I recently purchased a used k("low mileage")jdm 96-98 engine and trans. Upon inspection I found oil in the rearturbo. When I spin the front turbo the is up and down shaft play and I can hear very light metal scraping sounds. I decided to swap the turbos from my engine over and found this on the new used engine. The front rotor has oil sitting in the small hole below the exhaust opening and the rear has nothing. What could be the possible cause? Blown turbo seal? Bad oil seal in the engine?

The seller posted videos or the front and rear being compression tested and both were over 100 psi.

 

If the turbos were barfing oil, it's possible the engine drank a lot of it.

Typically only way the engine gets a lot of oil in it is a turbo that's bad and it comes in through the intake, bad oil seals (which is pretty uncommon on the FD) or someone really goofed up the PCV connection.

It's also possible it just got everywhere from shipping - lord knows if that engine has been upside down or what.

Remember, any used engine, JDM or otherwise, is a crap shoot. You may put it in and have a solid, high compression engine that will last ages or you'll have issues that will require you to pull it. The only way to be sure is to rebuild it yourself.

Dale

 

One does not simply swap in a "low-mileage" JDM engine.
Almost all JDM cars are low mileage by American standards. My "low-mileage" race car "only" has 60,000 miles or so.
In Japan, people see 60,000 miles as the normal usable life of a car.

 

That's why I put it in quotes. Low mileage is a relative term and sales pitch.