Turbo sprung an oil leak?

[UP2MTNS]

sprung? sprang? whatever....I noticed I'm going through a lot of oil all of a sudden...like, a quart per 250 miles :(

I'm just shy of 90K miles on the turbo, but my short block only has 55K miles. So I'm really hoping its not the engine.

Today after work when the car was cold, I started it up and stood behind my car looking at the exhaust (I suddenly notices the edges of the muffler are black). I put my hand about an inch from the exhaust, waited a few seconds and it looked like someone spotted my hand with a fine point sharpie.....revved the engine a few times, and noticed big drops of oil on the pavement.

SO......if it was the engine/seals, I'd just have black smoke coming out right? But I'm not familiar with the path the oil takes through the turbo, but I assume there's seals/areas that can leak oil internally that could make it through the exhaust? (I have a catless down pipe).

I REALLY hope that's it, if something's wrong with my engine block, i'm going have a breakdown.

When I got home, there was a lot less oil coming out the exhaust, but still a little bit.

help? thoughts? confirmation?

[JacksonRally]

You fix mine I'll fix yours.
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I know my bros car burns through some oil but I don't think its that much?? Maybe 1qt every 500-1000 miles, I don't really remember what he told me. Plus we don't know why either.

[sebhockey]

Since it isn't burning up and coming out as smoke I would definately say its coming from the turbo. Looks like it's time to get your xmas present early Jon, get yourself that turbo you've been wanting.

[UP2MTNS]

Since it isn't burning up and coming out as smoke I would definately say its coming from the turbo. Looks like it's time to get your xmas present early Jon, get yourself that turbo you've been wanting.

yeah, but the guys over at cobbforums are freaking me out:
http://forums.cobbtuning.com/forums/showthread.php?p=503604&posted=1#post503604

so I'm going to do a compression test this weekend just in case. Looks like the engine mounts are going to have to wait until after the new year. (unless, are you around the weekend after xmas?)

[sebhockey]

yeah, but the guys over at cobbforums are freaking me out:
http://forums.cobbtuning.com/forums/showthread.php?p=503604&posted=1#post503604

so I'm going to do a compression test this weekend just in case. Looks like the engine mounts are going to have to wait until after the new year. (unless, are you around the weekend after xmas?)

It's definately a good idea to do the compression and leakdown test just for piece of mind. Something is telling me turbo here though.

Yes I will be around the weekend after xmas.

[UP2MTNS]

so, I guess its not just my turbo....motherf'rsomofabiteoch......

commpresstion test today resulted in:

crap, I forget the cylinder numbers, here what I got

Passenger side ........... Driverside

1: 152/154 ............ 3: 145/145


2: 159/159 ............ 4: 165/165
front of car


average: 156
so # 3 is off the average by only 6.4%
# 3 is off the highest value by 12%

Also, plug 3 was definitely fouled...I'll get pics in a minute. I should probably do a 'wet' compression test on #3, eh? Technically its within limits....so I'm not sure what to think.

errrrgh.....any other suggestions? help? thx....I'm going through about 2qts of oil a week, I just don't understand how I'm getting that much oil out of the engine w/o a single puff of black smoke out of my exhaust. I watch my exhaust everytime I start up now...nothing.

I'm getting oil deposits on my rear bumper now though, so its still coming out strong.

[UP2MTNS]

Originally Posted by Charlie http://forums.cobbtuning.com/forums/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://forums.cobbtuning.com/forums/showthread.php?p=504625#post504625)
Since you have a turbo car (thus, lower compression compared to NA) I feel your numbers look OK.http://forums.cobbtuning.com/forums/images/smilies/thumbsup.gif

I would really go drive the car, then park it on some paper/cardboard and look for oil spots.
Also, look for "wet oil" spots on the bottom of the car.

You either have an external oil leak or REALLY bad valve seals that allow oil seepage when running (although on a turbo car bad seals usually show up when the car is off since the turbo pressure pushes oil OUT of bad seals into the valve covers.)

thx charlie, I don't really think the numbers seem that bad either, but the oil usage says otherwise. I tried to do a 'wet' compression test on #3. I sprayed some wd-40 in there and turned it over again....same numbers, and the pressure didn't drop.

Definitely nothing external....was under the car today (replaced oil filter) and my engine bay is dirty from rallyx....a nice tan coat on everything, if there was any oil dripping off things, I'd easily see it. (the top of my skid plate is totally oil free)

somehow I messed up taking pics of the fouled plug, and don't have them to upload. the plug had quite a bit of carbon build up on it, which I easily picked off with a knife tip. The end of the threads had a bit of oil on them. there was still decent gap, and the electrode was dry/no oil, so maybe 'fouled' wasn't the right word. not the best condition, but not that bad either.

car started back up fine, this time there was a white car behind me, and I could see a little light blue smoke coming out....sooooooo.

however, I gunned it a bit, and the front bumper of the white car got spattered with oil. great....so I'm thinking its still something else. Can turbo's leak internally? What else can leak internally so that oil gets through the exhaust and unburned?


thanks for the help...hopefully I can get another year at least out of this short block.

[UP2MTNS]

so the cobb consensus seems to be not the shortblock (in general...although #3 still makes me nervous)...., but those are some smart mo-fo's over there.

any other suggestions boys?

[RS-ti_Andy]

im going to have to say bad valve seals.. there is no way your getting that much oil seepage from anywhere else.. also check your drain plug seal.. ive seen them go bad and dump lots of oil b4, orrrr is there a crack in the block? nahhh lol

[UP2MTNS]

im going to have to say bad valve seals.. there is no way your getting that much oil seepage from anywhere else.. also check your drain plug seal.. ive seen them go bad and dump lots of oil b4, orrrr is there a crack in the block? nahhh lol

yeah, no external leaking for that amount of oil. Top of my skid plate was 100% clean of oil when I changed my oil filter, nothing coming from the turbo (externally either).

going to email my tuner.....

[strat]

i'd be checking the turbo. oil is being pumped into the turbo (aka pressurized) so i would think it would be possible to lose that much oil if the leak in the turbo is bad enough.

they said up to 15% off the average over on the cobb forums which you are within that.

[rollo]

Random thought but could it be a crankcase ventilation issue? Is there oil around the dipstick seal (could a sign of too much pressure.. although it'd probably come out as smoke huh so it might not be noticeable)? Have you checked the PCV valve?

Just a thought anyway.

[UP2MTNS]

update: so I'm taking it up to my tuners for a compression test, but not until Jan 8th. ugh.

worst case scenario, and its the exhaust valves....means they have to pull the engine apart, etc....I have no idea what i'm looking at for cost to fix this......ugh.

with Ridgecrest coming up fast on Feb 9th, this will be close.

[sebhockey]

Are you still coming by the weekend after xmas to install mounts? If so we can look into it more there, and I'm sure SK2 will be willing to lend his advice/ear/eyes again.

[409industries]

dang, that does sound like quite the mystery. The fact that its not burning up though is really suspect.

[UP2MTNS]

Are you still coming by the weekend after xmas to install mounts? If so we can look into it more there, and I'm sure SK2 will be willing to lend his advice/ear/eyes again.

not sure, cause if I have to pull the engine anyway, might as well wait and give the parts to them for free install when they put it all back together. I'm thinking the same thing with the clutch.

I want to pull off the exhaust headers and see if there's oil down there....if there is, that's probably it.

There's no oil leaking externally, so its either that, or the turbo has an internal crack/leak. I haven't been getting much more than 8psi of boost for a while now, so I'm hoping that's it.

[sebhockey]

not sure, cause if I have to pull the engine anyway, might as well wait and give the parts to them for free install when they put it all back together. I'm thinking the same thing with the clutch.

I want to pull off the exhaust headers and see if there's oil down there....if there is, that's probably it.

There's no oil leaking externally, so its either that, or the turbo has an internal crack/leak. I haven't been getting much more than 8psi of boost for a while now, so I'm hoping that's it.

Well if you were to bring it over we could pull the turbo and check it out. Everything is definately pointing to the turbo.

[UP2MTNS]

Full engine rebuild is on the way...

teaser:

256 cams
forged pistons
Blouch Turbo....new product, 20g hybrid
pretty red APS parts
GrimmSpeed modified Intercooler

[409industries]

wow... gnar!

[sebhockey]

Full engine rebuild is on the way...

teaser:

256 cams
forged pistons
Blouch Turbo....new product, 20g hybrid
pretty red APS parts
GrimmSpeed modified Intercooler

Cool, but isn't your spool up gonna be quite high with a turbo that big?