Boarder23

That was one of my thoughts, especially as there's slight white smoke at idle, one or more injectors could be bad and seals may be going. The other theory being could the PCV have gone bad, causing blow-by and making it look like bad piston rings. It's just all educated guesses.

I appreciate the polite response but what questions am I asking to give you that impression? I have plenty of mechanical experience, just not with turbocharged cars, I am looking to do the work myself. I just wanted to check if it's a common problem or if this was something someone else had come across. No point struggling if someone else has already been there and solved it. I was looking for an auto car for the short term but this came up and I was wondering if it might be something I can buy cheap and work on to make better, a project as such. He's just had a child, and needs a more suitable car was his reason for selling.

No service history with the vehicle, seller has only owned it for a year. There's no rattle on start up. What do the chains usually last for? How would you check for piston rings? Compression test?

Hi guys, I'm looking at buying this car, it drives really well, but it puts out some white smoke, both cold on idle and when it's been running for 10 mins or so held at 1500rpm. I took it for a quick spin up the road, gave it a boot full to check the turbo and to see if the white smoke would clear, but it gave a puff of blue smoke under hard acceleration when under load. It pulls really well and there's no rattles or whines from the turbo etc. Seller says it hasn't consumed any oil.. but it was defo blue smoke. I'm thinking injectors for the white smoke, possibly turbo seal for the blue? I'm thinking it wouldn't be head gasket or valve seals because it doesn't put out blue smoke on start up and it runs really well. There was also no signs of cross-contamination at the coolant reservoir and the oil filler/dipstick. I'm looking at it more as a project, any ideas? It's cheap enough that if it's a total dog it won't make me cry too much. I just want to figure out what it could be! It's the ASB engine model, with just under 160K