I have an 87' 951 turbo that I bought back in Feb 05'. I love the car and have been driving it on weekends since. It has been very reliable, etc and I have enjoyed working out a number of things since I bought it but I wanted to get some feedback on an issue that's nagging me:
I do not notice any smoke while driving normally, but the car does use some oil periodically. I'd say about 1 qt of oil every 3000 miles or so. If I drive the car normally for a couple of days and then get on it - run it up to 5,000 in 2nd gear, I notice quite a lot of white smoke in my rear view mirror. Then it stops smoking immediately if I continue to drive normally. I know that one of the plugs is slightly black compared to the other three.
My questions are -
Is this serious or should I just continue to drive it normally since It seems to run fine and I enjoy the heck out of it.
Is this a ring problem or does it sound like it's in the top end?
Could this somehow be related to the turbo since I only notice the smoke when the turbo spools up under hard circumstances?
Any feedback would be appreciated since I'm definitely a novice when it comes to turbocharged cars...

 

i'm not sure, but mine does it too...and 1 qt every 3000 miles?!? Wow....I lose 1 qt every 200 miles...

 

Compression and vacuum gages are your friends!

A compression test will give you a good idea about the condition of the rings and valves, and a vacuum gage can reveal valve problems.

Which plug is the darkest color? What color are the other plugs?