Sometimes boost, sometimes not

[laynbdyon20s]

On the way to work today, I was driving my car went WOT let off and saw smoke coming out of my tailpipe. I'm thinking great there goes my turbo again. I just replaced the turbo (EvoIII 16G) a week ago, did everything fine. Also, a little later on my drive, It would not boost at all. It would almost hit 0 PSI and feel like an NA motor. A little later, and the car starts boost again, everytime I go WOT it will smoke after I let off the gas. I know its displaying symptoms of a blown turbo but I'm hoping its not. Any other possibilities??

FYI: I'm running an external wastegate
Havent checked the lower intercooler pipe since I'm still at work.
Turbo has about 500 miles on it.

 

[laynbdyon20s]

*UPDATE*

Got home and heard rattling coming from my turbo. Thats 2 turbos in about 2 months. I have all the water lines hooked up, a SS oil feed line coming from the oil filter housing. What is causing my turbos to die??

 

[linksys42]

Have you made sure/verified that the turbo is getting plenty of oil and not being restricted (blockage in the SS oil feed line) and not getting starved for oil? Because that would toast the bearing pretty fast.

 

[Eastwood95]

Did you replace any of the old water/oil lines with the new turbo?

 

[laynbdyon20s]

i did not replace any of the oil/water lines except the SS line. I will crank the car over today to see if oil will squirt out of the SS feed line. Last time I checked the oil line was cleared. I'll verify if oil is going through. I have oil pressure according to the stock oil pressure guage in my dash.

 

[laynbdyon20s]

shaft split in two.
what can cause turbo failure?
I cranked over the engine with the feed line disconnected and oil came out.
oil didnt have any metal flakes or anything.
What could have caused it?

 

[linksys42]

Oil starvation, running to much boost out of the turbo’s efficiency range will shorten the life of the turbo. Might just be a freak occurrence. How much boost are you running? And is this an MHI EVO III?

 

[laynbdyon20s]

i was running 20 PSI with all supporting mods. I think I might have starved it with oil, i noticed a HUGE oil leak when I started priming the car a couple of hours ago. It is a MHI turbo, or it was. back to the 14B.

 

[linksys42]

that really sucks, where was the leak at?

 

[laynbdyon20s]

from where the return line bolts onto the oil pan. the bolts are stripped. time 4 a 20G.

 

[Eastwood95]

Could that be what killed your first turbo as well?

Get some new oil return bolts and a new gasket man..........don't kill that 20G too!

 

[linksys42]

from where the return line bolts onto the oil pan. the bolts are stripped. time 4 a 20G.

The return line from the turbo wouldn’t affect the supply of oil to the turbo. How much oil was in the pan/engine when the turbo went? how low on oil were you?

 

[laynbdyon20s]

The return line from the turbo wouldn’t affect the supply of oil to the turbo. How much oil was in the pan/engine when the turbo went? how low on oil were you?

I honestly couldnt tell you how low I was, because when I started to drain the oil, I was not watching it drain. The reason why I knew it was leaking was because I put my 14B back on, filled it up with oil, did a boost leak test, and heard dripping. I looked under the car and saw oil coming from the return line. I know my oil pressure guage light isnt a good way to determine if I have enough oil, but that light never came on. I'll post pics soon of the shaft.

 

[laynbdyon20s]

Could that be what killed your first turbo as well?

Get some new oil return bolts and a new gasket man..........don't kill that 20G too!

definetely!!!!