Turbo problem: burning oil

[Andy from Montana]

First things first: 1994 F250 with a 7.3 IDI Turbo, all stock.

Alright, I'm not really a mechanic, but a friend and I did change the glow plugs this weekend. In doing this, we removed the turbo by undoing the 4 screws that attach the turbo to the manifold and removing the screw that holds the impeller in place. We put the turbo back on with two problems. We could only get three of the four screws that hold the turbo to the manifold back in place and we broke the gasket for the oil feed tube on top. It started spewing oil where the feed tube goes into the turbo, so we sealed it with silicone temporarily so I could get the truck back to my house and order a new gasket. The seal has held so far and I'm waiting on the replacement gasket to come in the mail. I drove it around the block today. I'm not getting very much acceleration. When I press on the gas, and only when I press the gas pedal, I start spewing blue smoke out the tail pipe. It seems to me that the turbo is putting oil into the cylinders. What I'm trying to figure out is if the screw or the gasket have anything to do with that or if it is another issue.

Any help is appreciated!

 

[drinkypoo]

The turbo is pretty straightforward, the oil dumps in the top and goes to the various lubrication points, and falls out the bottom.

You must be registered for see images attach

This is not the exact turbo but close enough for discussion purposes. #1 are the oil bushings and those are your typical first points of failure. Dirty oil will cause the turbo to wear out quick fast and in a hurry as it spins around at thousands of RPM on a cushion of nothing but oil inside those bushings, which I think are made of oilite.

IF there is no damage to the shaft or the place in the housing where the bushing lives, then a rebuild is a simple matter of replacing those and some other parts (#3, 4, 6) and slapping the whole thing back together. I say simple, but just getting the thing apart can be a chore. Don't forget to make marks before disassembly so that you can "clock" both sides of the turbo correctly.

I don't know of any meaningful way to test for this problem, people often detect it when the vehicle won't shut off by itself. It's very dangerous at that point. When a diesel runs on turbo oil, it's not governed and it can run away. But if you were close to that point, you'd know already.

 

[firehawk]

Get someone that knows what they are doing to look at it. Not sure if you meant it, but if you removed the "screw" that holds on the "impeller" then your turbo is likely now out of balance and has or will destroy itself. Of you might just have a boost leak and running very rich.

 

[typ4]

It may have broken the seal ring while messing with the "screw", its a nut.lol

 

[drinkypoo]

Get someone that knows what they are doing to look at it. Not sure if you meant it, but if you removed the "screw" that holds on the "impeller" then your turbo is likely now out of balance and has or will destroy itself.

No. Garrett turbine wheels are balanced independently. It doesn't matter how one is clocked to the other, unless someone did it wrong and balanced the full rotating assembly.

 

[Andy from Montana]

No. Garrett turbine wheels are balanced independently. It doesn't matter how one is clocked to the other, unless someone did it wrong and balanced the full rotating assembly.

So the turbo should be balanced okay? And the attachment that you linked to is broken.

 

[N.E fjord-by-fjord 2fiddy]

Not to sound like a ****... But if you were under there breakin' stuff, you might have jostled/damaged a cap/return line/hard injector line...

The smoke might just be air getting in now where it wasn't before...

Figured i'd throw in my $.02

I'll shut up now...

 

[firehawk]

No. Garrett turbine wheels are balanced independently. It doesn't matter how one is clocked to the other, unless someone did it wrong and balanced the full rotating assembly.

The industry standard is core balancing. When I had my shop, the most common cause of really bad problems was the owner trying to work on something with no knowledge.

http://www.turbotechnics.com/www/?page_id=12

http://www.hofmann-global.com/en/turbocharger-balancing.html

 

[Andy from Montana]

Nah, any help is appreciated. I was the **** for screwing around with my truck and not knowing 100% what I was doing. I just have to figure out what I broke, lol! I have a good feeling it's the seal on top, but I'm just trying to figure out from people who know better if it could be anything else.

 

[icanfixall]

Well my thoughts are remove the turbo and have it rebuilt by someone that knows what they are doing. Asking before you get into something usually helps lots. It keeps you and others from breaking stuff. This site is open 7x24x365 for answers to questions. Try that at any dealership. And there is no charge for the help either.

 

[Andertusa]

Nah, any help is appreciated. I was the **** for screwing around with my truck and not knowing 100% what I was doing.

Not to sound too much like an utter @$$, I don't think that anyone who has ever lifted the hood and worked on ANY vehicle EVER has ever really known 100% what they were doing. Just an observation made by hundreds of hours of bustin' knuckles and working on my various rides over the years.

 

[Agnem]

I'm trying to make sure I understand this correctly. You took the turbo off to change 1 or 2 glow plugs? You probably should know that you didn't have to do that. What you most likely have now is an exhaust leak, so your not building boost. The turbo flange gasket is a one time use item, and needs to be replaced each time it is installed and removed. And you took the nut off the compressor wheel... because? All that aside, you may want to just send the whole unit off for rebuilding at this point. You've got several issues a shop like mine could help you with.