strange turbo seal problem

[keltalon]

can anyone help me with this one? my turbo went out on me. to make a long story short i have oil coming out of the turbine side as well as the exhaust side of my turbo. but there is no shaft play! i know that my crankcase pressure is very high for some unknown reason. i had to put a bolt in my dip stick slot to keep oil from coming out. could the high pressure blow out the oil seals in the turbo?

 

[TRBOTSI]

Yes, very possible. And you shouldn't have to put a bolt in the dip stick tube, ever. I'd worry about that problem first, and that'll more than likely take care of the rest of your problems.

 

[keltalon]

well i did a compression check and the results are

#1 140
#2 110 after oil up to 120
#3 145
#4 140

i ran the car for a while without the turbo put blank manifold on and car stopped smoking soon as i put on a new turbo the thing started smoking again came to find out htat i blew the seals!

 

[fasteclipse1992]

i seem to be having the same problem. i went through 2 turbos and a rebuilt one. all started when i did my engine swap. the original turbo lasted about 5 days, the 2nd turbo about 2 days, the rebuilt one about a day. my oil pressure seems real high 80 psi at cruising speeds 40 at idle and 100+ when flooring it.

im running it without a turbo at the moment till i once again get another.

i hope it isnt the high oil pressure causing this. from what ive been reading the oil port in the head for the oil line for turbo is only at 5 psi. ok for a stock turbo, but a bigger turbo needs more pressure from a different source. so i dont think its because of too high of oil pressure.

the 2nd turbo and rebuilt one leaked from exhaust side also, so i figured the exhaust pressure was forcing exhaust through the turbo blowing oil through, into the turbine side.

 

[tsi20gawd]

R your breather vents off the valve cover sealed /blocked?
generally speaking you usually only puke oil out of the bearings when the pressure in the center of the turbo is greater than the pressures in the exhaust housing/compressor housing.
you would have to have EXTREMELY HIGH oil pressure to push oil past the bearings.
good luck

 

[tsi20gawd]

using a catch can that does not freely vent or is sealed can cause these symptoms.
hope you guys figure this out it took me 3 14b's before I knew what happend.

 

[fasteclipse1992]

Originally posted by tsi20gawd
using a catch can that does not freely vent or is sealed can cause these symptoms.
hope you guys figure this out it took me 3 14b's before I knew what happend.

tried a catch can when i installed the 2nd turbo to see if it was blowing oil out the tube, but it wasnt. even tried it with the vent tube without a catch can, still no luck. but i never looked at or changed the pcv valve, coult that cause too much oil pressure to the turbo if its bad? i plan on changing it when i get another turbo.

 

[tsi20gawd]

usually the problem is not oil pressure.people use the term "blow oil seal" way too often it does'nt actually blow out. it just pukes oil past the bearing . Try running no pcv at all and open vent hose on the valve cover.
if there is excess crankcase pressure building and that is what is killing your turbo then you will know it will stop smoking(as soon as the oil burns out) which takes a couple of days sometimes.
.

 

[keltalon]

well i found this link so now i have to figure out which problem i have. i also put a fuel filter in between my valve cover breather and the turbo intake pipe (homemade catche can) very little oil is gathered there. but i killed two other turbos before i had done this!


http://www.michiganturbo.com/trouble.htm

 

[keltalon]

i finally took the turbo off and come to find out the turbo does has shaft play. the bearing are shot. the smoke and the oil was a result of the shot turbo. i also found a better link to common turbo failures check this one out! thanks fellas for your input on my situation!

http://www.forparts.com/techturbo.htm

 

[igranados26]

is their a forum somewhere that would tell me how to bypass the the pcv valve. i have had the same problem as well . I have upgrade to a T04E turbo and ran the feed line for the head , but for some reason as soon as i swapped motors into fwd to awd . istared havin all these problems. i killed 2 turbo's finally i changed the feed line , and fixed it but every once in awhile i will have some oil in the intake side of the turbo, my oil pressure is high as well.

 

[keltalon]

Originally posted by igranados26
is their a forum somewhere that would tell me how to bypass the the pcv valve. i have had the same problem as well . I have upgrade to a T04E turbo and ran the feed line for the head , but for some reason as soon as i swapped motors into fwd to awd . istared havin all these problems. i killed 2 turbo's finally i changed the feed line , and fixed it but every once in awhile i will have some oil in the intake side of the turbo, my oil pressure is high as well.

you really donnot want to do this! the two turbos that i destroyed was do to my cylinder #2. too much blow by under boost the compressed air would pressurize my crank ( bottom end) an blow the oil that is draining out of the turbo back into the turbo so to make a long story short my turbo was not getting the oil that it needed at higher rpm! so right now i am building another bottom end