Smoky Motor

[Bader86]

I have an 03 wrx with 88k miles. Massive amounts of smoke now comes out of the exhaust. People have told me that the rings are worn and that its burning all the oil.

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the turbo. Could be.
These are the symptoms:
Car burns sooo much oil that there is never oil in the car for more than 10 miles.
Engine feels good. It pulls like it always did. If it wasnt for the smoke.... I wouldnt suspect anything to be wrong with the car.
Massive amounts of smoke is coming out of exhaust, its a lot of smoke, like a lot. there is left over unburnt oil in the exhaust tip (because thats all i can see)

I took it to Metric Subaru, they told me that i need a new block, they didnt mention anything about turbo. They just said that the rings were done and it isnt worth fixing it, so just get a new block. What do i do?

What would my options be? Would I have to get a new motor/shortblock? go to the dealer, east coast swapers/ or some shop?

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[UkNuck]

do you have any other symptoms of low compression?

could just be turbo seals

get a proper diagnosis before throwing parts / money at it

[Bader86]

I took it to the dealer. They did a compression and leak test. They said that they were normal numbers.

[greg86jgl]

i just had the same problem...03 wrx 70000 miles...take off the turbo or have some1 take it off ill bet you the hotside is coated in soot and if you let it sit for a little so the flange of the hotside is facing the ground oil will leak through to the hotside..

[Bader86]

Oil catch can?

[ScorpionT]

Get a new shortblock I guess. You could always take the opportunity and get a slightly built one for future modding.

[Bader86]

.....Also, the car had an oil catch can.
A friend suggested I remove it because it is "useless" and without it the engine bay would look "better".

Almost right after i removed the catch can did i notice smoking coming from the exhaust. But now, its really really bad, like a lot of smoke.

[ScorpionT]

Sounds like its burning oil and crap that the catch can was filtering out.

[UkNuck]

Originally Posted by Bader86

I took it to the dealer. They did a compression and leak test. They said that they were normal numbers.

so why are we talking about rings... and shortblocks... here...? I'm not getting it

[Uncle Scotty]

Originally Posted by Bader86

.....Also, the car had an oil catch can.
A friend suggested I remove it because it is "useless" and without it the engine bay would look "better".

Almost right after i removed the catch can did i notice smoking coming from the exhaust. But now, its really really bad, like a lot of smoke.

ya did something wrong and replumbed the system wrong and/or your pcv valve is bad and or......you need it looked at by somebody that KNOWS

[Bader86]

Originally Posted by UkNuck

so why are we talking about rings... and shortblocks... here...? I'm not getting it

Well... the car gets engulfed in smoke because there is that much smoke that comes out of the exhaust. Subaru dealer said that short block was unsalvageable and told me that it would cost me 4500 for a new short block.

[Bader86]

Originally Posted by Uncle Scotty

ya did something wrong and replumbed the system wrong and/or your pcv valve is bad and or......you need it looked at by somebody that KNOWS

I checked the pcv valve, the old one was still good.
Replumbing system wrong, I doubt it, i just eliminated the catch can and replumbed it the way it was.

Does anyone know of a cheap way to get new engine/shortblock/ rebuilt engine without paying sooo much money at the dealer?

[yarrgh]

put your catch can back on to see if that's the culprit. seems a no-brainer, unless you want to shell out 4500 for a perfectly good engine.