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Ohhh Shizzz.... My turbo is F'd and guess why?!?!?!

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Mackzero

15+ Year Contributor
595
1
Jan 2, 2004
Moses Lake, Washington
Well guys I just have to tell you all this.

I did a search and read the closed thread about MOBILE One's new Extended Performance 15,000 mile OIL . For all you who need to know this here is what happened:

I just put my new set of Crower cams in my GSX. I went to Wal-Mart to get some 10W-30 Mobile One Synthetic, same as I have put in the car over 7 or 8 times now. They were out, BUT had the new oil in 10W-30 so I figured that the company was hyping it so much, it much be just as good or better.....

WRONG!!!!!

I put the oil in the car when I came home and started it, all good 15-20 psi of oil pressure and car idles like a champ. Timed the car and took it for a drive... cams sure are nice. I did however notice that the oil pressure was only around 65 psi @ W.O.T. which is not good. I went in the house left the car running as I ran inside to let the car cool down. As it is cooling down I hear a loud squealing sound. I run out to garage to check what the hell it was and it's coming from the intake!!! I quickly looked at my oil pressure and it was around 2-5 or so, which is abnormal when the car is warmed up at idle, I turned the car off and checked the oil. It seemed very thin. I thought screw this sh@t and drained all the oil out of the car. THIN AS HELL, and I mean thin as hell guys! I checked to see if the oil was fuel soaked and it was not. I had some left in the bottle so I checked it too and it was slightly thicker but not much.

I put the oil back into the container and drove to Walmart @ 10:30 at night. Talked with the manager and told him what had happened, he check the oil and said it was too damn thin also. He used to have a 93 GSX and said he liked the Quaker State 4X4 stuff the best and recommend I try that. I got $13 back and the new oil and went home.

Yesterday I put the new oil in the car and started it up, no noise. Let it warm up and drove it around the block a couple of times, getting on it just once or twice. Everything seemed fine until I noticed I was only hitting 19.8 psi instead of 22 psi. I went home and let the car cool down and turned off the car. I could hear the fins hitting the compressor cover of the turbo!!!!! I took off the intake and I have a SHEIT load of shaft play!!! IT HAS TO BE THAT OIL.

Now I have to take it all apart and send the turbo to PTE. The turbo has under 1,000 miles on it and was always taken care of, I never turned the car off when it was hot. Never ran over 24 psi either. Needless to say I am mad as hell, and I'm calling MOBILE ONE first thing in the morning. I need to know if anyone else had this problem or not. I can't imagine that I got a bad batch of oil. And my oil pressure was back to normal after I put the new oil back in, so it isn't my pump, etc. The only thing it could be is the oil. Help me out guys if you know anything, and mods please do not delete this thread it is very important.
 
Also, I need to add that when I did my cams, I built my cold air intake at the same time. I checked the shaft play and in was minimal, barely moved at all, which is how it should be since the turbo was like new.
 
More specific on the oil...New 10-30? Synthetic....5k,10k,15k?The PTE you have isn't water-cooled is it?
 
trebornash said:
More specific on the oil...New 10-30? Synthetic....5k,10k,15k?The PTE you have isn't water-cooled is it?

New 10W-30 15,000 mile oil. No, the turbo is oil cooled only. Oil feed and return are more than satisfactory as the guy at PTE said.
 
Wow I saw that commercial and was thinking of trying it...prob not now though. On a side note mobil one synthetic 10w-30 does seem thinner than the regular oil I used to use maybe it's just my imagination as lots of folks use that with no problem.

sorry to hear that and good luck getting it all worked out

bob
 
Well, really the only thing you can do is wait for your turbo to get back and takes notes from a lesson learned. Not saying you did anything wrong or was being an idiot, but there's not much you can do. Get your turbo back, drive to the other wal mart and get the right oil in there that you know works.

I dont know if Mobil will do anything for you, I doubt it, but you can try. Good luck. :cool:
 
Mackzero said:
I checked the shaft play and in was minimal, barely moved at all, which is how it should be since the turbo was like new.
Although the oil change was coincidental, it wasn't your problem. There should have been virtually NO detectible play in the turbo shaft to start with.

An oil's sensible viscosity is no indication of its film strength. In fact, thinner oil will be able to more effectively supply a bearing. I suspect your turbo oil delivery scheme was at fault, ascerbated by the idling time. But I more suspect the initial bearing was out-of-spec.

What oil supply were you using?
 
I just changed my oil and put in 15w-50 extended life, I did not hear there was an issue. ShpoudI dump it and find some regular Mobil 1?? link to this? Mark
 
You should have kept a sample of the oil. Don't just call them, sit down and write a nice calm and professional letter. Send them the oil along with the letter so they can analyze it. Take lots of pictures and get some sort of local analysis from a technician.
 
Defiant said:
Although the oil change was coincidental, it wasn't your problem. There should have been virtually NO detectible play in the turbo shaft to start with.

An oil's sensible viscosity is no indication of its film strength. In fact, thinner oil will be able to more effectively supply a bearing. I suspect your turbo oil delivery scheme was at fault, ascerbated by the idling time. But I more suspect the initial bearing was out-of-spec.

What oil supply were you using?

true , and im sorry but if you came into my store wanted to return the oil i would have been like WTF . I been using Mobile-1 synthetic 10w-30 oil and Mobile-1 oil filters every since my 16G and i love It :thumb:
 
I too have a hard time believing it was the new Oil & my bet is you'll cook the rebuilt Turbo too if you don't find the real problem - ALL Oil is "thin" running out of a hot Turbo Car - I use Mobil Syn - Is this "extended life" Mobil stuff a new name for the pure Syn or part Syn or what?
 
Mackzero said:
Also, I need to add that when I did my cams, I built my cold air intake at the same time. I checked the shaft play and in was minimal, barely moved at all, which is how it should be since the turbo was like new.

What does the compressor wheel look like on the turbo? Does it show signs of damage from perhaps foreign material entering it? Maybe from your new cold air intake? I had a buddy who was working on his intake put the car back together and the car ran great. A few days later bam.. thing ran like crap turbo was making awful noises. After closer inspection he sucked something into his turbo (bolt is what we believe it was.) The shrapnel from the compressor wheel/ whatever he sucked in then made its way through the head and beat on that a little and then beat up a piston and valve or two. I, like other, just find it a little hard to believe that Mobil oil killed a turbo after being in the car a day or so, even after you switched to "normal" oil? Anything is possible I suppose, ask PTE for their input as to what killed the turbo when they disassemble it, they can look at the bearing surfaces and tell if was because of a lack of oil or incorrect oil. Sorry for you luck.. always sucks when a critical part takes a dive... :|
 
so what makes the oil high for high mileage cars?

sounds to me like you got a bum jug of oil, or your turbo was cooked to begin with. the reason i say this is because i have a friend who was driving to his gf's school and his oil drain plug leaked a lot on the way there and he noticed with enough time to stop the car and get some oil in it. only thing is, the nearest gas station only had 5w-30, so he filled it up with that and ran it like that until his next oil change. it didn't hurt anything... the car has another 50k miles on it since then, so it is still alive and ticking (no pun intended :p ). he did run it with 5W-30 in there for like 2k miles though.

i would double check your oil feed and return lines. it is likely that the reason your pressure was so low is that your feed or return lines were blocked or something and that caused your ultimate devestation. i hope the rest of your motor is ok, especially your new cams.
 
Well, I am taking the turbo out, and oil lines today to check it out. Maybe it is just a coincidence but I still am not sure. This oil did not even feel like oil when I took it out of the car, but it wasn't polluted with any other fluid from what I can tell. The turbo was new from PTE and when I say there was just a little shaft play to begin with, I mean VERY LITTLE, as in every turbo I have ever seen with no oil in it has that much. Something sure messed up the turbo, and I will send it to PTE or whoever to let them tell me what happened. If it is a lubrication problem and I find that my oil supply/return is good on my car, then I will get a hold of Mobile One, you can bet on that. I don't mind paying to fix it, that is what I expect to do, just need any of your input on this oil. I wouldn't recommend it after reading the other thread that says it has 67% more synthetic 37% more detergents, etc. It just can not be good for a turbo charged motor. On a side note, I have been running Mobile One Syn. 10W-30 for a LONG time, over 8 years in my other cars, and have never had an issue. I will keep you all informed, I just don't want anyone else to run into this problem if by chance it is linked to the new oil.
 
Also, the compressor wheel is perfect, no knicks etc.

I just spoke to Don at PTE and he told me to send in the turbo and as long as it doesn't have any wheel or cover damage, it will only be a couple hundred to fix it. He also said I should reduce the oil feed line to a -4an, I have a -6an. He said that could be part of the problem but with me checking the shaft play before and after I put the new oil in there, the oil possibly had a little to do with it. He said they will find out when I send the turbo in and call me.

CORRECTION: I do have a -4an line on the car right now, I just went and checked it. :thumb:
 
Oh, and the oil supply is right after the relocated filter housing with a SS line. It is just really weird that I had no problems until this new oil was put into the car. Like I said though, maybe it is a coincidence, maybe not....
 
Mackzero said:
Also, the compressor wheel is perfect, no knicks etc.

I just spoke to Don at PTE and he told me to send in the turbo and as long as it doesn't have any wheel or cover damage, it will only be a couple hundred to fix it.

Shouldn't you be under warranty since the turbo is brand new and was never raced? I dont get why you have to pay to get it fixed. I dont think the Mobil 1 oil has anything to do with it. It looked like there was blockage and the turbo ran dry.
 
gixrman said:
Thats odd I've used mobil 1 since I bought my GSX(2001) and have even experimented with 0w-30 Mobil 1 after reading that its helps reduce recipicating weight. Car runs better, smoother on the stuff.

He tried the 15,000 mile Mobil 1 Synthetics that barely hit the market. I think it's just a marketing ploy and contains the same stuff that we are using now.
 
I sent my turbo to PTE yesterday. I spoke with Sam, who is going to be doing the repair for me, and he said, if it is bearing failure then they would be happy to repair it free of charge. He is going to call me when the turbo is disassembled. The more I keep thinking about it, the more I feel like it is a coincidence and the turbo actually failed.... guess we'll wait and see.... the turbo will be there Friday, so I should hear from them by Monday.
 
In your orignal post u said u put some new cams on. When reasembling the timing belt are u sure that the oil sprocket marks were right becuz they can be deciving if u dont check them with a screw driver thru the side of the block. Maybe something got thrown off then. :dsm:
 
Yes, no problems there, my oil pressure is just fine now with the new oil in there instead of that thin shiz. I know my timing marks were perfect, I checked them 3 or 4 times.
 
silver eclipse said:
In your orignal post u said u put some new cams on. When reasembling the timing belt are u sure that the oil sprocket marks were right becuz they can be deciving if u dont check them with a screw driver thru the side of the block. Maybe something got thrown off then. :dsm:
It doesn't matter because he doesn't have any balance shafts ;)
 
Well I put some of this oil in my motor because I use Mobil 1, the 15w-50 and this is the only one that had that weight, gold cap instead of red. This isjust a first change forspring that willnot see 500 miles. Then I'll change it again. I will switch back to the red cap 15w-50 because I am leary now about the gold cap extended life product. I do have higher pressure with it than usual! Mark
 
That's crazy, I know for a fact that the oil I got was complete crap. I would never put it in my motor again, ever. Maybe I got a bad jug, but that stuff was thin like water when it was coming out of the oil pan... :notgood:
 
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