Hi all,

I have a 56 plate mazda5, just last week smoke started blowwing out the exhaust intermitantly..... kinda bluey/white. then a couple of days later the DPF light started flashing, so we sent it to Mazda straight away, they have had our car for a week now and are claiming that before they can diagnose the problem they need to replace the turbos at a minimum cost of £1,700.00.......

I am totally clueless but surley if they dont know what the problem is how can they ask me to pay this much?

Has anyone else experienced the same problem?

Thanks

Anita

 

If you're getting bluey smoke from the exhaust then the car is burning engine oil. This oil could be coming from the seals in the turbo which when leaking will allow oil into the exhaust and/or the air intake. If this is the case the oil in the exhaust would block the DPF and cause the DPF light to come on.
Now I'm assuming they've discovered oil in the DPF and need to know where it's coming from. It could be the engine has been overfilled which is easy to check on the dipstick. It could be some other failure ie head gasket leaking oil into a cylinder or a blocked breather.
However, a turbo failure is possible and not that easy to diagnose. If you take the turbo off and find oil from the turbo to the DPF but none from the engine to the turbo then it's easy. This is rarely the case though as oil does tend to get everywhere, so sometime you have to take an educated gamble and replace an expensive part and hope you're right.
If they are replacing the turbo you should be able to locate an aftermarket one at a much more reasonable price or even have your old one reconditioned. Genuine Mazda turbos are extremely expensive. Try Turbo Technics. If it is the turbo and they replace it the DPF should be able to be washed out and reused.