new turbo??

[raymieb]

Hello, i'll apologise in advance for the length of this post but really hoping I can get some advice re my 2005 2.0hdi as i am not a mechanic.
I purchased the vehicle in april 2013 and it has been running fine with the exceptions of 3 separate incidents on 3 separate days. I live on an island and most of the journeys are short.

1st incident- on what I would describe as our first longer journey round trip of 40miles we experienced thick white smoke from the exhaust so much so that I had to pull over as it was a rural road...it lasted 10mins and had cleared itself by time we got home. The car was daily driven with no problems after this, mostly short journeys but at least 3x 200mile round trips with no probs and no re-occurrence.

2nd incident(three wks ago)- embarked on a 200mile trip to get an additional key cut for it and thought id fill it up and put a redex treatment in as well. Three quarters way home I experienced the yellow engine warning light come on and a reduction of power.. it was ok doing 60-70mph but second gear and uphill was a struggle. Light stayed on until I got home. Left it for a few hours and turned it back on..light still on. Started it up next day and light was off and everything was back to normal including power. I figured this incident was perhaps related to the diesel treatment kicking in.

3rd incident- on sunday this week embarked on what would have been another 200mile trip...60 miles in ,the white smoke appeared again.. so bad you'd have thought a new pope had been elected..oil light also came on intermittently. Pulled over and checked dipstick...to my amazement it was bone dry(one of the first things I did on purchase was to keep tabs on the oil over the weeks). Put over 2L in and then sought advice from a local mechanic. Despite the 2L oil dipstick was still dry ...he put another 2 or litres until it was showing maximum on dipstick. He suggested that I need to replace the fuel ball(fuel hand pump) and tube as it was collapsing due to wear ad tear but advised that was not the cause of the problem. To my disheartenment he was talking about fuel injectors, piston rings and new engine etc as possible causes and solutions. He also mentioned replacing the turbo.
The car shows no signs of excessive noise and is driving fine and the temperature has been fine[/b] but unfortunately I have left it with my parents as I couldn't drive it with that amount of smoke for fear of being pulled or causing an accident.
I understand that replacing the turbo is not just a case of replacing the turbo but cleaning/replacing other parts too???
The car was driven daily (both short and long journeys) in between these 3 incidents with no problems.
It is clear that it is burning oil excessively. Would welcome any thoughts/advice as i'll prob need to try and find a mobile mechanic rather than drive it somewhere. How easy is it to replace the turbo and all that it involves? Can a repair centre do a diagnostics to identify the exact problem? As I said im not a mechanic...replacing belts,bolts and brakes is about my limit but willing to give anything a go if it does not require an expert to carry out the work.