Bad turbo seals?

Jesus Freak

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So, I got to thinking maybe my oil consumption is my turbo. It's a factory Garrett turbo, nothing spectacular. Is there an obvious way to see if it's leaking oil?
 

gnathv

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i Had a CDR not sealing and it caused oil to over run the shaft seals and the downpipe was dripping oil. Fixed CDR seal and turbo seals stopped leaking.
 

Nero

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Well if it's the turbo seals, it'll either leak out the exhaust or out the compressor side. Being as the cdr returns to the intake side, it's hard to check for oil.
 

Big Bart

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Turbo leaks -

If the exhaust side oil seal leaks on the turbo you will often see white or blue smoke, it burns enough to smoke but not to black ash.

You can clean the intake side of the turbo to see if large amounts of oil appear a day or two later by leaking out of the turbo. Depending on you turbo brand and style as some suggest your cdr valve could be the reason your intake tube or air cleaner box get oil in them. If your CDR does not feed into the intake manifold neck via the back like a NA engine you could unhook and plug the hole to the intake and run a hose from the cdr to a catch can for a couple of days. Then check for oil in the intake tube or air cleaner box.
 

Jesus Freak

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Got it. It smokes, but I figured it was my WMO habit or timing. I actually swapped the CDR valve a couple weeks ago to see if that did anything. But yesterday after getting hay and pouring an embarrassing amount of oil in it to it just to get it full I was staring at the turbo and I had this idea. I'll look into it ASAP, thanks OIL BURNERS!!!
 

typ4

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My rebuild service includes new upgraded seals and thrust. As well as a better comp wheel.
Price on website is worst case. PM for more info if you like.
 

Jesus Freak

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Alright, I pulled the turbo today. Brace yourself, I'm about to say something positive about Dodge...........at least they put the turbo in a place that you can reach, alright I'm done.

So it's pretty oilly on the compressor side. Does this look bad? I don't know anything about it. I can't get the exhaust side off and I'm scared to beat on it any harder than I have.

I googled how to get this thing off and a oil burners post from 2009 came up, Towcat said remove the 4 bolts on the down pipe and the 2 bolts on the pedestal and that those 2 instructions should give you hours of fun.........boy was he right......... thought I was gonna go crazy!
 

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Jesus Freak

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I was using @2gals of oil to drive @100 miles. At that extreme usage, it seems like it would be wet on the exhaust side......I think.
 

Nero

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Since the crankcase vents into the air intake, it's not surprising that the turbo is oiled like that. I'd say it's normal. As for oil consumption, hopefully it's not a broken ring. Had similar symptoms on my dad's non-turboed idi, turned out to be a broken ring.
 

Jesus Freak

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My next move is a compression test. It ran perfect, but it ate oil. I was hoping my engine was okay.

Edit: and I was using ether to fire it for a almost a year, so broken rings isn't out of the question........but dang man.......DANG!!!
 
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Nero

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Oof, hate to be the bearer of bad news there.
Also note, with a broken ring, my dad's old engine had in spec compression. Your best bet would be to do a cylinder leak down test.

Only reason I found out the engine was *****'d was because it was leaking compression out of the right rear corner of the head gasket, and pushing oil there. I could literally watch it bubble.
So what started off as a head gasket, turned into a long block replacement.
 

The_Josh_Bear

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That turbo has a lot of scratches on it... quit feeding it dirt! Looks like the compressor is kissing the housing. Mine did that when I first got it, needed a new CHRA or a rebuild. I got the CHRA cause it was much faster and I needed a quick turn around. But better to send it to Russ if you have the time.

How much boost are you getting? That's some ridiculous oil consumption!!!
 

Jesus Freak

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That turbo has a lot of scratches on it... quit feeding it dirt! Looks like the compressor is kissing the housing. Mine did that when I first got it, needed a new CHRA or a rebuild. I got the CHRA cause it was much faster and I needed a quick turn around. But better to send it to Russ if you have the time.

How much boost are you getting? That's some ridiculous oil consumption!!!
I don't have a gauge or anything. I know I'm going to have to pull the heads, I have a suspicion there's cracked pistons in there. Probably won't do a turbo.......$$$$$..... and that stuff is hard to come by. If this turbo motor want $$$ I'll spend it on my other blocks and send this turbo stuff to one of you guys that's more into it than I am. It's neat but I just need a machine that can crank up, run, go, and stop. The turbo has been nice!.
 

Jesus Freak

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Pulled the heads, no cracked pistons but I do have melted pistons. It was a junkyard engine and I did get 2 yrs out of it so I'm not complaining. I drove it for more than a month with extreme oil consumption so its pretty carboned up. 7 out of 8 pistons are shot, oh well. I'll start a "build thread" sometimes. I'm going to try to figure out how to possibly make this engine come back to life on the cheap. Ive got other options, but we'll see.
 

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