Turbo oil leak

[arazdolgin]

Got reman turbo and after 1 year it’s leaking. Pyrometer around 6-700, boost around 20-25 while driving. No overheat, very small oil consumption if any in between oil changes. Tomorrow will send it back to turbo shop i bought, they try to work out on their warranty. Probably will need to change CAC too and it’s pretty high dolla.

What can cause this? 70,000 miles on air filters.

[Bengy88]

Most common is your turbo needs to be adjusted in your program. Usually it causes a vacuum at idle instead of positive pressure. If you have insite I can remote in and tell you if this could be the cause of your problems. Or you can just post your turbo position at idle.

[Bengy88]

I think there are a few post here on the forum about pulling the imap sensor from the intake and holding a piece of paper over it to see if there is pressure or vacuum on the intake. You would never want vaccum on your intake. Also. 25psi of max boost seems low as shi#t. Is this a stock engine or has it been demandated?

[arazdolgin]

(03-28-2023 )Bengy88 Wrote:  I think there are a few post here on the forum about pulling the imap sensor from the intake and holding a piece of paper over it to see if there is pressure or vacuum on the intake. You would never want vaccum on your intake. Also. 25psi of max boost seems low as shi#t. Is this a stock engine or has it been demandated?

I have insite will check, I will DM you, thank you. 20-25 boost it’s max for me, I prefer to lower gear than press on engine, as Rawze stated driving to save my red baby.

[arazdolgin]

Tested turbo for 1 hour under 50 psi and no leaks. Attached video below. So turbo is good and calibrated, need to dig deeper. Air filters, piston rings (pressure, vacuum), ecm etc.

[tree98]

I don't think that test tells you very much. When the turbo is on the engine and the engine is running, the entire hot side of the turbo could potentially be pressurized at times. 50 psi of shop air pointed directly at the impeller to make it spin isn't even close to the same thing. Personally I don't think you've proven anything with that test.

[Rawze]

(03-30-2023 )arazdolgin Wrote:  Tested turbo for 1 hour under 50 psi and no leaks. Attached video below. So turbo is good and calibrated, need to dig deeper. Air filters, piston rings (pressure, vacuum), ecm etc.

Test looks mostly useless.


BTW.. just as an FYI:// the face seals and rear impeller seals for Holset turbo's are not 100% oil-tight by design. The turbo relies heavily on the fact there is no back-pressure in the oil return line vs. atmosphere ... so if there is ANY CRANK CASE PRESSURE BUILDUP in the engine at all.. then it will bleed and slobber .. especially at idle when there is little to no positive pressure on it.


I.E> Almost all bleeding/slobbering issues with turbos .. especially a new or reman turbo .. are due to engine fumes./. excessive blo-by, and not enough crankcase fume relief in the engine .. like clogged crank case filter or screen.. etc.etc.etc.. and a worn out engine. -< it is not typically the turbos fault .. but almost always an engine issue that causes reduced drainage / back-pressure on the return line of the turbo.

I have even had to face this same type of issues with my own truck.. here is an example:
http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?t...9#pid59349

Is the exhaust side getting wet?. If so then make sure that it is not coming out of your engine before it even gets to the turbo?... (known as exhaust valve wet-stacking)?.

[Bengy88]

(03-30-2023 )arazdolgin Wrote:  Tested turbo for 1 hour under 50 psi and no leaks. Attached video below. So turbo is good and calibrated, need to dig deeper. Air filters, piston rings (pressure, vacuum), ecm etc.

http://youtube.com/jDw86oqshYY?

Yeah someone had a good idea when they made this video… they should have just left it as an idea though. When you have 40psi of oil pressure, 200 degree oil, 35 psi of boost, a shi#t ton of exhaust pressure (I forget the numbers I was taught by the big guy) and a turbo spinning tens of thousands of rpm’s with a 40,000 lb load on your back you will find a lot more leaks than 50 psi of air spinning a turbo a couple thousand rpm’s will find. Not to mention i hope you had an oil supply to your turbo when you tried this. I’ll be damned if I would spin my turbo that fast with no oil supply for that long.

[Bengy88]

I guess we need to know if it’s only leaking out the intake, intake and exhaust, if there is a vacuum on the intake or positive pressure, turbo percentage at idle, does your air filter look like your hands do in that picture, what’s your crank case pressure, do you have a permanent filter, drilled a hole in your filter, or has a squirrel just shoved his nutz in your hood?
Ps. I swear I’m gonna have to request a laughing button for some of the shi#t on here.