audi rs2 smoking on idle

[nicksonmsport]

car had been in storage for a few years. drives perfectly, boosts and doesnt seem to smoke when being driven, but when idling/revving in neutral smokes a bit. is certainly oil, you can smell that.

was told it was valve stem seals hardened. is this likely, and how big a job is it without removing head?

other thing i have been told is the breather setup can sometimes cause the same issue?
what is it that usually fails? one way valve/pressure reg valve etc?

last possibility is turbo seals. i am thinking of having the turbo modified/rebuilt anyway so could this as first port of call.

im thinking to be able to return the car back to stock in the future i could have the rs2 item rebuilt std to refit at a later date, and then have a k26 modded for higher power? or is there a better option?

the other option is just have the car remapped and have the rs2 item rebuilt and 360 bearing installed, without increasing the compressor turbine etc, and just going for a nice 380bhp on a remap.

many thanks
nick

[Ross]

car had been in storage for a few years. drives perfectly, boosts and doesnt seem to smoke when being driven, but when idling/revving in neutral smokes a bit. is certainly oil, you can smell that.

was told it was valve stem seals hardened. is this likely, and how big a job is it without removing head?

other thing i have been told is the breather setup can sometimes cause the same issue?
what is it that usually fails? one way valve/pressure reg valve etc?

last possibility is turbo seals. i am thinking of having the turbo modified/rebuilt anyway so could this as first port of call.

im thinking to be able to return the car back to stock in the future i could have the rs2 item rebuilt std to refit at a later date, and then have a k26 modded for higher power? or is there a better option?

the other option is just have the car remapped and have the rs2 item rebuilt and 360 bearing installed, without increasing the compressor turbine etc, and just going for a nice 380bhp on a remap.

many thanks
nick

I can't say on the stem seals but can't see how it can be a huge job. If your considering more work then perhaps wait and do it at all once - if the mileage is getting up there consider taking the head off and doing a refurb. I took mine off and had it rebuilt at 160k, fine on idle but smoking on boost & high revs due to worn stem seals, put a new hybrid turbo and Wagner EM (original was cracked) on whilst access was good.

I would concur with your point to keep the original turbo in stock form. It'll be worth a lot more like that and can be refitted with stock ECU easily. You can buy a new K26/7 hybrid and fit that for the power fix... That said the stock RS2 unit with a newer compressor wheel does make for a good 390-400hp turbo with very impressive midrange.

To give you an idea of drivability on a hybrid.. I have a K26/7 I fitted, it spools later than stock but remapped that doesn't take away the drivability really. Perhaps the boost kick is 2-300 rpm later. I was out today and had a bit of a play; 6th gear pulls see boost at 0.5bar around 2500rpm and by 3000rpm it was over 1bar and pulling like nicely. By 3500rpm I'm on 2.1bar and it feels mental. In the real world - that means when some nob pulls out on the M'way and you anchor on down to 55-60mph, you don't need to gear down to quickly regain your speed.

Optimising your current setup with a good remap at 360-380hp is of course another great option, will be fast and tremendous midrange.

[nicksonmsport]

hi ross thanks for your input! the car has only done 120k so i dont think its high mileage. i have literally had the car for 5 mins on saturday, took it for a short drive, and then noticed it was smoking a bit when i revved it up in neutral. it sort of seems a bit like turbo seals to me as i have a fiat coupe 20v turbo that does a similar thing and i have diagnosed that as turbo already.

i already knew it smoked a bit as the seller told me, im just running through diagnosis now really.

what are the turbo options? who sells hybrids. tbh i have a company that can mod any kkk turbo for me, so i thought it might be an idea to find a turbo that will bolt on an have that modified, will certainly be cheaper for me that way.

which turbos will bolt onto the rs2 manifold? what do i need to look for, obviously must be water cooled

the other option to keep things simple is just do a simple turbo rebuild of the stock rs2 item, and chip the car. this way i keep it stock, remove turbo seals from the equation if they are leaking, and have confidence the turbo is like new again. if it cures the smoking result, of not it has made diagnosis of stem seals/breather issues easier.

cheers
nick

[Ross]

I bought my turbo from a forum member who had some made, no longer an option as he's emigrated now.

I would personally be looking at the K26 hybrid that IROZ motorsport sell, there's a thread on it you can read. It is K26 based, at $850 it's a bargain IMO. A rebuild is gonna cost you close to that. The spec looks very similar to mine; low 400s with a touch later spool. There's some impressive gains in flow due to the newer compressor designs. I'd talk to your turbo supplier about possibly building one for you, perhaps they can get components.

As for the breather - you want to take the hoses off from the back of the cylinder head that route down behind the radiator - you'll find plenty of threads with schematics identifying the pipes and what to remove. I had a very gunked up flame retarder which is common, effectively blocking it. It's quite an easy but messy job once you have the pipes off.

[nicksonmsport]

can anyone point me in the direction of breather setups for rs2. been reading up lots of people having issues with smoking s2/rs2 lol seems to be quite common.

turbo/valve stem seals/rings/breathers etc!

also i want to carry out a compression test/leak down test on the car. what results should i be seeing, to get an idea of engine health and check rings are not worn.
i assume full throttle while carrying out compression test?

many thanks
one thing i hate is a smoking car, embarrassing when a nice rs2 is chugging out smoke lol

[nicksonmsport]

sorry found a load of info/diagrams.

it doesnt seem to smoke on boost or when driving as far as i can see, or that much on idle. i only really noticed it when i revved the engine in neutral. the car had just driven 350 odd miles, left for an hour or so, then we went for a quick 5 min drive. this is when i revved it and saw a fair amount of oil smoke from the exhaust when revving. just want to try and look at the most likely cause as first port of call.

[Chris M]

This does sound like it is turbo related, valve stem seals would usually tend to show signs of leaking on over run when its at maximum vacuum.

If you are looking to upgrade, then i would have the stock unit rebuilt. 2 options here for stock unit, have a billet wheel fitted in there which with supporting mods and good software would see around 400ish with stock spool. Next option, depending on the condition of your hotside as they usually are cracked, we offer a larger hotside and turbine wheel with billet compressor wheel, this is good for 420-440, again with good exhaust and software etc etc.

All depends of course on how far you want to go.

[nicksonmsport]

im starting to think about just fitting some mtm chips, and getting the std rs2 turbo unit rebuilt with a 360 bearing and be done with it. this should see 380 odd hp, and good torque. plus I can just swap chips out and its back to stock albeit with a new rebuilt turbo.

easy to get carried away with tuning, and the rs2 is a car that will probably gain from being kept near stock as values rise.

main thing I want to sort atm is the smoking, hopefully a turbo rebuild will sort that
once I get 5 mins I will start doing some investigation and check engine health, breather setup etc before splashing on a turbo hoping that's the cause.

[Rusty]

What oil is in there? Put some 10W50 in if you're changing it.

[nicksonmsport]

not sure what oil is in the car, will be doing a full service and oil change to 10/50 fuchs.

[Rusty]

Wait until you've done that and reassess. Old turbo and too thin oil aren't compatible...

[darkhorse1210]

Worth replacing the rocker cover gasket, I had the smoke on start up for years before a guy I know worked it out.

The rubber gasket had gone hard and oil was seeping into the cylinders.

Far cheaper and easier than the other options and it probably won't have been changed in ages.

[Avantus]

A leaking rocker cover won't get you blue smoke out of the exhaust.

[will20v]

Worth replacing the rocker cover gasket, I had the smoke on start up for years before a guy I know worked it out.

The rubber gasket had gone hard and oil was seeping into the cylinders.

Far cheaper and easier than the other options and it probably won't have been changed in ages.

[Tonks4x4]

It's worth noting that Valve stem oil seals can be replaced without removing the head,


Tonks4x4 - The Land Rover Specialist