I recently took my subaru in because it had a burnt out turbo, the turbo had been smoking badly for about a month and my old mechanic said I could drive it as long as I kept refilling oil. I did and the turbo burnt up. Went to a new mechanic, told him what had hapened and had a turbo replaced with a rebuilt turbo, seemed like a good deal. This engine is excellent, it has bran new head gaskets, I installed with the help of an experienced amatuer mechanic and there are no signs of that being the problem, nothing comes out of the tail pipe besides exhaust. I just got the car back and the car burns oil that is coming up from right next to where the exhaust exits the turbo, NOTHING is coming out the exhaust though. I have checked PCV system and it is running great. Also my mechanic left off the hard to get at bolt where the turbo intakes the exhaust, that made me mad and made me think that these guys are not good, I want to know what other possibilites this smoke could be resulting from. As far as I can brainstorm it seems the turbo is the only thing. Because this is a bran new turbo and I dont know anything about turbos and do not want to be taken advantage of. Thank you for your time.

It could be leaking from the valve cover or the cam tower, there are some small "O" rings that need to be installed and if there not it will leak, which could be dripping onto your exhaust manifold and causing your smoke.

there's also an oil return line (rubber) that drains oil from the turbo back into the crankcase. I'd blame that or the valve covers. If you change that oil return line, you'll want to change the coolant return line right next to it, also under the turbo. Those are dealer-only parts and a pain to change.

Check to see if the smoke is coming from the bottom of the downpipe or the cat in the downpipe. I know mine smokes from there.

Okay, so please tell me more about the valve cover O rings, as I did not change those out when I did the head gasket. How should I check for the valves leaking, and also how could they leak out of the valves onto the manifold unless the gasket was faulty. The turbo and all the pipes and hoses for oil have been replaced by my mechanic. Is there any way to know besides replacing the O rings in the valve cover that they are the problem. what is the difference between the down pipe and the cat in the down pipe? is the cat the sheild?

those seals are o-rings with brass washers inside of them. They go between the top of the head and the cam case. On the turbo side of the engine, it is located directly below the turbo. On the bottom of the cam case, 3/4 of the way towards the tranny. There is a 12mm bolt in the general area where that o-ring is.

 

That o-ring is a sealer for the oil port to the cam case. If you took the cam case off, it most likely ripped or cracked the o-ring. This will cause oil seepage. It will leak more if you run the car hard right after a cold start because of the higher oil pressure. Running normally down the highway, it will just drip. Air moving under the car causes the oil to fling on to the axle, which spits it onto the turbo and the firewall behind the turbo.