Turbocharger leaking oil ?
 

We thought the turbocharger was smoking so we rebuilt the turbocharger but the smoke is still there. Now the turbo is leaking oil. It leaks about 1 drop every 5 seconds. It looks like the oil is coming from 2 different places. One place is between the manifold and the turbo (the gasket is in place) also it looks like oil is coming from some place on top of the turbo but I don't think its coming from the oil inlet hose.

Depending on how the oil feed and oil return are installed, they can be a pain to seal "just right". It would be worth removing both and reinstalling them with clean gaskets. The only place that oil can leak from the top is the feed line. Do you use the stock hardline?

I had an oil leak from the turbo in the past and found the leak from a reused gasket on the oil return line. I made about twelve gaskets for the price of two or three with a specific gasket making material... And I only used 1/3 of the material.

You must pin-point your leak. Otherwise you'll just be replacing this and that and just "throwing" money at it.

If you are using the stock hardline, its hard to try and get it to be completely flat against the flange on the turbo. The flange on the hardline itself might be warp. I always use a gasket and put a very thin amount of rtv on both gasket sides and then tighten the two 12 mm bolts just so the flanges mates, let the rtv dry a little bit after waiting 3-4 mins and then handtighten it down.
Never leaked for me, but I got tired of the hardline after swaping so many hybrids in and out, so I bought a stainless steel line for the oil feed instead.

If you rebuilt the turbo and you see oil leaking, the only place oil will leak is from the oil inlet, or the oil drain.

Thanks for the help guys.
I do still have the hard lines. I'll remove both of the lines and reseal them.

Do you remember where you bought the stainless line?

I pieced mines together.

you can buy the parts from atp-turbo, or himni-racing (pretty expensive but includes all you need)

You can piece it together with parts from Summitracing, or Jegs for cheap.

It really will give you peace of mind as long as you do it right.


I currently use this one without any issues. -> Turbo Oil Feed Line Kit MAZDA RX-7 W/ HITACHI HT18S

(Not EVERYTHING on eBay is crap.)

How long have you used it for?