T04S Hot Side Oil Leak
 

A little background -
I have a "new" engine that I got from Malloy Mazda some time ago. This is not a rebuild it is all new parts. I have a new Garrett T04S that I got from the guys in Phoenix (cheapturbos.com). It has a straight AN-4 oil feed line and an AN-10 drain down to the pan with no sharp bends.

I started the engine up for the first time and I am getting lots of oil smoke and even a mist of oil out of the tail pipe. It does not clear up as the engine and turbo come up to operating temp. The oil pressure gauge was reading around 90 lbs. at idle.

I will pull the plugs and see if the are oil fouled to help confirm that the engine does not have a bad side seal (I would hope this is not likely).

So my question is, given the amount of oil that is being dumped into the exhaust, can I just install a restrictor in the feed line and see if the leak clears up or does the turbo need to be pulled and the oil seal replaced.

Do the easy stuff first...
Make sure the "crankcase" is not pressurized.
Easy test is to run the motor with the oil cap removed temporarily.


-Ted

More info -
The oil fill is currently vented to the atmosphere (through a catch can) not connected to the intake manifold. Will adding a PCV valve to the line make much of a difference?

I doubt the root cause of your problem is your crank case pressures.

Do you have pictures of your setup and oil leakage?

I would try putting a restrictor on your turbo before taking everything apart for a rebuild.

Check out this thread I wrote for you.

https://www.rx7club.com/single-turbo-rx-7s-23/turbocharger-oil-seal-leakage-explained-727476/

Good info. Thanks. I have an .060 restrictor on the way. I will post the results.

If oil is already seeping out the turbine side its probably too late. I had the same thing happen to me before. Had a brain fart and didn't install a restrictor. I had Majestic Turbo do my rebuilds. They are fair and fast.

Have you put any positive pressure through the turbo? At times the seals may need to be seated. Until this happens you will have excessive oil coming through. I'm also not a big fan of a restrictor on bush bearing turbo's. You may want to drive it around and put some mild boost through it first.

Good post, I've seen it too many times where once we put boost through the turbo everything seems to set I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain this issue to customers.

No, It the turbo has not really seen any significant boost. I was letting it idle and just blipped the throttle a couple of times. I was checking for coolant, oil (new oil coolers) and fuel leaks, since it is a new install. The car is still on jack stands and the undercover is off with the fender liners pulled back to make it easier to spot leaks.

I won't be able to work on this till Saturday, but I will button up the car and put some pressure on the seal and report back.

So I got the .060 pressure restricter installed and it stopped the turbo oil leak.
I have run the car now with some boost applied and based on the feedback from zero-r I plan on pulling the restricter out now that the seals have hopefully seated. I will update the thread and let everyone know if the leak returns.

Long overdue update, just to confirm what the experts have stated.

Once I put the restricter in, drove the car and put some pressure on the seals I was able to remove the restricter and have no oil leaks. Hopefully this thread and the sticky CarbonR1 posted will help others if they have an oil problem with a new turbo.

Thanks to all that replied and helped me sort this out.