No oil... out the tail pipe via turbo?

[1GTalonTSI]

OK so I bought my 95 Eagle talon TSI AWD about a week ago. The guy I bought the car from was upfront about the turbo issues. (oil seal leak) The car has a 6bolt swap and currently has a T25 Turbo (2G) Well in the mean time I have been driving the car, careful not to boost it too much and keeping an eye on the oil level etc. I have put just over 1000 miles on the car this week.

The problem: Tonight I had to make a road trip, about 70 miles round trip. I checked the oil before I left my house it looked fine. Drove to my destination, and headed for home. For some reason I was thinking to my self that the car was not boosting as it usually did, but thought nothing of it as I knew the turbo had to be replaced. I was driving in a rural area going maybe 50mph going up a hill, when all of the sudden I hear something that sounded like a whoosh but not like the BOV usually does… to make sure I turned down the radio as to listen for the sound again. Of course I start to watch all of the gauges etc, nothing looks out of whack. I baby the car for a couple hundred yards waiting to see if anything is going to happen. NOTHING until I notice a huge cloud of smoke behind me glowing red from the brake lights.

I immediately pull over and shut the car off, and pop the hood, why I do not know because I had no flash light. Upon opening the hood I notice a red glow beneath the heat shield, (actually closer to the turbo) and thought how strange that was. It brings me to think that maybe there is no oil and everything heated up. So I check the oil to find that there was nothing on the dip stick.

Has anyone ever seen anything like this before?

 

[No_Skillz]

Red glow beneath the heat shield is normal. It's your manifold being hot.

As for your oil level; you probably read nothing on the dipstick because you had just shut the motor off. You need to wait a few minutes to let the oil settle/collect to get a clear reading. However, you will need to keep an eye on that oil level to make sure it doesn't get too low since you know that you are burning oil.

 

[1GTalonTSI]

Well the minute I saw the level so low, I decided to not run the car any longer, I did not want to seize the motor. Luckily a friend of mine happened by in his truck and had a tow rope. I guess I will have to get a better look in the day light. I hope it is just the turbo as I have found one already, just need to get it shipped here.

 

[1GTalonTSI]

UPDATE: Well the turbo is trashed, there was bout 1/8" play in the turbine, the blades were all tore up.

I found a T28 Turbo a couple hundred miles away, it has maybe 500 miles on it, I am just going to bolt on and go. (hopefully) Thanks to all for you input and offers.

 

[rjlichau]

Good thing that you found another turbo. But I have a problem with my T 25 and the oil seals. Mine are shot so i burn oil when I am driving or if I let it idle for too long. I am going to ge a smal 16 G this weekend but what I am getting at is that I bet that the oil seals are toast on that turbo too.

 

[1GTalonTSI]

Well for $200.00 I am willing to take a chance on the turbo being almost new like the dude says it has.

 

[rjlichau]

Yeah that is how I felt about the turbo I am getting. The guy didnt want much and he is only like 100 miles alway so if nothing else i ust have a crappy 16 G to mess around with. But now I am way of topic.

 

[1GTalonTSI]

Hey I hope ou get your issue fixed, mine was doing the same thing before it blew! I thought I could get away with driving it for a little while and kaboom.