Greetings-

I am thinking about buying a 94 850 turbo wagon w/92k. The price is $4,500. The previous owner was told by the dealer that the turbo was bad. The car does spew white blue smoke from the tailpipe. What could be wrong? (I am replacing my 740 turbo wagon) How much will it cost me to fix. zi usually do the work myself. Any info would be helpful.

Kindest Regards-

Paul M. Shust

Well, it COULD be the turbo, but failure before 200K miles or more is rare. He should fix the turbo first (replace with new or rebuilt), then let you look at it.
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David \\ (98 S70 T5SE Black, misc mods (mostly lighting), red calipers) (92 940GLE)

So this guy is selling a car with a 'bad' engine (whatever the reason is), and he is telling you what the DEALTER TOLD HIM what the problem is.

And you're taking his word for it?

Major mistake.

If you are buying a car with a 'bad' engine, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to know EXACTLY what the problem is. If you are not confident that you can diagnose exactly what the problem is, they you should pay to have someone diagnose the problem FOR YOU. In fact, because this may be such a serious problem, I'd have two separate shops give you a diagnosis.

Although there is a slim chance that this is a minor problem, most of the things that would cause this problem are all pretty bad. The least bad of all of them is the turbocharger (because the turbocharger is external to the engine). So, I find it suspicious that the sellor is telling you the problem is the turbocharger.

If you buy this car and it turns out that the problem is not the turbocharger, it will be your own fault that you did not do your appropriate due diligence.

Besides probably being caused by poor maintenance, it could need ALOT more than just another turbo. I've seen engines that were driven too long with bad T-stats (overheated) where the rings or worse were NG. That's also too much money for a '94 IMO.
Don't buy a smoking car unless bought "dirt cheap" and you can do ALL the work yourself, especially if it needs another engine.

I've seen torbochargers go for only one reason: lack of regulsr oil changes. The turbo is the first thing to go when you don't keep up with your LOFs. If the turbo is shot, chances are the engine is not in the best condition eiher. You'll pobably see a lot of sludge in the engine, the PVC could be plugged up and the oil return line from the turbo is usually blocked with burnt oil. those are all things to consider before you but it. Give the engien a good listen both cold and warm, see how the lifters sound, is there any noise from the lower end? I'd have the dealer do it only becsuse they can guarantee their work incase there are future problems. Besides, if they break anything removing the old one, it's their ass, not yours. BTW, we've seen a few Cats go bad after having all that oil sprayed into them. And they aren't cheap!!

you can replace the center cartiridge of the turbo instead of having the entire turbo replaced or rebuilt. if there is oil in the exhaust it is most likely the turbo, but could also be an internal engine problem like worn rings or valves. I would have a compression check done on all of the cylinders to rule them out and determine for sure if it is the turbo. ipd sells replacement turbo's and cartirdges but i had one rebuilt on a 244 turbo for about 600.00 from www.turbochargers.com in houston texas. my 850 turbo is in god health so i do not know the price of a rebuild for it.

Dan