Cummins 12v 5.9 oil seeping from exhaust manifold, no turbo spool

[Arvik]

Very well kept Cummins 5.9 12 valve in 97 Thomas rig.
Ran amazing till last parked, starts up but blows smoke (white and light blue) and no power, turbo isn't spooling and more smoke when I give it gas pedal. Never blew smoke not even on cold start, just started. Also tiny bit of oil Seeping out of head into exhaust manifold on few of the cylinders right at the gasket.
I pulled turbo line to intercooler looked in there was tiny amount of thick oil (very small amount 1/16 tsp) at bottom of elbow. Not sure how much oil should be in there if any. No sign of lots of oil spraying in there.
Thoughts?

[Ronnie]

My 5.9 will make smoke after sitting for a while. Does not smoke at idle but will leave a smoke screen for the first 1/4 mile then clears up. If I drive every few weeks it is fine. Has close to 400,000 miles on it.

How are you checking to see if the turbo spools up? Really needs to be under load to build boost, just sitting ( with engine running)will not put enough load to get any real amount of boost.

[Arvik]

Originally Posted by Ronnie

My 5.9 will make smoke after sitting for a while. Does not smoke at idle but will leave a smoke screen for the first 1/4 mile then clears up. If I drive every few weeks it is fine. Has close to 400,000 miles on it.

How are you checking to see if the turbo spools up? Really needs to be under load to build boost, just sitting ( with engine running)will not put enough load to get any real amount of boost.

I hear ya, I've got 145k original miles. I can damn near floor it in gear and barely get onto leveler blocks. Can't hear the turbo.

[Ronnie]

I do not hear my turbo either. The exhaust system quiets a turbo pretty good. Get rid of the muffler and have only a short pipe if you want to hear it. Boost gauge is the proper way to know what the turbo is doing. Have to ask though did you ever hear the turbo?

As far as getting on the leveling blocks what trans do you have? does it have a deep crawler gear, a tight torque converter or a loose one? If it has a 2000rpm stall speed and a rather high 1st gear ratio in the trans,then the engine will have to rev high to get moving especailly up on blocks. What engine rpms were you getting?

By the way very small amounts of oil I would not be concerned about, but a lot of oil would be a warning flag

[Arvik]

Can I check my wastegate without taking turbo off? What symptoms would bad wastegate cause?

[Ronnie]

If the waste gate is open the turbo will not build boost, if stuck shut it can over boost. I really like to have instrumentation, boost gauge is really important, even if only installed temporary to properly tell what the turbo and waste gate are doing.

If you take the inlet tube off the turbo can you spin it freely with you fingers? Engine OFF to do this. Do not stick anything in the turbo except fingers or something soft like a pencil eraser.