A few nights ago I was heading to the movies with some friends, the oil light came on and I started to hear a clank/clicking noise coming from under the hood, so I poured a quart of oil into the engine and a few miles later white smoke is billowing from the exhaust and I have trouble maintaining speed while driving.

One mechanic said it's the catalytic converter being clogged up, which made sense because a few days later the problem stopped and my car was fine again.

A few more days still, and the smoke is back, twice as bad as before. Whole neighborhoods and highways are being completely fogged out by the smoke coming from exhaust, I'm embarrassed to drive. Not to mention it is a battle to get the car over 30 MPH, but if I do the smoke seems to mostly stop.

This is an urgent problem, because I just got a huge project at my job and I need to be able to commute next week. Does anyone know what's going on?

 

Your car is about to die due to lack of maintenance. Get ready to walk.

 

Ok, now the mechanic says it's because of the turbo. He took the turbo off and showed it to me, the inside is completely destroyed. So I'm hoping that is the whole problem.

But buying an OEM turbo for that car is a little beyond my budget right now, can someone tell me, will any of these fancy aftermarket "Universal Turbo Upgrades" be able to replace the turbo that was taken out of my S40? They are a lot cheaper and claim to be more powerful, but I don't want to buy it unless it will properly replace the old part.

Here's what I'm talking about:

Will this:
GT45 T4 GSP TURBO CHARGER AR70 1.00 OIL COOL TWIN ENTRY | eBay

Replace this:
BRAND NEW GENUINE OEM TURBOCHARGER FOR VOLVO S40 & V40 | eBay

Let me know if you can, thanks!

 

Houston is a big place. If you call around, you can find prices on used and rebuilt. Turbos don't come in a 'one size fits all' catagory.
Ed

 

Get another mechanic right now. He doesn't have a clue. You ran your engine low on oil to the point the oil light came on and the engine made noises, you have damaged the engine itself. The mechanic is trying to sell you a quickie turbo replacement to get money from you before your engine dies.
And next time, try popping the hood occasionally between services and using the dipstick to check the oil level......

 

You drove when it was smoking, and tired to push it?