How a Turbocharger Works - And What Kills Them
I admit I do not know anything about turbochargers, boost from them, and how to diagnose if something goes wrong. Never owned one, drove one or worked on a car with one. Until now.
So. My daughter owns a 2015 ford escape with the 2.0L ecoboost engine.
Yesterday she had some whitish bluish smoke from the tailpipe and maybe running a little rough. Internet surfing indicates that can sometimes happen with turbos. At first I thought head gasket, but now I am leaning to something else.
One of her coworkers found a broken vacuum hose. Didn't have any tubing so they tried to tape it up. Didn't work of course.
I looked at it with my grandsons, they put a new piece of hose on it. That car uses a vacuum pump as a vacuum source, doesn't come from the intake manifold.
She drove it and for now it is driving normally. She said it drives better than it has in a long time.
So I am doing a learning regimen about this car and found the info linked above and thought I would share.
I paid for a subscription to alldatadiy for this car. It is very hard to find what I am looking for.
Do you guys know of a better online data service I can use??
Yep, It's tough to get manifold vacuum from a pressurized intake. I've given up with online manuals. I know they are expensive but, I just buy the factory service manuals and live with it.
ReplyDeleteComponent Failure Probability
ReplyDelete1) Engine Block / Cylinder Head (Coolant Intrusion) High (approx. 50%)
The 2.0L EcoBoost engine from this era has a known structural issue where a design flaw allows coolant to seep past the head gasket into cylinders. This causes thick white smoke at startup and a rough idle/misfire.
2) Turbocharger Internal Seals Medium (approx. 30%)
A blown turbo seal allows oil to bypass into the exhaust or intake stream. This produces distinct bluish-grey smoke. The rough idle occurs if the oil fouls the spark plugs or skews the oxygen sensors.
3) Ignition System (Coils/Plugs) Low-Medium (approx. 15%)
Bad spark plugs or a failing ignition coil pack will cause a rough idle. However, this only accounts for the smoke if raw, unburnt fuel is washing down the exhaust (which usually smells strongly of gasoline, not white/blue).
PCV / Valve Stem Seals Low (approx. 5%)
A failed PCV valve can pull oil into the combustion chamber, or worn valve stem seals can leak oil into the cylinders overnight. This causes bluish smoke primarily on cold starts.