Oil on the intake side of turbo

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (Deco)

Tue, 18 Mar 2014 13:23:46 GMT

I will definitely give that a go and hope for the best that its not an oil seal.

Thanks a lot guys for all the help. Appreciate it!

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (track_mr2)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 18:36:40 GMT

Clean the turbo inlet and intake pipe. Drive it, check it, see if oil is coming out of the turbo when warm. Then just trace it back that way. to me it looks the oil seal in the turbo might have a slight leak even though you have had the turbo rebuilt recently, it still does look to be coming out the inlet. Only way to tell really is clean it off and check after a short drive. Since your a Gen3 you can run it at idle with no intake pipe and see if oil is coming out of the turbo even, reving it moderately when warm to build some boost and see if oil comes out.

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (Deco)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 16:49:52 GMT

Mrskylighter

What type of filter are you running in that airbox?

It would be highly unlikely that it is turbo related as it looks like very early stages of what happened to the old turbo. Must be caused by something that has been present since the first turbo (when half cut purchased)

I am running just a normal Toyota panel filter. But I have just bought a new pod as with the set up I had there was an area where small amounts of unfiltered air could get in due to the flexi pipe size.

Seems so. Just hope I can get on top of it before it causes any damage.

Mrskylighter
Another thing you could check is your PCV valve in the valve cover.

Is the engine using much oil? Do you have to top it up between oil changes?

I checked the PCV. You can blow a little bit of air through it but as soon as you blow even more air through it. It shuts closed not allowing any air through. I then checked this against a spare PCV I had and got the same results. I have put the spare on just in case it does help.

The engine is using zero oil. Im doing a service whilst all of this is going on so there will be fresh oil going in. But over the last 8k since the previous oil change is has not dropped below full.

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (Mrskylighter)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:29:06 GMT

Another thing you could check is your PCV valve in the valve cover. Remove it and see if you can blow through it in both directions. It should only allow air to travel one way from the valve cover to the inlet manifold in an off boost vacuum situation.
When boosting it stops pressurised air from the inlet manifold entering the valve cover. If the boost got in it could blow oil out the other hose through the catch can and into your turbo (which is also sucking hard at this point as its boosting)

Is the engine using much oil? Do you have to top it up between oil changes?

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (Mrskylighter)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:18:00 GMT

Could also be a combination of both ideas.

Turbo sucking in air + engine oil mist (PCV/catch can) + dust particles? (Air inlet tract)
Then when backing off throttle at low boost (No bov operating) the combo above is coming back out. But then again there doesn't appear to be any oily crap being exhausted from the bov when it does go off.

My opinion is still to vent the Catch can to atmo, cap the vac nipple on the air inlet piping and give the turbo a thorough clean. Maybe a new air filter as well.

What type of filter are you running in that airbox?

It would be highly unlikely that it is turbo related as it looks like very early stages of what happened to the old turbo. Must be caused by something that has been present since the first turbo (when half cut purchased)

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (kojab)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 14:35:14 GMT

I still think it's oil being blown out the inlet of the turbo.
I found this article which I agree with.

Below is what someone has written.
http://www.skylinesaustra...ce-around-turbo-inlet/

"Is it just me or is the oil 'vortex' pattern going the opposite way that the air would be sucking into the compressor wheel?

IE: the compressor wheel is spinning clockwise (and so pulling air from the 'left' of the vanes) but the oil pattern seems to be going anti-clockwise?

Or have i misunderstood basic fluid/air physics? (most likely)"

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (Deco)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 14:33:18 GMT

purple5ive
that looks normal, if oil is dripping out of it then its starting to look bad..
i have a feelign the oil in front of the turbo your seeing is from the older one and hasnt been cleaned off properly..
clean it properly and then have a check regularly to see if its happenign again..

also i dont see any oil from the bov either (cause its been vented to atmo and doesnt look like oil spray anywhere) so might be ok

clean the pipe and have a look after that is my suggestion..
cheers

Thanks for all you help. I'll clean it and keep an eye on it.

Mrskylighter
I have another possible theory in regards to the crud in the turbo inlet.
Are any of the air inlet hoses/piping damaged or split anywhere? Even a tiny split will be letting in unfiltered air which when mixed with small amounts of oily air could form a cruddy thick sludge type effect.
I'd be checking very thoroughly every single pipe joint, hose, hose clamp, catch can setup (inlcuding pipes) for a crack or split.

With your old busted up turbo I took the compressor cover of it and managed to clean off all the same looking thick crud from it. The compressor wheel is absolutely destroyed (extremely worn on the edges) Like if a brand new wheel has a diameter of 48.1mm your broken turbo comp wheel was 42mm or something.
It appears something more than just oily air is being sucked in to wear away the metal blades of the comp wheel.

Thats a fair point. I'll go over it with a fine tooth comb and see what I come up with.
As for the turbo....it doesnt surprise me that its in that sort of condition as the filter on the half cut was rusted and the foam was falling to pieces.

purple5ive
good point nick.
i also happened to see what i think is a pic of a Mushroom FOAM type filter (like the ones HKS make) in the 3rd pic..
if thats the case it will let in a lot more dirt, mix that with little bit of blowby oil and there could be the black oil issue.. not to mention wear on the compressor
do you live in an area with a lot of dust (like a country road) if so these could all be related

You're right. The half cut I got came with a HKS mushroom filter. It was well past its life as the mesh was rusted and the foam was brittle and falling to bits. That filter went straight in the bin and didnt make it into my car.
I live on a small property but the most dust I come into contact with is on my driveway other than that I only drive on sealed roads.

I think I will give that crankcase breather a go and eliminate all oil going into the intake pipe. Also I will get myself a urethane pod filter to make sure im not getting any unfiltered air into the turbo and I will clean up oil inside the turbo and keep an eye on it to see if it returns.

If that doesnt solve the issue is it possible that the oil return pipe from the turbo that goes to the sump could be blocked or backing up into the turbo causing oil to pass over the seals and therefore leaking into the intake?

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (purple5ive)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 14:05:04 GMT

good point nick.
i also happened to see what i think is a pic of a Mushroom FOAM type filter (like the ones HKS make) in the 3rd pic..
if thats the case it will let in a lot more dirt, mix that with little bit of blowby oil and there could be the black oil issue.. not to mention wear on the compressor
do you live in an area with a lot of dust (like a country road) if so these could all be related

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (Mrskylighter)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 13:33:41 GMT

I have another possible theory in regards to the crud in the turbo inlet.
Are any of the air inlet hoses/piping damaged or split anywhere? Even a tiny split will be letting in unfiltered air which when mixed with small amounts of oily air could form a cruddy thick sludge type effect.
I'd be checking very thoroughly every single pipe joint, hose, hose clamp, catch can setup (inlcuding pipes) for a crack or split.

With your old busted up turbo I took the compressor cover of it and managed to clean off all the same looking thick crud from it. The compressor wheel is absolutely destroyed (extremely worn on the edges) Like if a brand new wheel has a diameter of 48.1mm your broken turbo comp wheel was 42mm or something.
It appears something more than just oily air is being sucked in to wear away the metal blades of the comp wheel.

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (purple5ive)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 13:31:31 GMT

that looks normal, if oil is dripping out of it then its starting to look bad..
i have a feelign the oil in front of the turbo your seeing is from the older one and hasnt been cleaned off properly..
clean it properly and then have a check regularly to see if its happenign again..

also i dont see any oil from the bov either (cause its been vented to atmo and doesnt look like oil spray anywhere) so might be ok

clean the pipe and have a look after that is my suggestion..
cheers

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (Deco)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 13:16:15 GMT

purple5ive
you have got the catch can and charcoal canister mixed up
the yellow canister (is the oil catch can) and the yellow line is the line that recirculates the gas coming out of it into the intake

Oops my bad " />
Thats a relief as I thought something was seriously not right there for a moment.

Mrskylighter
That black box with the three hoses connected (highlighted in yellow) is the catch can.

The other thing you might have been referring to is the charcoal canister which is part of the fuel system. It has a connection to the fuel tank vent line, two vacuum hoses to the throttle body and another which I think is a fresh air inlet to the canister.

Ahh gotcha.

Having looked at the correct area now. The end of the pipe connected to the intake piping is a bit gunky much like the photo I posted further up of the intake pipe fitting. The end of the pipe that connects to the catch can has a light film of oil in it...but nothing too excessive. I gave the pipe a good blow out with the compressor just in case.

As you can see there is oil present but it doesnt seem to be excessive.

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (Mrskylighter)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 12:45:16 GMT

That black box with the three hoses connected (highlighted in yellow) is the catch can.

The other thing you might have been referring to is the charcoal canister which is part of the fuel system. It has a connection to the fuel tank vent line, two vacuum hoses to the throttle body and another which I think is a fresh air inlet to the canister.

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (purple5ive)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 12:44:56 GMT

you have got the catch can and charcoal canister mixed up
the yellow canister (is the oil catch can) and the yellow line is the line that recirculates the gas coming out of it into the intake
the red line doesnt go to the manifold from memory. its the AC idle up valve. you have traced i past where it goes and confused it with another wire instead of a hose by the looks of it..

the hose you need to check is the yellow one going into the intake, see if theres fresh oil coming from that..
i would also clean the intake piping and make sure there no soot to start with, makes checkign things easier, not to mention your sucking all that into your intercooler which will coat the insides of it with oila nd reduce cooling efficiency due to less heat transfer..
cheers

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (Deco)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 12:28:12 GMT

Haha okay cheers mate.
Here are the 3 lines I have coming from the catch can.
The red line heads behind metal protective shield on the firewall and assume it is connected to the fuel evaporative system as the line smells of fuel.
The blue/purple line comes from the bottom of the catch can and goes to that black fitting that I mentioned above which is a dead end.
The green line is connected to a sensor which sits on a bracket that is bolted to catch can itself.
Im guessing this has been incorrectly done?

Inside the intake pipe itself there is a lot a black soot which was from the last turbo but nothing fresh from what I can see. I dont have a line connecting from the catch can to the intake pipe. The only two connecting lines I have is the one I mentioned before which is in yellow below and the other that is in red seems to go under the intake manifold; where it goes from there..I have no idea.

Re: Oil on the intake side of turbo (Mrskylighter)

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 11:23:12 GMT

The oil return line from the catch can is short and connects to the head quite close by. I simply removed the line from the can and blew air into using my mouth to confirm it wasn't blocked.
If you try this method have a flavoured drink on hand as old oil tastes foul :)

Does the black intake piping have a lot of gunk in it as well? You should be able to see inside the pipe where the catch can line connects to check if the oily stuff is streaming out of it.