Mattb16teg

Hey guys,
Trying to work through an issue I am having with the car constantly puffing smoke. Let me give you all the full run down.

I put the motor together last year and drove it around NA to break it in and just to drive while I pieced together my turbo setup. Definitely didn't smoke at this time. Got the turbo from my buddy who had it on his car, it needed to be rebuilt so I sent it out for a rebuild. Put everything together and ran open downpipe to get the car to my house and then drive to get my exhaust made
Got it on the dyno and noticed a little smoke here and there but figured it was due to the oil put in the exhaust pipe to bend it. It started smoking more and more and it was clearly oil because you could see it on the bumper and in the exhaust.

Even sitting at idle it will smoke a bit and even worse of course under boost. Definitely believed it was the seals in the turbo since the smoke is somewhat constant it does not seem to be valve seals, also that it didn't smoke before. Even performed compression and coolant pressure tests to make sure all is well with the motor.

So I took the turbo off this weekend and shipped it back to the guy to check it out. On a simple visual inspection he said it looked fine but will know more once he actually gets it apart.
It has a -3 feed line and the return line is short and straight down with no kinks in it. Checked to ensure there was nothing blocking the flow in the drain.

Now I also thought it would be due to crank case pressure because I didn't have a legit catch can setup before. I took the turbo off saturday and put my new valve cover with -10 bungs on. Will finish the lines and all this weekend for the can

After speaking with the guy rebuilding my turbo I decided to go check something. I blocked off the feed line and started the car open manifold. Let it idle for a bit and even gave it some revs and witnessed no abnormal smoke, like it would before with the turbo on.

Just wanted to throw it out and see if anyone else has any advice, sorry for the book.

ultimately just trying to see, if the turbo comes back fine what my options are.
Could the catch can make that big of a difference or should I be running a restrictor in the feed line? Oil pressure is around 80 psi while cruising.

Cliffs:
Turbo smokes
Valve seals seems fine
Just added catch can after taking turbo off
Sent turbo out for rebuild

kyden

are you getting oil in the charge pipes?

Mattb16teg

Does not appear so but tough to tell as my charge pipe comes in above the turbo then down a 90 degree coupler to the compressor.

There also can be a leaky seal without oil being in the charge pipes.

lsturbo33

Do you have stock pcv system? How does your drain line look? stock pistons or aftermarket? I would use a restrictor although that's up to you with a 3an line. Some people have bias opinions on that.

Mattb16teg

Before I had a somewhat "ghetto" catch can setup. I just installed a decent catch can with 2 - 10 lines.
Drain is fine, very short, no kinks and straight through as mentioned above.
Aftermarket pistons.

Looks like all signs are pointing towards my lack of restrictor and that the turbo is fine.

Jeffro1265

i was getting the similar issues. i would get excessive smoke (running open DP) when idling. pretty bad after the car sits for about 2 mins or so. i dont get any smoke during driving, or underboost that i can tell. there was oil all inside my compressor housing which led me to believe it was a turbo seal problem. i put a restrictor on it still smokes after a minute of sitting still. not sure what the problem is.

this was before the restrictor:


heres the restrictor im running now, and still getting light smoke at idle:


i need to run another compression check to see if its not the rings. if compression/leakdown test pass, then it leaves only the turbo seals.

garrett t3/o4e

sik96teg

i had the same exact problem on a freshly rebuilt turbo. On mine it was my oil level. Before i went turbo i always filled right to the top dot. After draining a lil of the oil by taking off the return line off of the oil pan fitting and letting it drain even. My dip stick reads a little above 3/4 of the way up between the top and bottom holes on the dipstick. Since then no more smoke. I ended up drilling a another hole in my dipstick so i can tell where to fill and if im losing oil.

Mattb16teg

Ok the guy that's rebuilding the turbo for me said:
"It's up to you man, if you want me to throw new seals and bearings in I will but you HAVE to lower that oil pressure somehow or you're going to be right back here in another month."

The only source location I know of is off the filter housing, don't know anywhere else.

What about oil level, anyone ever seen problems with it being too high?

TheShodan

iTrader: (14)

The reason he said that is because he believes that the internals may not have been affected enough by the oil pressure to deem it being replaced. A lot of people jump the gun and start replacing internal parts when they just need to make sure that there is no oil back up from their return line or too much oil pressure going into the system. CHECK THE SIZE OF THE RESTRICTOR YOU ARE USING. It may simply be a bit too large (over .080") when you might needs something slightly smaller (.065") but not TOO small. If you've made any modifications to your oil pump or oil pick up, that may cause increased oil pressure, it might be time to remove these items. Make sure there are no 90 degre AN fittings on your return line.

These are the things you want to look at the most.

Mattb16teg

Thank you, I was ultimately awaiting your response!
There currently is no restrictor on it so I would say that falls in the too large category. Was thinking of putting a sintered filter or .065 restrictor on it as well.
0 mods have been made to the pickup or pump, all OEM. NO 90 degree fittings on the return either, just a 45 coming off the turbo and a straight fitting coming off the pan.

Since I shipped it up to him he was going to take it apart and check it out just to be sure. When I get it back I will try it with a restrictor and see.

Thanks!

Mattb16teg

Ok got an email from the guy rebuilding the turbo for me, it was definitely getting too much oil, which is good because that's what I figured.




Now here is his response:

"Regardless, here's what I found with your turbo:
Once it was pulled down, there was definitely evidence of over-oiling behind the heat shield. This is normally dry with no evidence of oil or excessive carbon.
This is where it gets strange- look at the scoring on the journal bearings.....there is DEFINITELY metal making it's way into the turbo somehow; the compressor-side journal bearing was stuck in the housing so badly that I had to drive it out with a screwdriver. Normally the bearings just fall right out:

In this last shot you can see one of the metal flakes laying on the thrust plate:



Now it may appear that you have more than one issue to address before bolting this turbo back on your car or you'll just be sending it back to me again in the near future!"


Now the strange thing is the feed line comes from a filtered source, it's ran off a sandwich plate between the filter and block. The oil passes through the oil filter then to the plate, then the turbo.

So I find it hard to believe that this is making it to the turbo. This turbo was on a car before mine although it was rebuilt, maybe it could be from that?

Built2grind

Not to hijack your thread.. but I've been dealing with a very similar problem. I have a 98 type R with a built and boosted b18c5... A few months ago I noticed that every once in a while I'd be at a traffic light and my car would start smoking from the exhaust. Kind of whitish in color, but smelling of oil. This symptom, along with the overflow tank for my radiator filling up while the car was being tuned, and a couple of other times after hard driving led me to believe I needed to replace the headgasket. After the head gasket was replaced I stopped having problems with coolant overflowing.. But the smoking problem slowly became worse.. Instead of the car smoking at maybe every tenth traffic light I stopped at, it became every 5th maybe, then every 3rd. Then it started to smoke while going down hills, and when I would put it in reverse (backing into my garage) after driving... So then I decide the problem must be my turbo seal, and there's oil being dumped into my exhaust from the turbo. The turbo had been in the car for probably 7 years, so I wasn't surprised. Removed the turbo and it was shot, with oil leaking into my downpipe.... no brainer right? Here's the kicker: I bought a garrett turbo from some dude that was brand new, never bolted up. No bolt marks, no gasket marks, no shaft play, very very clean. Had another buddy check it out.. he agreed that it was brand new never bolted up.. Threw it all together, started up my car.. first minute everything seemed cool.. then the smoke just kept getting worse and worse. Instead of intermittently smoking, now the poor car smokes continuously. Thick thick white smoke ( not steam, not sweet smelling) that reaks of burning oil. It's worse now than it has ever been. Any ideas or input would be appreciated. I guess its possible that it could still be a turbo problem, and maybe i bought a junk turbo from someone that just happened to look immacculate. Just looking for other possibilities before I rip my entire car apart.. again..