I have a smoking problem... help!

[Blues13]

I have a 90 S13 with a blacktop, I'm estimating about 50-55k on the SR engine. I've already driven the engine 10k miles since the swap but I'm starting to have a smoking problem. I see A LOT of smoke coming out of the exhaust.. but the wierd thing is, it only does it every once in awhile for about a minute or so and then the exhaust goes clean. It also only starts smoking sometimes when I idle or at a light or something. Most of the time it's clean. The color of the smoke is not Black, but more of a grayish color i think. What could it be? I thought maybe the piston rings are bad, but the car doesn't have that many miles on it and since the smoke is on and off it's wierd.. it idles at a steady 750rpm.

The setup :
blacktop sr20det
walbro fuel pump
test pipe
3" DP and exhaust
stock SMIC
10psi

please help! thanks..

[Pacman]

You might be running a little rich at idle. if I remember correctly, white smoke is water in your combustion chamber and blue is you're burning oil.

[BeatJunky]

Black = Fuel (Running Rich)
Bluish = Oil Burning
White = Water/Coolant Leak (most likely head gasket problem)

-Omar

[steve shadows]

if its blue at lower rpms and off load then you have blown oil seals on the turbocharger. get it rebuild or buy somthing from here

www.cheapturbos.com

you could ship it to me and i could have it rebuilt for you

[email protected]

[Blues13]

Thanks for the replies, sorry.. my internet was out for a couple of days. I don't think it's running rich, since it's not black. It's more of a grayish color.. maybe slightly blue so I think the best bet is the turbo seals so far. Is there a way to be sure? I know it's a pain in the arse to remove the turbo so I don't want to have to do it if it's not it. Again, it only smokes on occassion and only for a minute or two. Is this a common problem? I'm baffled since the mileage on the engine doesn't seem to high and the engine feels quite strong with no hesitation. If it were to run rich or a headgasket problem, I would think the idle would be a bit more rough. Any more information would be appreciated, thanks!

[steve shadows]

its a common blown turbo problem but it will hamper the performance you get greatly. i would get it rebuilt or just get a t28 and bolt it in its place. the turbo swap isnt that hard.

[Blues13]

Yea, I've changed the gasket on the turbo before, so I'm comfortable in swapping it out if it needs to be rebuilt/replaced.. but it's still not a fun task. I'm currently a bit short on time and funds, so will it harm the engine if I continue running it in this state? Can I wait to replace the turbo with a t28 later? thanks..