Brand New Garrett Turbo Starting Leakng Oil After A 1000kms

[jarrod83]

Hey guys, got a troubling dilemma with my turbo atm and not sure whats the best action to figure out the problem, i have a gt35r runnin about 18psi... one night i took it out for a run came home and found oil had leaked out of the pod filter from the air intake and there was a puddle of oil in the intake piping, ever since then it has a burning oil smell and whenever u boost it blows smoke out the exhaust

I've tried some of the basic things like changing the air filter made sure the oil return pipe wasnt blocked etc.. is there anything else worth trying that i may of missed

i pulled the turbo off and took it to mtq oneday and they did a quick visual inspection, and claimed it looked and felt fine and it has no play in it.. so its probably not the seals?! and claimed that these turbos were virtually unbreakable and that it would be something else in the car causing the problem, and of course all the mechanics i talk to say it will be the turbo

So im wondering is there anything left i can try that may be causing it.. and would i be better of taking the car into somewhere to get checked out or sending the turbo off to get properly inspected??

also the engine crank case vent? is that the cam breather that runs from the top of the engine to my catch can then back into the air intake pipe?

Cheers for any advice

Jarrod

[Adriano]

Sounds like crankcase blowby, causing oil to come out the breather, i wouold do a compression test.

[jarrod83]

done a dry compression test and they were all 130-140.. except the last 2 which were 120s... but the battery was starting to get a little flat and not pushing over as fast

[wolverine]

x2 blowby?!?

Edited January 25, 2009 by wolverine

[jarrod83]

the catch can hasnt even collected a drop of oil tho.. tho its a pretty basic setup, havent got any of that iron wool inside it

[nIsMo86]

Engine bay pics of catch can setup?

I'd also say its a breather issue.

[jarrod83]

heres sum catch can pics, its sorta hard to make out, its a lil dodge spec aswell, i never got around to tidying it up as i was pretty sure it wasnt the problem, basically the breather that comes out the engine goes into a smaller tube that goes to the catch can thats located under the front bar just out of the engine bay as my engine bay is pretty crowded with abs crap.. then goes to the air intake pipe getting bulk oil thru all my piping.. all but the catch can piping..

[badhairdave]

It's because your catch can piping is small so the oil vapour is pushed through pretty quickly.

It looks like there is oil in the can, and if there's no steel wool or baffles in there to catch it then a lot will run straight back into the intake while it's still vapour.

We had a similar problem on a mates track car. We were sure it was the turbo as it had ingested something prior to him buying it, and there was a lot of oil seeping past the compressor backing plate and around the core. It also compression tested fine and there wasn't much oil in the can but still filled the piping and intercooler with oil. So we swapped the turbo for a known good one and the problem was still there.

Swapped the catch can plumbing so it was externally vented and not going back into the intake and no more oil in the piping or seeping out of the turbo, and about 200mL of fuely oil in the can after every couple of sessions....

Edited January 25, 2009 by badhairdave

[Cjmartz2k]

Are you running an oil restrictor at the turbo?

[rinmak]

Garrett OEM turbos dont need a restrictor as they have them built in to the core.

[nIsMo86]

Is your catch can system using the PCV?

[jarrod83]

yeh it has a restrictor in it

the lines are rubber, the bigger ones are water lines so they will probably need replacing and the smaller ones are fuel lines

I'll set up the catch can tomorrow when the shops are open to vent to amto and see how that goes, i didnt try that yet because the catch can hadnt even collected a drop of oil yet

[jarrod83]

yous guys are legends... runned the catch can to atmo.. fixed it.

cant believe it

but thanks everyone for the advice

[gotRICE?]

Dont ya just love this site?

Glad it was fixed. I absolutely hate oil in my IC... been lucky so far but still running the OEM setup. Havnt yet organized a catch can!

Instead of starting a new topic, if you check back here, do you recommend running one if the car is tracked? I dont get any oil smoke without it.

[bubba]

I'm not a big fan of introducing oil/vapour back into the intake stream..

[jarrod83]

Hey guys i may of celebrated a little early... the oil in the intake and intercooler im pretty sure is clearing up, and no more smoke out the exhaust but i still have a slight leak coming from the compressor side of the turbo around the outside of it, is there any chance that having blow by for a few weeks damaged the turbo??

[SDEWY5]

is the oil on the inside of the compressor, like where the turbine is? if so its not uncommon for a little bit to leak out over the course of hard driving. All the GT35's ive seen do it including mine.

[TriniGT]

Did you put an oil restrictor in, not the one that so-call comes with the turbo built-in. For an added safety a ballbearing turbo should have a 0.035" restrictor in line fo the oil supply. For journal bearing turbos it should be 0.06". Also make sure that your oil return line from the turbo is not kinked and causing a backup of oil in the turbo as this can cause the selas to go eventually, if caught soon enough you should be okay just the turbo will need a little cleaning. Check it like now, any kink in the return is a no go, get a good braided return or a hard line that lines up perfect with the block so that the return hose is straight. Cheers .

[Adriano]

If the engine is a little worn, blowby will produce crankcase prsuure which acts upon the turbo seals pushing a little oil out.