I've got some issues, lets see if you guys can help me out. Last night I was doing some spirited driving taking it up to 5 or 6k here or there. Usually this isn't a problem.

But last night it was rather cold and I have been boost creeping more than I would like. I have a full 3in. exhaust, intake, streetport and rebuild about 7k miles ago, and racing beat FCD. Sometimes it will creep to 14lbs if it's cold and I'm not careful. I have been meaning to port the wastegate but this is my daily.

So last night after hitting it hard in 3rd and 4th the car started running weird. It started running way rougher than usual and wasn't building boost past like 4lbs. Also if I left it in neutral the car would die.

At first I thought I might have lost a rotor (noob thought I know) but I drove it all the way home, roughly 5 miles.

I'm leaning towards a blown turbo or one hell of a vacuum or boost leak. I pulled my intercooler pipes off and there seems to be more then acceptable amount of oil. Especially in the actual turbo and first coupler. When I run my finger inside the intercooler it comes out black.

Are my oil seals in my turbo gone? The car doesn't smoke and there is only the minimal side to side shaft play, none front to back. What do you guys think, should I start shopping for a replacement? I'll get some pics up later today or tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. All advice is appreciated, even if its telling me I'm dumb.

 

What is your fuel setup? Larger secondaries / fuel pump / fuel controller? Or is it just stock with a FCD?

If it's stock, you're more likely looking at a blown motor. 10 PSI is enough to run lean, let alone 14. The FCD just makes things worse by tricking the ECU into thinking pressure is lower, which means it's not adjusting timing properly either.

If you have an upgraded fuel system, then yes, the turbo could be to blame. Spin it by hand and check for excessive play.

 

I don't think you lost a rotor, the car will build 0 boost if its running on 100% one rotor. Check for boost leaks and see if the turbo spins freely. You may have lost compression but its unlikely if it doesn't smoke at all.

 

I had all the pipes off, checked the play but didn't even bother to spin the compressor wheel. What was I thinking? I'll try that later when I post pics of the oil seepage. I need to check for leaks too, I suppose this thread was a little preemptive. Just a little worried.

I forgot to mention I'm running a walbro with the stock 550's. I really don't think I'm looking at a blown motor, it does not run that terrible, but that is just my uneducated opinion. It rarely pulls to 14 but the more I'm reading the more I beat myself up for not having larger injectors and a way to control fuel. Thanks for the replies fellas.

 

You can still build boost with 1 rotor. I was able to make ~4-5 PSI by about 5000rpm with a blown rotor on my TII. It just takes longer to spin the turbo due to less exhaust flow.

Having a walbro in there will help, but the injectors / stock fuel map will still be bottlenecking the system. I know some people have made their motors last with a similar setup at 10 PSI, but they were also running an AFC to adjust timing and fuel.

 

Well that is a scary thought, looks like I'll have to add a compression check to my list of things to do.

 

Does that full 3" exhaust include a "performance" cat? If so you probably melted its guts.

 

No performance cat, 3in all the way back to a resonator and muffler. So I took all of my intercooler pipes off again and there definitely seems like there is too much oil:

First coupler right after turbo:



Kind of dark but maybe you can make out the oil on the turbo:



My finger after running it along the intake in front of the blades:



Sorry about the shitty pictures but my phone is all I had on me. So is this normal oil seepage? Because it doesn't seem so to me, but I've been wrong before. The weird thing is it still doesn't really smoke and the turbo had no real shaft play and it spins pretty smooth.

Also I did a compression check with a shitty piston tester. It was between 95 and 100 on the front rotor and 100 on the rear, this is in the trailing plug holes. This was my first compression and there was a little valve I think I was supposed to hold shut. But these numbers seem alright after reading other threads.

So I'm leaning towards blown turbo or large boost leak of some sort. All that oil has got me worried. Let me know if I should start shopping for a new one. Thanks.

 

a word of caution if your motor is still ok. do not run that high of boost again on stock injectors. you will lean out and blow the motor. it is just a matter of time.

 

honestly giving your situation i would imidiatly think it was a blown motor.

do you have an aftermarket boost gauge?? if the gauge is bouncy like say it bounces between like 10 vacume and 0 violently back and forth, its a dead giveaway of a compression issue. if the vacume gauge stays solid and does not move back and forth then compression is ussually ok.


ive drove over 100mph on 1 rotor in a t2 before.

 

I know I was being irresponsible letting it creep that high and I plan on doing everything in my power to prevent that in the future. I am damn lucky if my **** isn't blown.

Yes I have an aftermarket boost gauge. Its just a manual autometer that I bought brand new and works great. It reads solid vacuum, there is no bouncing and the compression test seemed to turn out fine.