oil leak & smoke

Trip

New Member
I am getting lots of smoke coming out of the exhaust on idle and increases when i rev it up. I found oil in the downpipe section and also in the middle part after the CAT. I am not sure if the smoke is white or blue but oil was present in liquid form. I could probably collect 150ml of oil from the exhaust pipes alone.

I blamed this on my BB turbo since i was suffering from late and slow boost buildup too. I removed it and took it to the Garrett agent in Malta. He gave it a good look and checked the shaft play and told me that the turbo is in good order. Took it back home, cleaned all the pipes and re-installed it. Yet again oil was coming out from everywhere. I checked the turbo oil drain, crank case breather and both were not blocked. Also to mention the manifold and sparkplugs were dry.

I removed turbo again and installed a standard turbo which was running fine for my running in period last march. The problem was still there so did a compression test and all came out fine. 161psi, 160psi, 164psi, 160psi. I slightly loosened the manifold from head to leave a gap of around 3mm. Left the car for 10min idling and i found no oil dripping or sputtering from the 3mm gap. There was no signs of smoke either coming out. Noise level is very high though.

Even though i went through 2 turbo’s (which were good) and no signs of oil coming out of engine, i can only determine that bad luck struck again and knackered two turbo’s or my turbo oil drain is blocked inside the engine.

All this happened somewhere in between doing a leak test on the inlet side. I did it because as i said, boost was building up slowly (12psi at 4800rpm) and thought i had a leak

I am not sure if i should risk getting a new turbo and finding out the problem was from somewhere else
 

Braveheart

New Member
I am getting lots of smoke coming out of the exhaust on idle and increases when i rev it up. I found oil in the downpipe section and also in the middle part after the CAT. I am not sure if the smoke is white or blue but oil was present in liquid form. I could probably collect 150ml of oil from the exhaust pipes alone.

I blamed this on my BB turbo since i was suffering from late and slow boost buildup too. I removed it and took it to the Garrett agent in Malta. He gave it a good look and checked the shaft play and told me that the turbo is in good order. Took it back home, cleaned all the pipes and re-installed it. Yet again oil was coming out from everywhere. I checked the turbo oil drain, crank case breather and both were not blocked. Also to mention the manifold and sparkplugs were dry.

I removed turbo again and installed a standard turbo which was running fine for my running in period last march. The problem was still there so did a compression test and all came out fine. 161psi, 160psi, 164psi, 160psi. I slightly loosened the manifold from head to leave a gap of around 3mm. Left the car for 10min idling and i found no oil dripping or sputtering from the 3mm gap. There was no signs of smoke either coming out. Noise level is very high though.

Even though i went through 2 turbo’s (which were good) and no signs of oil coming out of engine, i can only determine that bad luck struck again and knackered two turbo’s or my turbo oil drain is blocked inside the engine.

All this happened somewhere in between doing a leak test on the inlet side. I did it because as i said, boost was building up slowly (12psi at 4800rpm) and thought i had a leak

I am not sure if i should risk getting a new turbo and finding out the problem was from somewhere else
Ouch..... that's all sounding expensive having goosed two turbos... I would be reluctant to fit a third until you suss the problem... use the OE tubby for fault finding purposes.
If you suspect your oil return from turbo to sump is blocked, can you not rod it with something... also, if you blow air into turbo - sump oil return, you should get air coming out dip-stick guide pipe.
I'm not sure what would happen to the oil fed to turbo if it had know where to go (i.e. blocked return) and whether it would end up in the exhaust.
You have checked at exhaust manifold and you have checked compression and all sounds good. So I doudt the oil is being forced out your crank case breather but just to be sure, I would check crank case breather pipe as it cirulated back into air intake.
Your suspitions make the best sense though and I would look into a blocked turbo oil feed return.
Hope you get it sussed in a cheap fashion.... :sad:
 

Trip

New Member
My crank case breather is going to an oil catch tank and the other end to air intake. i unplugged it from intake and running to atmosphere for the time being. My PVC valves is blocked.


I am 100% sure both GT2871R and standard turbo were not smoking before.. I have video clips to prove. So something happened. I don't mind replacing turbo if it cures the problem but i don't want to fit a third turbo and break it after 10minutes.
 

Braveheart

New Member
My crank case breather is going to an oil catch tank and the other end to air intake. i unplugged it from intake and running to atmosphere for the time being. My PVC valves is blocked.


I am 100% sure both GT2871R and standard turbo were not smoking before.. I have video clips to prove. So something happened. I don't mind replacing turbo if it cures the problem but i don't want to fit a third turbo and break it after 10minutes.
Yes, run it to atmosphere and see if oil is present..... I do not think that oil introduced through air intake via crank case breather would fcuk your turbo There is something the turbo does not like. What failed in the turbos?... if your oil return is blocked then I can only imagine the oil would shear, the turbo bearing would overheat and eventually seize. Prior to seizing, that could explain the slow buildup in boost.... I still do not know what happens to the oil that can't return to the sump.... it may well end up in the exhaust but I do not know....
I would not try another expensive turbo....
 
P

pulsarboby

Guest
i doubt whether its the turbos ev, especially if youve had them checked out and turboman says they are ok.
dont block the pcv valve as this can cause crankcase pressure and force oil up past the rings,,,,the breather system is there for a purpose!

when you removed turbos was there any wet ports on the cylinder head?
 

Trip

New Member
I have the breather at the back (next to the oil filler cap) blocked but the side one(next to the coil) is venting to atmoshere via a catch can. OE oil seperator is still installed


Both manifold and ports on head were clean and free from any oil. As i said, i ran the car with manifold loose , and had no oil sputter or any signs of oil dripping.

Can i have a good compression test results but still have a fault internally which can cause all this oil ?

 

Trip

New Member
if its of any relevance, When i changed turbo from the BB to the standard, i also did an oil change. Actually i replaced the sump so i had to drain all the oil.

The oil collected from the exhaust was black which means it was from the old oil still in the system.
 
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pulsarboby

Guest
i would not block the breather near the oilcap (thats the one im talking about) by doing that the engine is not breathing freely......rty unblocking it and putting a breather filter to atmosphere on it or loop it back into the catch can.
if you have a resonator box fitted in the exhaust system (such as a mongoose) then make sure that no oil has collected in there or any other silencer as it will take an eternity to burn off
 

Trip

New Member
i would not block the breather near the oilcap (thats the one im talking about) by doing that the engine is not breathing freely......rty unblocking it and putting a breather filter to atmosphere on it or loop it back into the catch can.
if you have a resonator box fitted in the exhaust system (such as a mongoose) then make sure that no oil has collected in there or any other silencer as it will take an eternity to burn off
I do have a mongoose with a muffler just after the cat section. Could it be the mongoose had oil in it from the previous turbo and now with standard turbo i am just burning what's been collected ?

Tomorrow i will unblock the breather next to oilcap, tighten the minifold and remove the down pipe and let the car run (eliminating the mongoose) and see if there is any signs of smoke or oil coming out.


On a side note, how many hrs do i need to run the engine to get the mongoose clear. Or is there a easier cleaning solution..
 
Last edited:

Trip

New Member
More updates.

I unblocked the breather and temporary fit the pcv valve. tightened the manifold, removed the downpipe from the turbo elbow. I put a newspaper under the turbo elbow so i can collect any oil dripping.I also bypassed the intercooler and stuck the MAF directly to the inlet. Left the car idling for around 30 minutes once in a while giving it some throttle. I also switched on my newly launch control and tried it out to give the turbo some hard work.


Results:
I got a little oil on the news paper but the turbo outlet of the compressor side had noticable oil in it (It was a good idea bypassing my new ND FMIC). Oil pressure was 30psi on idle, vacuum was at -19 inHG (-9 psi) ..No smoke either. Oil return wasn't looking restricted either.




Now from these results, there is no way Oil could come in the inlet from the engine side. It must be the turbo.. I cannot understand how my exhaust was filled with oil either. The smoke i was seeing can only mean that my Mongoose is FULL of oil which needs clearing.

I also noticed the car revved more freely without the whole exhaust but it could be an illusion since the noise was very load.
 

Trip

New Member
More updates.

I noticed that coolant is also missing from the expansion tank. I opened the radiator cap and coolant was slowly overflowing and you could see the coolant fizzy with tiny bubbles. Does that mean headgasket ?
 

Trip

New Member
I ordered one off ebay. Hopefully i can identify whats wrong.. But i still say that i have a faulty turbo and a 50% chance of a faulty gasket. Hopefully nothing more or i kill myself.
 

Braveheart

New Member
I'm not sure if this is even possible and do not mean to suspect but is there any way of connecting water to oil and vice versa when plumbing in your turbo....:roll:
 
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