Originally Posted by sharingan 19

Also note:
A little smoke on initial start up is perfectly normal, however any lingering smoke is not.

WHITE SMOKE = coolant seal failure
Most of the time its the engine coolant seals, which require a rebuild to replace. The seals themselves are pretty cheap, as is the labor if you do it yourself, but must opt for full rebuild when tearing the engine down for coolant seals.

(I know FC's have liquid cooled turbos so....) The coolant seals in the turbos could also be bad in which case its a cheaper fix, but still a powerful bargaining tool, but white smoke due to turbo failure is pretty rare.

BLACK SMOKE = Running Rich

Anyone who doubts this, just try following James around <20 mph w/ your windows down....not a fun time lol. For whatever reason, the engine is seeing too much fuel and is unable to burn it all in the combustion process. This is a pretty easy to fix problem in most cases, just a matter of tunning.


GREY SMOKE = Oil Related something or another

The two leading ways oil finds its way into the combustion chamber (injectors aside) are the oil control rings/ seals and the turbo. My turbo is currently blown [compressor seal] and it will smoke more than normal on start up , since everything is coated in oil. It will also smoke if I go into boost, but those are the only times it smokes. If the car is smoking all the time I'd suspect something more sinister and expensive.