Have to ask- This has me stumped- bad turbo?
 

Ok-
I have sitting in my drive way a 1988 TII.
Its got 149k origonal miles and until 3 days ago ran PERFECT.

The oil buzer came on 3 days ago, and was taken immediatly home (15 minutes/miles)-
Upon reaching home- the low oil light showed itself.

At this point the owner changed the oil, replaced the filter, and thats it.
After restarting the car- thich white with a blue tint bellowing smoke appers below 4k rpm. It is not coolant, it is burning oil is a mass quantity. I have done the coolant checks already.

Now oil seals usualy are a gradual problem, and I know several that run the car down to the light and their cars have been fine.

Its not the TID side of the turbo either- the turbo was replaced just recently- However the oil intake line is kinked pretty bad.


Any ideas=

Is there any oil in the IC couplers? If not, look down near the manifold and see if there's any oil seeping out. That should give you an idea of where it's coming from.

Well you're dumping too much oil somewhere.

I'd start by checking the MOP linkage. Is it still connected at the TB?

Idle
http://www.iupload.net/062004/smokeidle.JPG
2,5k or so- anything higher and my house gets covered.
http://www.iupload.net/062004/smoke2.5k.JPG

No oil at the IC connectors or in the intercooler-
Will check the manifold and the MOP linkage-

The guy who changed the oil probably put way too much in. Its a possibility at least.

-Joe

Ahh-
The MOP linkage is all good-

But there is good ammount of fresh oil on the engine/manifold gasket-

And I noticed oil stains on the hotside of the turbo, on both sides-

None of this was here a week ago- I need to put the car up to see more.....

4.5 Quarts Castrol 20-50w

Oil rings are gone. Sorry :(

Figured that :(.

Time to swap the Jspec sitting here in.....
Darn what a waste of a perfectly good motor due to not checking the oil.

get apex everything for all kinds os seels. too much oil and to thick is to hard on the eng, i use 20-50 in my 85 toy pic 4x4.

Having a spare motor is a good thing:D
Rebuild and port the spare motor for a rainy day.

And since im in oregon- when it rains- it POURS. :D
Looks like Ill have 2 motors to rebuild by the time my projects are finished up :p.

But everyone agrees- seals are shot- not the turbo?

HAHA I got a ticket last year for the same problem.
Copper said he thought my car was on fire(and i was going 45 mph!!!)

Anyway check if your oil smells strongly of gas (probably thin too)

Obviously the seals are going, but 2 things cleared mine right up (mind you, I will be rebuilding this fall)

1. my leading coils were fried, so the engine wasn't burning efficiently and was loading up.
2. changed oil with some fresh (non-gas-diluted) 20w/50 and some o-ring conditioner/gas additive (I don't remember what kind.... It was highly recommended by a trusted mechanic for rotaries)

well there is the slight chance that the turbo drain line has clogged up or something and now all that oil being pushed into the turbo only has the back route to go.

My exhaust smoked pretty good before I reduced the pressue going into it.

Sooo im pretty sure its the turbo.......

Wanna know why? The block/manifold oil was just splatter.....
From this.....
http://www.iupload.net/062004/Turbo Bottom.JPG
Top- notice seap through from where turbo breaks from exhaust.
http://www.iupload.net/062004/Turbotop.JPG

Notice how its pooling from the bottom of the turbo? And out the exhaust...... damn it is the turbo hot side.

Cheaper then a new motor!


Oh yeah- the car-
http://www.iupload.net/062004/turbocar.JPG

Ive got a turbo for sale on Ebay.

don't forget to check your oil return lines.

It's most likely the culprit.

Yeah they are all comming off tommorow for a good cleaning.

Now I am just COMPLETLY CONFUSED. What the hell is going on with this car.

So I ripped the turbo off.
And what do I find? The hot side is completly douced in oil.
Ok- hot side is bad.

But wait. WTF is this??
The front exhaust port and matching manifold is coated with a thick covering of OIL.

http://www.iupload.net/062004/Turboproblem1.JPG
http://www.iupload.net/062004/Turboproblem2.JPG
http://www.iupload.net/062004/Turboproblem3.JPG
http://www.iupload.net/062004/Turboproblem4.JPG
http://www.iupload.net/062004/turboproblem5.JPG

Sooooo my question is- is it the turbo or the oil seal??

Im pretty sure its the front oil seal thats gone- mabey even the turbo dies at the same time??

I have no idea and its confusing the crap out of me :(.

No, the turbo is fine. I told you once, it's the oil seals. The oil seal on the rotor goes, thus oil spits into the combustion chamber, this basically acts as a giant oil pump and pumps oil out into the turbo, and what happens then? The turbo gets full of oil, and it starts to seap out. That's the whole reason I told you to check the manifolds to see. Chances are your turbo is just fine, clean it out as best you can, then put it back on after a rebuild and it'll burn off whatever's stuck in it. It's going to smoke like all hell after the rebuild because your exhaust has a shitload of oil in it now, as does the turbo/manifold/etc. So be prepared.

yup it's the engine.

You can tell because the exhaust manifold is oily too.

If it were the turbo only the hotside would be oily and not the manifold.

Ok I figured so.
Just needed to check.
Time for an engine swap.

Exactly as Digi stated, hotside will cause the puddling to be in the exhaust/wastegate area, i've yet to see any flow all the way back through the exhaust housing (and most of the time it burns it off so quick you can't tell because it doesn't leak all that much in the turbos). It's not a bad engine per-say, it's a great canidate for a rebuild. Since almost everything is reusable, just replace the apex seals, corner seals & plugs, and of course the oil seals, coolant seals and such, and it'll be good as new. Just be happy it was this and not a chewed apex :)

Even at 149k with an unknown history?

I am sooo pissed yet soo glad this isnt my car :).