I dont have abnormal oil smoke and my turbo is spooling and boosting fine at 11 psi. This is a stock s4 turbo. I took it out to fix and exhaust leak and there was a little oil coating the charge pipe coming off the turbo. Ive heard that this means bearing failure or something. I may have noticed a slight drop in top end power at like 6400 rpms but Im not certain. It seems to have normal shaft play and spins freely. I have a s5 turbo that I am waiting for a manifold to install. Can I still use my s4 one in the mean time? Also how extensive do you think the damage would be on this turbo? Its not a ton of oil but wiping your finger on it you can definitly see it. Thanks,
Chris

 

You will have a little bit in the pipes no matter what type of car you have (as long as its turbo). If there isnt much I wouldnt worry about it.

 

there shouldnt be really any shaft play at all...

 

Well I think that all turbo's have a little shaft play, my rebuilt s5 one has the nearly the same as my s4 one. Thanks for setting the oil in the charge pipe thing straight. That makes me feel a lot better.

 

umm i beg to differ i had a turbo colt(mirage) it forced oil right out of the oil sticks pipe. I later take off the turbo because i felt thats the first place i should look seems my intake blade had a forigen object in it and shredded the turbine i also later realized the shaft was cracked because of how much play there was if u can move it in and out theres a sign of a broken shaft. the exhaust turbine also would not move under any pressure. in any case the poor turbo is wasted and now i on my desk. and the car is a lawn ordiment until i get a 4g63t for it.... also when owning a turbo car theres alot of percautions you should take to insure your turbo's longtivity. also most turbo rx-7's have over 80,000 miles which manufactuers recommend u rebuild every 80,000. oil smoke evident while i drove it. what you should do is either swap it with a lower mileage turbo rx7 or get it rebuilt or buy a totally differant turbo. although its expensive it will save u money in the long run a failing turbo can damage your entire engine. has it did to my colt.

 

There is a difference between a small film of oil and it smoking. Hell turbos can smoke from excess oil pressure, even if it is a perfectly good turbo.

 

Shaft play side to side (about a mill total) is completely normal. Shaft play front to back is bad.

Turbos do seep oil just a little bit under normal operating conditions. If it is not excessive and does not cause smoke, then don't worry about it that much. You will know when your turbo goes bad.