What are the symptoms of a turbo that needs replacing? Is it possible for that turbo to still make boost? Oil leakage? Input please!

 

Usually erratic or no boost, oil in the IC piping, making strange noises, shaft play. Just do a search man. Plenty of info.

 

Yeah...oil in the intercooler is probably the easiest thing to CHECK. Erratic boost is the easiest thing to NOTICE...but shaft play will probably tell you the most.

 

I have shaft play on mine and is leaking oil too, but I still boost 13 lbs no problem and car is still strong

 

it is normal for little oil to be on the IC pipe or IC... But will take it in consideration if its mad oil around it..

 

If the turbos are still making the boost you want and aren't blowing or leaking a ton of oil there's no reason for you to replace them. Most of the twins I've seen have a lttle side to side play and still work fine. If the shaft has front to back play thats a lot worse than side to side.

 

Get back to us in about 3 months and see if it still is

 

actually mine leaked for about 2 years and worked like a charm. I then decided to run 16lbs till they totally stoped working and they lasted like that for a while. I finally just got tired of the oil leak so I replaced them...the shaft play was out of this world but they still spooled right up and made great power. I replaced them with BNR stage 2s and thought that they were a down grade from what I had.

 

It is normal for a little bit of oil to be in the Y pipe, IC pipes, IC, intake elbow, and UIM on mostly stock FDs. FDs have a 2 crankcase "vents" (on the oil filler neck).

One goes into the UIM via a PCV valve. If you've never looked before, check the inside of the UIM past the double throttle butterflies and you'll see that they're probably coated black.

The second runs down to the 90 degree intake "pipe" of the primary turbo. Since this line is always in vacuum, it'll draw at least some oil mist from the crankcase through almost the entire intake system. Which is where that dark oily sludge is coming from (in your Y pipe, IC pipes, IC, and intake elbow).

This being said, the amount of oil should be very very small. Any pooling of oil would indicate that there's a problem with your turbos. I cleaned the IC of my 103k mile FD a could of weeks ago for the first time and found that there was some sludge in the IC, there was no significant buildup of oil.

 

white puffs of smoke while changing gears or accelerating from a stop, excessive blow by, and visual oil seeping from the turbo seals are common.