Bad turbo...? how can ya tell??

[eclpsed]

1999 GSX Eclipse, 43k miles on it. It started smoking last week, I belive we even posted on here about it. Well I took it a shop they said the motor seemed fine and had not idea what was making it smoke. They said, no water in the oil, and when they took of the rad. cap and starter the car that it should shoot out if it was the head that was leaking..? I dunno.. The only thing he could tell me if check the turbo.

My question to you guys is... How can you tell if the turbo is bad? And what could cause on to die in 40k ish miles?? I know taking the turbo off would tell me but I dont wanna pull it all out if there someway I could check it before hand... Thanks alot guys..

 

[eclpsed]

....please? hehe..

 

[PogiTSI]

take off the pipes on the Turbo, and check the Shaft for play. If it has to much, then the seals are most likely bad. And That would cause oil to be blown into the intake.

 

[rebuilt65]

Take the hose off that goes from the turbo outlet to the intercooler. If oil is in there, then you have turbo seal issues. If it is dry, then maybe the valve stem seals are going bad. let the car idle for 5-10 minutes without touching the throttle. Then give the throttle a blip. If bluish smoke comes out, then your valve stem seals are starting to go. Even though the car is a 99, that doesn't mean that the seals have to be good.

 

[Method]

Is it possible to check for play by taking off the intake? I'm 99.9% sure my turbo has serious shaft play... So as a chrismas present to myself, I'll be gettin a brand new T3/T4 kit =))... Anyways, I don't get smoke unless I run on boost for a bit, never get any smoke if I don't go into med or high boost. And I hear a rattling noise a lot of times when the car is idled, or the turbo is still in vacuum, if I hit the gas and pull it into boost then let it fall back into vacuum the noise usually goes away. But I haven't actually checked the turbo yet. Can I check it from the intake side?