Oil leak on the turbo
Posted: 30 Jun 2016 12:46
The turbo on the Iron Maiden is a Chinese turbo. Its a Wa-Line turbo, and has performed well for me and presumably for the previous owner too. However... There seems to be a problem developing. There seems to be too much oil in the intercooler and in the piping from the compressor side to the IC.
Now the turbo still sounds as good as the first day I brought it home. The main shaft still has an acceptable amount of play and still seems in decent condition, so I thought maybe there is too much blow by exiting the motor via a pipe from the tappet cover to the air intake pipe to the compressor wheel housing. Now I do have an oil catch can fitted in line so I didn't understand how this was possible.
So, I decided to do a little experiment. I removed the pipe ( from the tappet cover to the turbo air inlet ) and blanked off the turbo side to stop any unfiltered air being sucked in. I then took the pipe and squished it into a 2L cooldrink bottle with a few breathing holes in it to be able to see how much oil is working its way into the turbo compressor housing. I flushed out the intercooler to ensure that it was completely oil free.
I also cleaned the compressor side of the turbo to again give the best possible results.
Well after about 3 months of driving, I have about a level tea spoon ( 5ml ) of oil in the cooldrink bottle. I think it took all of a week ( I use my Patrol every day ) after cleaning everything, to start showing the signs of oil around the turbo.
So.... Its not blow by from the motor. This leaves me with 2 other scenarios. First one... The oil seals on the turbo shaft are tired and need replacing, or the second one is that the turbo is getting to much oil.
This second scenario is the one that has me curious. I have read on many, many forums etc that there should be an oil restrictor fitted at the oil inlet to the turbo. Now mine has NEVER had one fitted. The oil feed pipe just screws onto the fitting on the turbo ( see the silver domed connector on the turbo oil inlet on pic below .... by the way this is a very old pic of the turbo when I had it off after the Iron Maiden burnt the hole in the number 2 piston 5 years ago )
Is there supposed to be an oil restrictor fitted, and if so what the heck does it look like ??
I am also assuming that due to there being too much oil running through the turbo bearing, and at pressure, the seals have probably passed there prime and would need to be replaced anyway. I don't want to just replace them if that is not the cause of the problem. I hate masking problems, always better to find the root cause !!!
Now the turbo still sounds as good as the first day I brought it home. The main shaft still has an acceptable amount of play and still seems in decent condition, so I thought maybe there is too much blow by exiting the motor via a pipe from the tappet cover to the air intake pipe to the compressor wheel housing. Now I do have an oil catch can fitted in line so I didn't understand how this was possible.
So, I decided to do a little experiment. I removed the pipe ( from the tappet cover to the turbo air inlet ) and blanked off the turbo side to stop any unfiltered air being sucked in. I then took the pipe and squished it into a 2L cooldrink bottle with a few breathing holes in it to be able to see how much oil is working its way into the turbo compressor housing. I flushed out the intercooler to ensure that it was completely oil free.
I also cleaned the compressor side of the turbo to again give the best possible results.
Well after about 3 months of driving, I have about a level tea spoon ( 5ml ) of oil in the cooldrink bottle. I think it took all of a week ( I use my Patrol every day ) after cleaning everything, to start showing the signs of oil around the turbo.
So.... Its not blow by from the motor. This leaves me with 2 other scenarios. First one... The oil seals on the turbo shaft are tired and need replacing, or the second one is that the turbo is getting to much oil.
This second scenario is the one that has me curious. I have read on many, many forums etc that there should be an oil restrictor fitted at the oil inlet to the turbo. Now mine has NEVER had one fitted. The oil feed pipe just screws onto the fitting on the turbo ( see the silver domed connector on the turbo oil inlet on pic below .... by the way this is a very old pic of the turbo when I had it off after the Iron Maiden burnt the hole in the number 2 piston 5 years ago )
Is there supposed to be an oil restrictor fitted, and if so what the heck does it look like ??
I am also assuming that due to there being too much oil running through the turbo bearing, and at pressure, the seals have probably passed there prime and would need to be replaced anyway. I don't want to just replace them if that is not the cause of the problem. I hate masking problems, always better to find the root cause !!!