L series, smokey exhaust

Had the fanbelt snap last december,got trapped behind the cambelt , which jumped some teeth. Removed the head, replaced four smashed cam followers and one bent exhaust valve. Put it all back together , got the engine running nicely, but now it smokes excessively. It doesnt smoke when its started from cold but starts to smoke as it warms up, I Think the turbo oil seals have gone, forcing oil into the exhaust, which starts to smoke as the exhaust heats up. A very light coloured smoke.

blue smoke?

Never seen blue smoke, only ever light grey or black, so it would be light grey to me.

I think the exhaust seal on the turbo has gone, but I need to be sure of that before I try sourcing another turbo. The engine didnt smoke prior to the rebuild, but it does now, Turbo was off the car for six months , wonder how that would affect the seals, are they likely to dry out and shrink while off the car for that long?

Don't know if 6 months off the car is a problem but you can buy turbo repair kits with all the seals and bearings and stuff at a very reasonable price (compared to a recon turbo anyway )

I assume that yours is a TD ...... but dont understand about the cam belt - the BMW 2 litre TD4 has chain drive - unless yours isn't a TD4 turbo ???

digby said:

Don't know if 6 months off the car is a problem but you can buy turbo repair kits with all the seals and bearings and stuff at a very reasonable price (compared to a recon turbo anyway )

I assume that yours is a TD ...... but dont understand about the cam belt - the BMW 2 litre TD4 has chain drive - unless yours isn't a TD4 turbo ???

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It says L Series in the title! Could be the turbo but unless very poorly stored or possibly not primed with oil when refitted so starved when first started, being sat shouldn't really up set it.
Smoke colour is subjective, if a turbo puts it out the exhaust seal it tends to be white/grey, out the inlet seal blue/grey, have you upset the pump timing or anything?

Head rebuild, problem not sorted yet, persevering.

It could be a whole number of things but the easiest to check would be the fuel pump timing belt . Just one or even two teeth out and it will start and run but will smoke and run a bit rough .

fuel pump timing was correct, I,ll check it, see if the belt tensioner has gone slack.