So my twin turbos obviously need a rebuild or replacement. I have oil seeping from the housings themselves it looks like but its filling my intake and my intercooler with oil for sure. So dumb question, since im getting a good amount of oil in my IC that im sure makes it to the intake manifold. Would this kinda sorta technically be a good thing. Sort of a OMP kinda vibe. Or am i doing damage to the motor and should stop driving on these bad turbos. Also what leads to this? Is it the seals in them fail by a bad design and is there ways to prolong turbo life. I plan on getting another set but want to know how to make them last next time.

 

It's not really hurting or helping your motor one way or the other. The amount of oil, all things considered, is minor enough that it's probably not a factor in motor health.

Having the IC coated in oil can reduce its efficiency, though.

General rules of thumb on keeping turbos happy -

- Don't shut it down immediately after a hard run. I usually am coming home so I just take it easy in my neighborhood, no big deal. If you are running hard, drive easy for the last minute or so or, if not possible (like at an autocross) idle the engine for a little before shutting down.
- Keep up with oil changes and use a quality oil.
- Disable the 3,000 RPM AWS start up. That's spinning the turbos up to full speed on possibly dry bearings.
- Also, if the car sits for an extended time (more than 2 months) pull the EGI fuse and crank until you have oil pressure before starting.

Dale

 

*Keeping them at stock boost level helps....a lot IMO.
*Intuitively I think improving flow/reducing pressure drop from the turbos to the sensor should help over time.
*At the risk of opening up a REALLY old debate, I think those closer oil change intervals using a good synthetic oil helps a lot too.

 

+3 on the closer oil change intervals. i notice they run better with fresh oil, so its like every 2k, although if its a lot of easy highway miles it can go longer, and if the oil starts smelling too much like gas, i'll go shorter.

+3 on the cool down. i try to give it a nice long coasting into the neighborhood, and then low rpm/ light load until its parked. i also use the turbo timer to run the fan, so i turn the car off, then turn the key on, fire up the turbo timer, and then let it run the fan.

+3 on the being easier on the turbos, the more pressure drops you have both before and after the turbos, the harder the turbos need to work. they also seem to like 10-12psi max, although if boost was a little higher in the midrange its probably ok. if you were to look at a turbo efficiency graph the third set of lines is turbo rpm, Mazda already has these things spinning pretty well, and more boost = more turbo rpm = more wear.