R5 Gordini turbo smoking.......

Car is smoking when left to idle, nothing much on intial start up, or when its had a short run, seems to build up when left for 5 mins or more, any ideas? Attached a small clip of the smoke.

Warning stay away from sharp objects and tall buildings as its not the most exciting video - watching smoke...............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJUfILT8keA

Just out of interest, have you sent your membership subscription of to RAOC HQ?
What does it smell of?
How about taking it to a friendly MOT centre, get them to poke the gas analyser up your pipe and see what happens to the readings?
Try disconnecting all the vacium pipes which go to the manifold 1 at a time and see what happens?
Put a piece of kitchen-papar over the tail pipe and see what you get?
Could be valve guides.....???
Does it stop if you take it for a run?
let us know what happens?

Thanks for taking the time to reply, yes the smoke clears after a run , but returns if left on idle, will try a few of your suggestions nextw eek.

a very nice posting Simon

a very nice posting Simon

no worries, last post.

[stephendell]

no worries, last post.

Don't be frightened off, Gordinis are welcome, I have one myself.

If Mr Dini sees this I'm sure he will advise.

I think what the other guys are saying is if you find any of the advice useful or you start to visit the forum regularly / coming to meets you might like to consider joining up at some point in the future.

Does it have a "sweet" smell. The way it disipates and is a white colour as best I can see in the video, the liklihood it is coolant burning. Are you loosing coolant?

So perhaps a leaking head gasket or corroded head. I have seen corrosion into the exhaust port so that the motor does not miss but loses coolant, and of course it blows smoke, but would expect it to do this all of the time after the motor was hot, not just after idling.

condensation in the exhaust.....

5Gordini83 , dont be put off - there any many enthusiasts here that aren't members. Sure, being a member has it's advantages but it's not obligatory.

A friend's GTA did something very similar. I think it was worn bearings in the turbo allowing too much oil to seep past into the exhaust side of the blower. It builds up more on idle than when under load.

I agree bud dont be put off, I love these cars and it is nice to hear about them, problems and all. I understand what they mean but you are only asking a general question about a problem. Any way it will take a while for your membership to be accepted, as I am finding out before any has a go at me!!

Hello again 5gordini83

Im with some of the replies above.
From the video it looks more like steam than smoke.

Put a kitchen towel close to the tailpipe for a min while its running.
It is just wet ?. Does it have an oily smell ?.

I have had identical things to this before with old Saab Turbos. Left idling for a few mins and a light blue smoke starts to appear. Start driving and it goes.
Always turns out to be the oil seals on the turbo starting to go.
If so ,your smoke will only get much worse. Eventualy you will get tons of blue smoke in all situations once the oil seals fail big time.