I have an EP3 with the stock engine that has been turbo'd for 9 years.

I am burning oil, have grey smoke out the tail pipe, and oil in 2-3 cylinders as well as intake piping. Oil in Cylinder #3 is almost grimey. Cylinder 1 has a mostly clean spark plug, 2 and 4 have clean oil on the tips and threads, and cylinder 3 has build up.

Compression is 150, 148, 142, 148.

My first thought was piston rings, but compression is good. Where should I look next? What am I dealing with here?

Thanks.

 

do you have your crankcase vented to IM or turbo inlet at all?

I just puled my head after 1k miles of using crankcase breather routed to IM with a check valve.

IM had quite a bit of oil and all 4 pistons were coated

 

Your get toward the bottom end of the compression spec. Take the oil cap off with engine running to see how much blow by you have. If it's minimal then I would say your valve seals or on their way out, or your valve guides are worn.

 

Thanks for the info. Can you elaborate on the blow by? I am not familiar with what that is. What am I looking for? How should it look if valve seals are good vs bad?

Also, would replacing/repairing valve seals correct compression at all?

 

Sounds very much like your turbo is simply seeping oil, especially if its also 9 years old, matches all of your symptoms, leaking oil into the charge pipe and the boost pressure is just pushing it through the head

Your comp numbers are on the low side aswell though, was the test done with the engine hot and the throttle pushed to the floor?

 

How much boost are you running?
Edit: found your thread. 11.5 psi?

This probably shouldnt require much of crankcase vent system beyond whats factory. I'm not sure about the K series evac system, but I know its better then B's. What does the turbo look like? Any oil in the compressor housing / hot side of the pipe?

 

Blow by is the amount of compression the is pushed past the piston rings into the crank case. Valve seals can be tricky to diagnose, and you won't have a compression loss from them leaking it will just burn oil. Are you still running the factory pcv system?

 

So this is an interesting theory- my turbo was rebuilt 2 years ago/3-4000 miles, and i just took it all apart to to the oil return line leaking, and found that the compressor side of the turbo had a pretty bad leak. I just brushed all the build up off and replaced the hardware. If it was seeping on the outside, likely on the inside too?

If this is the issue, will repairing the situation prevent further leakage, and is there a way to clean out the insides without taking it all apart?


When I did the compression test, engine was half warmed up, not fully (was having battery issues), and yes wide open throttle.

 

if it's seeping on the outside, that means it needs a rebuild, because it means its leaking on the inside, AND has a boost leak to the outside.

rebuilding the turbo will prevent further leakage. cleaning can be done while its being rebuilt.

 

Sorry- I meant is there a way to clean the pistons and insides of the cylinder without removing the head and taking the engine apart.

Thanks

 

Seafoam works. It won't get the pistons spotless but it will break down and remove a good chunk of any carbon build up/etc in each cylinder.

 

Yea but you want to be sending the crap through your turbo?