Failing turbo seals... A few q's

[Rallytimebitches]

So the car never smokes which surprises me, but a lot of oil is getting pushed past the seals. I have a few questions:

Can I still drive on this in vac?
How much longer do I have?
If it fails fully, will it compromise the motor?

Thanks.:cheers:

-tyler

 

[Rallytimebitches]

To clarify, the catch can has been drained and disconnected and the line recirculating to the intake was disconnected to rule out blow by. The only place this can be coming from is the turbo. I'm sure the intercooler is full of oil too, but the strange part is that the car doesn't smoke. Not even under boost. What do you guys think?

 

[Rallytimebitches]

By the way, sorry about the upside Down pic

 

[coyotes]

Weird place for the oil to flow to though, usually goes the other way. I guess this leaks out when the car is sitting?

If there's no noise coming from the turbo I'd plan for a rebuild or run it till it makes noise. I wouldn't run it past that point though.

 

[manikbastrd]

Putting new seals in your turbo is cheap and easy. Please understand that this is not the same as rebuilding your turbo. To truly rebuild your turbo, you need to take it completely apart, clean everything thoroughly, polish the shaft(lol) and have it balanced again. If you want your turbo to last for years, this is the only way to do it right.

Having said all that. You can probably run it for a while. It will only get worse though, since you are not holding oil pressure where you should, and every time you hit boost, you are wearing the shaft and bearings more and more. Just going around town, your turbo is seeing temps of up to 1200 degrees. When you are in boost, 1600+ degrees. Not to mention that it is spinning at hundreds of thousands of RPMs. You run the risk of getting metal into your oil system, which then feeds right back into your oil pan and can produce spun rod and main bearings. IMHO it is not worth it to run a known bad turbo. Just my $.02, hopefully it helps...also keep in mind I am super conservative with these kinds of things.

 

[Rallytimebitches]

Awesome I really appreciate your advice. Lots of people think it's that the catch can isn't working properly but it's disconnected from the intake so the oil obviously cannot be coming from the catch can. The only place it can be from is the turbo... So I have some work to do :/

 

[manikbastrd]

Well, it could be oil from the intake, I would clean it up really good and disconnect your vent tube and catch can from the intake just to be sure, but If it is the seals, everything above applies.