is there supposed to be any kind of liquid in the innercooler arms. I took mine off the other day and noticed a thin oily looking residue.

 

Yeah, that's oil A little is ok, a lot means your turbos are goin south. I get a few tablespoons dumped out each time i take my intercooler off.
~Tom

 

If more than a thin coating is there, then either the turbos are badly leaking or you are not driving fast enough under boost.

 

i have 5# of boost but there is only a thin coat. i thought that the oil maybe be where the prob is but probably not. it doesn't look like there is really enough for a tbl spoon

 

Even with what I consider to be "good" turbos, I usually end up dumping a few ounces of oil out of the IC when I have it out of the car. I am not really sure of the rate at which it builds up, but my guess is something like 2 ounces every 4 months, driving a couple of track events and about 4,000 miles.

-Max

 

Somebody once gave me a tip that if you don't top off on oil changes all the way to the top of the dipstick, but rather stop at the 1/2 to 3/4 point, there will be less oil in the intake charge since the turbo oil return lines drain better into the sump.

Don't know if its true or not, since I figure oil in intake charge is preferable to possibly starving the oil pickup, since I do lots of track events.

 

Is there any way to eliminate or reduce the oil buildup? I just got my FD so I have to plead inexperience on this one..but when I had my Supras it had to do with the PCV on the car. Rather than allow the crankcase ventilation to route back to the intake we would just route the vented air to a catch can and just empty the oil once in a while. This kept those nice, expensive FMIC's clean inside. I know a rotary is a whole different ball of wax, but maybe someone else can shed some light on this one.

Matt

 

You could put in a catch tank. I've seen people do it, especially if they do a lot of track eventes..