It's been an interesting weekend...
For the last few months my car has seemed down on power between 3750 and 5000 rpm; it would just lag in that range, then pick back up after 5k. It's also been eating about .75 - 1qt of oil per 1000 miles, but I've just been keeping a very close eye on it. On Thursday I was leaving to start my weekend (first weekend in 6 weeks where nothing was going wrong, etc...) when my car started spewing blue smoke out the back. When I got to a stop light it looked like Cheech and Chong were hiding out under my hood, so I pulled over, popped the hood, and took a look.
Smoke was spewing out from under the turbo heat shield. I was about two blocks away from a subaru dealer (The same one I caught years ago driving my car 106mph, I don't go there anymore, but they were the closest one. All of the people I knew there are no longer there unfortunately.) so I dropped it off and waited to hear back as to what the problem was. They told me that a cam seal is leaking, both valve cover gaskets are leaking, and the turbo is leaking quite a bit of oil, and not holding boost properly. I could have them fix it for me for $3400 ($2500 for the turbo, $1000 for the seals) and I politely declined. They said it was just smoking, and would be safe to drive back to my garage.
Last night/this morning when I went to pick it up (they did a lockout for me) it flat out refused to start. The first time or two I tried turning it over it sputtered a bit, but after that there was nothing besides the starter noise. The starter seems to be working fine, as was the battery; it just wouldn't come close to catching. It's never once had problems starting, even in the dead of a MN winter, so I find this highly coincidental. I left the car there and dropped the keys back in the slot since they're open Saturdays. I called them today and they told me that they can't have anyone work on it until Monday because they need to have the same technician do it. I'm extremely tempted to just have the damn thing towed back to my garage so I can start working on it and troubleshoot it myself. I don't really want to pay them another $150 to identify a problem that didn't exist before I brought it to them. I do realize that it could actually be a coincidence, and that I have no real basis to blame them for this besides timing.
Does anyone have thoughts as to why it might not be turning over?
My plan is to buy a used TD04 and swap it in for my old crotchety one, and do the valve cover gaskets. I don't feel comfortable doing a cam seal, since I had trouble with the only one that I've ever done, and that was on the SVX when the motor was out of the car. I did do valve cover gaskets on the SVX while the motor was still in the car, and I can't imagine that the 2.5L could be any harder. Has anyone here done them and might be able to offer a bit of advice prior to starting, and the same question with swapping out the turbo?
Thanks!
Matthew
For the last few months my car has seemed down on power between 3750 and 5000 rpm; it would just lag in that range, then pick back up after 5k. It's also been eating about .75 - 1qt of oil per 1000 miles, but I've just been keeping a very close eye on it. On Thursday I was leaving to start my weekend (first weekend in 6 weeks where nothing was going wrong, etc...) when my car started spewing blue smoke out the back. When I got to a stop light it looked like Cheech and Chong were hiding out under my hood, so I pulled over, popped the hood, and took a look.
Smoke was spewing out from under the turbo heat shield. I was about two blocks away from a subaru dealer (The same one I caught years ago driving my car 106mph, I don't go there anymore, but they were the closest one. All of the people I knew there are no longer there unfortunately.) so I dropped it off and waited to hear back as to what the problem was. They told me that a cam seal is leaking, both valve cover gaskets are leaking, and the turbo is leaking quite a bit of oil, and not holding boost properly. I could have them fix it for me for $3400 ($2500 for the turbo, $1000 for the seals) and I politely declined. They said it was just smoking, and would be safe to drive back to my garage.
Last night/this morning when I went to pick it up (they did a lockout for me) it flat out refused to start. The first time or two I tried turning it over it sputtered a bit, but after that there was nothing besides the starter noise. The starter seems to be working fine, as was the battery; it just wouldn't come close to catching. It's never once had problems starting, even in the dead of a MN winter, so I find this highly coincidental. I left the car there and dropped the keys back in the slot since they're open Saturdays. I called them today and they told me that they can't have anyone work on it until Monday because they need to have the same technician do it. I'm extremely tempted to just have the damn thing towed back to my garage so I can start working on it and troubleshoot it myself. I don't really want to pay them another $150 to identify a problem that didn't exist before I brought it to them. I do realize that it could actually be a coincidence, and that I have no real basis to blame them for this besides timing.
Does anyone have thoughts as to why it might not be turning over?
My plan is to buy a used TD04 and swap it in for my old crotchety one, and do the valve cover gaskets. I don't feel comfortable doing a cam seal, since I had trouble with the only one that I've ever done, and that was on the SVX when the motor was out of the car. I did do valve cover gaskets on the SVX while the motor was still in the car, and I can't imagine that the 2.5L could be any harder. Has anyone here done them and might be able to offer a bit of advice prior to starting, and the same question with swapping out the turbo?
Thanks!
Matthew
