Check turbo seals while turbo is off car possible?

[Denji]

I was wondering if there was any way i could check my turbos seal fore leakage before i put in several hours bolting it up? The turbo is off of the car right now and it would be a pain to get it on just to find out i had to take it back off. As many of you know i bought a 14b not too long ago used.

 

[dedlewamp]

Well, short of taking apart the whole turbo, you could look for oil on both sides of the turbo. Though, the sign of burnt oil on the exhaust side doesn't necessarily mean it's the turbo, as the previous owners engine could be to blame for that as well.

Check for shaft play. There should be no in and out play, and little if no side to side play. Lots of shaft play equals blown seals most likely.

Other than that, you'd probably just have to take a sellers word. But, putting on a turbo really should not take more than an hour or so to put on. Where is this several hours figure coming from?

 

[Denji]

Well, short of taking apart the whole turbo, you could look for oil on both sides of the turbo. Though, the sign of burnt oil on the exhaust side doesn't necessarily mean it's the turbo, as the previous owners engine could be to blame for that as well.

Check for shaft play. There should be no in and out play, and little if no side to side play. Lots of shaft play equals blown seals most likely.

Other than that, you'd probably just have to take a sellers word. But, putting on a turbo really should not take more than an hour or so to put on. Where is this several hours figure coming from?

I have to change my setup to accept a tdo5h turbo as it is a 2g, including alteration of intercooler piping. So shaft play causes oil leak or they are unrelated?

 

[MrBoxx]

When the turbo shaft bearings and seals are so worn from side-side or up-down shaft play, they begin to let oil slip past them. Usually this is most noticeable when you take the LICP off the SMIC and get about a quart of black oil dumped on your shoes. That's a worst-case scenario where the seals have been worn beyond the point of no return. By then, the compressor fins have been ground against the compressor inlet and little chunks have broken off of them. The oil in the intercooler pipes usually gets ingested and burned up, causing huge clouds of (usually) white/gray smoke to erupt from the exhaust after every shift, and once it gets bad enough, it'll smoke constantly. If the turbine side seals go, I'm sure it smokes as well.

T25. Looking at the bottom of the wheel, you can see how much play there is.

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[Denji]

holy crap thats a nasty looking compressor wheel!? I couldnt like put some oil in it overnight and set it upright to see if it leaked out of the wheel area on either side? If there is a side i was concerned about it would be the turbine side.

 

[MrBoxx]

As long as there's no noticeable shaft play, besides what's necessary for oil bearing clearance, which isn't much, I wouldn't worry too much about it. My 14b came out of the junkyard in great condition and three years later still has no shaft play. I'm not sure how many miles were on it when it came off the original car.

What about the turbine side worries you? And how long do you plan on keeping the 14b on your car? If it's a temporary turbo until you decide to go larger, I'd go ahead and put it on, then monitor it closely. Check for shaft play every week or two to keep an eye on it, and monitor the oil level. Also checking the LICP for oil a few times the first month it's on wouldn't hurt either.

holy crap thats a nasty looking compressor wheel!?

It died magnificently.

 

[Denji]

When i got it there was no oil on the turbine blades, but it does appear as if there is some now, how it got there, not sure.. I did pour oil in it once, not sure if it leaked from inside or from outside. Nonetheless it does have a little shaft play as i described in another thread, but no matter which way you push it (in out side to side) the neither wheel comes close to impacting anything.

The charge pipe where the j-pipe connects is super dry though, as well as intake area. Turbine side has a little oil on it but like i said when i got it it didnt.

I guess ill just take some time and put the dang thing on, just was hoping i could tell since i will have to change the setup and it wont accept the t25 once im done hacking the intercooler piping to route it to the 14b.