally (changed <15k miles ago).

Flapper valve does not fully close when blowing in it, as stated before, will be doing my due diligence with installing an overdue RB external PCV kit coming and running a Dual Catch Can setup.

Downpipe connected to rear turbo smokes considerably more than the other one, there's smoke coming out of the oil cap when removed.

Hoping the PCV kit solves this tbh but any other input/ideas highly appreciated

-Dude w probs

 

[doublespaces]

Flapper valve does not fully close when blowing in it

This is by desgin, its meant to be a restrictor not a true check valve. This is the 'metered orifice' that limits how much vacuum the engine will be able to apply to the crank case.

Downpipe connected to rear turbo smokes considerably more than the other one, there's smoke coming out of the oil cap when removed.

How much smoke?

 

[pmey335]

This is by desgin, its meant to be a restrictor not a true check valve. This is the 'metered orifice' that limits how much vacuum the engine will be able to apply to the crank case.



How much smoke?

same as before — a lot to make a good sized cloud of thick white-blueish smoke on my driveway (see vid:

)

 

[doublespaces]

Good to know, what about the oil cap?

I think the takeaway form this is one turbo is smoking and the other isn't nearly as bad. I now vote for a bad turbo(s)

 

[pmey335]

Good to know, what about the oil cap?

Not a lot, but constant flow

 

[martymil]

The only way to inspect the drains is to pull them off, external inspection is useless.

If these turbos are brand new the only way it would smoke that bad if there is something wrong with the drains

 

[martymil]

PCV issues would not cause that on idle, open your engine oil cap will put that argument to rest.

This would be the order I would test

Run engine with oil cap open and see if it still smokes

Install some high flow drains as its the quickest and easiest.

pull turbos off and check the turbo manifolds for oil to see if valve stem seals are leaking

If none of that works its your new turbos and they are stuffed

 

[pmey335]

PCV issues would not cause that on idle, open your engine oil cap will put that argument to rest.

This would be the order I would test

Run engine with oil cap open and see if it still smokes

Install some high flow drains as its the quickest and easiest.

pull turbos off and check the turbo manifolds for oil to see if valve stem seals are leaking

If none of that works its your new turbos and they are stuffed

I will do this

 

[pmey335]

PCV issues would not cause that on idle, open your engine oil cap will put that argument to rest.

This would be the order I would test

Run engine with oil cap open and see if it still smokes

Install some high flow drains as its the quickest and easiest.

pull turbos off and check the turbo manifolds for oil to see if valve stem seals are leaking

If none of that works its your new turbos and they are stuffed

I will do this

So a little update on this...
I installed an OCC and the smoking went down considerably. Without OCC I would cloud my whole driveway in 4-5 mins.

After Mishimoto's OCC the car would still smoke but not nearly as much. I'd say 50% less.

Today I got RB Turbo's External PCV Kit and the car doesn't smoke anymore on idle...thing is, it still smokes upon revving engine (not too much but still noticeable).

Thinking about getting RB Turbo's High Flow Oil Drain Lines...any thoughts anyone?

 

[martymil]

The reason the smoke went down with the pcv kit is you introduced much better and stronger vacumm flow which helps with turbo drain.

This makes the case stronger that the drains are either damaged internally or restricted.

Get the high flow ones and you never have to worry about it ever again.

 

[fmorelli]

@martymil analysis is good on this. You can run new factory BMW drains or the bigger RB ones. Both, installed correctly, will work just fine. RB's will give you a bit of added diameter. What's important is that the drains are installed "new" and correctly.

In part, @martymil's comment points out (and I'll be explicit) that the car is a system. Like he said - the PCV sub-system was not the cause. He was mostly right - the primary cause is likely the oil drain. The secondary cause is the need for good vacuum to get the gravity drain flowing well, and your stock PCV system wasn't quite overcoming a likely oil drain issue. It's a system and the parts work together.

So much modding, over the years, seems to be done by people without an understanding of how the system works overall (not talking about the OP, just saying in general). It's one of the reasons why, for me, that the PCV system continues to surface - I am slowly understanding its relationship to the N54 design, and relative to variant PCV system approaches to the need of the N54. I'm still not there, but every time I hit this subject I feel like I get a little less dumb.

Let us know how the drain swap goes, what you find, and the result post swap.

Filippo

 

[Davidgn54]

Hey guys, so I recently ordered DynamicAutowerx Stage 2+ for my BMW N54.

Now that I have installed the turbos, I am experiencing a big issue: the car is smoking incredibly much. Clouds of white smoke (which I’m guessing is oil related).

Before the turbos, my car smoked but not this much. Is this normal after a turbo swap?

i let the engine idle for 25 mins and then again a day later for 10-15 and as soon as I put it in drive, the car just starts smoking by the clouds.

Any insight that maybe I did wrong?? I’m really lost here

Hey bro I also have same turbo installation , this happened to me as well. I replaced valve cover& gasket, along with pcv. No smoke now

 

[fmorelli]

Which brings up another question - I know you inspected the valve cover gasket ... and you saw no leaks (that can actually be more difficult than it looks to figure out, especially on the E90) ... but how old/miles is that gasket?

If the valve cover comes off, pretty much a new gasket goes in because they are so cheap:
$21 Victor Reinz N54 valve cover gasket

Installation can be a bit tricky (to get it to seat and not come out of the valve cover, or catch at the rear - but that's a separate conversation).

Filippo

 

[pmey335]

The reason the smoke went down with the pcv kit is you introduced much better and stronger vacumm flow which helps with turbo drain.

This makes the case stronger that the drains are either damaged internally or restricted.

Get the high flow ones and you never have to worry about it ever again.

Already ordered!

@martymil analysis is good on this. You can run new factory BMW drains or the bigger RB ones. Both, installed correctly, will work just fine. RB's will give you a bit of added diameter. What's important is that the drains are installed "new" and correctly.

In part, @martymil's comment points out (and I'll be explicit) that the car is a system. Like he said - the PCV sub-system was not the cause. He was mostly right - the primary cause is likely the oil drain. The secondary cause is the need for good vacuum to get the gravity drain flowing well, and your stock PCV system wasn't quite overcoming a likely oil drain issue. It's a system and the parts work together.

So much modding, over the years, seems to be done by people without an understanding of how the system works overall (not talking about the OP, just saying in general). It's one of the reasons why, for me, that the PCV system continues to surface - I am slowly understanding its relationship to the N54 design, and relative to variant PCV system approaches to the need of the N54. I'm still not there, but every time I hit this subject I feel like I get a little less dumb.

Let us know how the drain swap goes, what you find, and the result post swap.

Filippo

Will keep this thread updated

Hey bro I also have same turbo installation , this happened to me as well. I replaced valve cover& gasket, along with pcv. No smoke now

Which brings up another question - I know you inspected the valve cover gasket ... and you saw no leaks (that can actually be more difficult than it looks to figure out, especially on the E90) ... but how old/miles is that gasket?

If the valve cover comes off, pretty much a new gasket goes in because they are so cheap:
$21 Victor Reinz N54 valve cover gasket

Installation can be a bit tricky (to get it to seat and not come out of the valve cover, or catch at the rear - but that's a separate conversation).

Filippo

I am replacing the gasket too just to be safe however it was changed fairly recently (<10,000 miles)

 

[martymil]

I very much doubt its the valve cover as there was no smoke with previous ones

The only swap was turbos. And if the drains where kinked and damaged internally somehow this will be the issue.

Introducing a better pcv system reduced the smoke, the system is much better and stronger than stock which would help but not stop it.

Once the drains are fixed it will still smoke until the oil is burnt off

 

[pmey335]

Quick update.

Ordered the High Flow Drains and proceeded to install. Could only install the rear drain as the front does not fit (I'm not the only one with this problem apparently).

Anyways, car runs fine, no smoke.

Fixed by:
1. proper PCV maintenance (I'm an idiot) (External PCV Kit: Buy Here)
2. High Flow rear drain, stock front drain (see why here, after reading that make up your mind and you can find the High Flow Drains here and the stock front drain here).

Thanks to everyone who helped me track these issues down.