What do you guys think? does it looks like the seals on the compressor side is going? On warmup from a cold motor, i get some white-ish smoke with a tint of light blue but once temp gauge is in the middle of H and T everything is fine, no smoke at idle, cruise, decel.

On WOT i get dark almost black haze/smoke out the exhaust, but im running no cat and 3" turbo back and tuned rich. BTW motor is fully built, sleeves, pistons, rods.

So i check the turbo and i notice this:


doesn't look good, inside the elbow/charge pipe that comes right off the compressor has a little sooty, grimey build up and hint of fresh oil around the coupler

 

Have you pulled the charge pipe to see if there is oil inside the piping?

But is doesn't look good already.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TurboElements.com &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Have you pulled the charge pipe to see if there is oil inside the piping?

But is doesn't look good already.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep already looked inside the elbow/charge pipe that comes right off the compressor has a little sooty, grimey build up and hint of fresh oil around the coupler.

wasnt able to boost past 10psi, i had my avcr set on 1bar, but could only muster .73bar

 

Sorry I missed that below the pic.

Yeah not being able to boost past .73bar, sounds like it is time for a rebuild or a new turbo.

 

i agree with Tim, ecspecially after seeing the picture with the oil puking out of the backplate.
feel free to ship it in to us, we offer a free evaluation on all rebuilds.
in the meen time, please do a compression and leakdown test on all cylinders, just as a precautionary measure.
give me a call at the shop monday morning, if you have any other questions 1-877-23-TURBO

thanks
Ken

 

ah crapola, i knew it wasn't good

 

you are right it is on the way out if you are seeing oil in your charge pipe. when the seals in my old turbo went i saw the same thing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LSBOI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you are right it is on the way out if you are seeing oil in your charge pipe. when the seals in my old turbo went i saw the same thing. </TD></TR></TABLE>

did your motor smoke at all? mine only smokes (white/blue-ish ting) at startup from being cold until its fully warmed up. after that no more. i think my oil return may have a part to do with this...

its not the best designed return, the bung in the oil pan is welded far over to the right so the hose is long and almost horizontal, no upward slope.

 

looks like rebuild is in order... need quick turn around since its my DD

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KiddEng &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">looks like rebuild is in order... need quick turn around since its my DD </TD></TR></TABLE>

What was the actually reason?

Did you take apart the turbo and see something wrong?

 

Do you have an oil restrictor? Alot of turbo failure is because there is too much oil going to the turbo and it causes bearing failure.

You dont need alot of oil going to a turbo...

liam

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SpeedingHatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

What was the actually reason?

Did you take apart the turbo and see something wrong?</TD></TR></TABLE>

did not take it apart but by the looks of it, oil is not supposed to be coming out from that side... and my charge pipe has little remnants of oil on the coupler and pipe right after the turbo. and only able to boost 10psi and not past it to 14psi like how i have set.

going to do comp test and leakdown soon also.

also no oil restrictor is used... and i don't thnk my return is the best return line either. It has a slight downward slope to almost horizontal at the return bung.

 

what size return line are you using ? it looks too small like a -6AN. You need at LEAST -8, even though -10An is the way to go.

With -3An line, you definitely need a -10An return

 

ouch, time for a rebuild

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Flamenco-T &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">what size return line are you using ? it looks too small like a -6AN. You need at LEAST -8, even though -10An is the way to go.

With -3An line, you definitely need a -10An return</TD></TR></TABLE>

You can tell my return line size from the pic? im not sure what size AN it is, but from memory its about little less than 1" in diameter. Im gonna have to take a snapshot of it... and you can see how "not-ideal" the return line is, along with the bung placement

 

Ok got a few quick snaps of the oil return line... from these angles it looks worse off than it is.

Don't mind the DP, had to get it to fit with the AC compressor








So taken from the bottom to top angle it kinda seems theres an uphill climb to the oil pan Last i looked at the line when i was under the car it didn't look that steep.

Im sure the placement of the return drain doen'st help either in this situation, but im going to have to deal with that location. Can i get a little bit shorter return line so it'll be a more direct route? I want to get a different line so its more of a downward slope for the oil.

 

is there any point in reusing this oil return line that i have pictured? I think i would benefit from using a shorter line to prevent backup.

the one i have now possible prevented the turbo from draining properly.

 

I think you can try to redo the routing of the oil return before you give it up for a rebuild. If that doesn't work, then try a restrictor... Start from the cheapest fix, then work you way up.

 

is it me or does that feed look rather large

 

may be the picture, oil feed line was purchased from Stan by the previous owner.

 

Black smoke = rich fuel mixture
blue smoke = blown seals (valve stem, rings, or seals on turbo)
white smoke = coolant usually headgasket

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blown_LS &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Black smoke = rich fuel mixture
blue smoke = blown seals (valve stem, rings, or seals on turbo)
white smoke = coolant usually headgasket</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have seen of these guidelines on my previous searches.... now my question is "how blue is the blue smoke"? is it a blue "tint" or is it actually blue smoke and nothing else?

the smoke i get on startup is usually white/gray with a "tint" of blue in it if i look real hard with the sun shining into the smoke. I'm not losing coolant at all, my resivoir bottle is always the same level everytime i drive.

when i drive normal i get no smoke, if i wot i get dark/black smoke (tuned 14psi running 11.8-12.3 a/f's, 3" exhaust with no cat)

Im leaning towards turbo seal/ oil line as the culprit...

 

If it has always smoked like this, I would def be looking at the return line as the problem. Maybe the reason it goes away when it warms up is that the oil is thinned out enough that it flows freely with the slight angle on your return line. The whit/gray with a tint of blue is oil smoke. The dark/black smoke is probably a combination of fuel and oil smoke because 11.8-12.3 is not rich enough to make alot of smoke on it's own.

 

Pretty much ever since i got the setup about 2.5 months ago, it would always smoke a little at warmup and fully go away when up to operating temperature. Only now in the morning the white/gray with tint of blue, is a little more prevalent in the mornings.

i don't know if its because its colder out now and it could be mixed with steam? or that the material hasn't warmed up enough to fully expand and seal?

 

just an idea... when u first start up, at cold idle or what not, u flow more oil. the oil is thicker. so if u have a bad return line, this combination may back up oil to the turbo. anyway, it's just a thought.