Ceramic gasket leak in turbo
 

I own a 94 RX7. It's in great shape except that it's burning oil...actually it seems the oil is leaking and then smokes when it gets hot. I've been working with a pretty qualified guy in Buffalo, NY. His hypothesis is that a ceramic gasket inside the turbo is leaking. The car was in storage for a couple years and he thinks that without the constant lubrication, the gasket dried up...or something. The car was faultless before it went into storage. Unfortunately, he doesn't work on the turbo assembly himself. He says the labor to pull the turbo is pretty incredible, and that his time to uninstall the turbo and then reinstall after the turbo gets repaired will likely be 20 hours. Plus, I have no idea what the cost might be to actually replace this gasket or make other repairs. In total, this seems that it could cost me a couple grand or more.

Does this seem like a plausable diagnosis and reasonable remedy? Anyone with some input or feedback will be a great help.

Thanks.

1) the turbo contains no ceramic gaskets. It does contain sleeve bearings, which are very finely fitting seal surfaces that are lubricated with oil. If those are made of ceramic (silicone carbide?) it's news to me. Sitting does not hurt them, but bad or dirty engine oil can. You say it smokes when it gets hot - where? Smoking thru the tailpipe, or in the engine bay?

2) Changing stock turbos takes a few hours. If you buy a good used set from the classifieds here, the whole job will be under $500, and that's including $50 for some extra nuts and studs since the originals sometimes snap on disassembly. The good used turbos tend to be more successful than rebuilding. These turbos just don't rebuild well. Run a search for 'pull turbos' and you'll get some more details. It's also outlined on fd3s.net.

In any case, I don't see 20hrs and I don't see a huge bill. But I think more information is needed to give my internet guess diagnosis any serious validity.

Dave

Follow up
 

Dave,

Thanks for your reply. The smoke is in the engine compartment. The mechanic said the oil leak is on the compressor side of the turbo. I'm not about to undertake this work myself. I'm not a mechanic and I barely have time to drive the RX7, let alone do any work on it. I'm encouraged by your cost estimate. If you have any other ideas, please pass them along!

Peter

If it's smoking from the engine compartment it sounds like an oil line, or residual oil on the turbo or engine itself. I know when I pulled a broken stud I had to use a penetrating oil, and it smoked like a bitch for a few hours.

Would it be possible some of the oil leaked out of the center cartridge sitting, and heats up and smokes when running?

i'm having the EXACT same problem, just started two days ago...smokes a little after full boost runs...can locate where but its in the general area of the turbos under the hood...im gonna replace my oil line gaskets

first confirm if the smoke is blue(oil), black(gas) or white(water)...what does it smell like?

chances are if it is leaking oil on the compressor side, there will be oil pooled at the bottom of the intercooler. pull off the intercooler piping and take a look...even a high school cheerleader could do this....

...i dont know how well you know your mechanic...some mechanics can spot the non-mechnically inclined a mile away.

it's probably just carbon locked...try this
http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/3r...injection.html

...BTW...why I suspect carbon lock...is that it can cause blow-by..pvc hoses always get brittle then don't seal well..

on some cars there's a spice in the coolant line going to the over-flow tank...it may be leaking when it gets hot...makes it look like the smoke is coming from turbos...

Damn 20 hours to take and replace the turbo? I could do it in less than 3 hour.