does it even pay to install the piping? or should i wait until i get a new turbo?
or is it something else? if it is this dirty i wonder what the inside of my intercooler looks like... is there a way to clean that out? .. .. .. i don't have money for a new turbo... dangit....

so is it true?? thanks

ok, just checked for shaft play on the turbo and its leakin oil like a siv.. guess i got my answer... bunch of junk.. i don't understand though, there is barely a trace of shaft play... could it just be from the line coming off the valve cover?

Can that produce enough oil to cover the turbo inlet like that?

oh, you meant inside the pipe. I thought you meant ON the pipe. sorry about that reply in the other topic.

what turbo do you have the stock one? t25?


to clean the intercooler you have to take it off. get some kerosene and an oil drain pan. pour some kerosene into the intercooler shake it up and then dump it out. repeat the process until the kerosene is no longer discolored.

just so we are clear... the car is burning oil when the turbo is spoolin...

now, today i went to put on an upper intercooler pipe and when i pulled it off i noticed oil... i pulled the intake off to check for shaft play and noticed an excessive amount of oil inside the turbo inlet and a pool of it in the intake... like if i tip the intake up it would drip out...

there is "minimal" shaft play, meaning i can tell that it moves...

It is a evo 3 16 g turbo.. the numbers that i can see on it are.. (these are cast on it) TD05H and then by the serial number it has 48178-01 if this means anything

casting numbers should be 49178 - 01470 but if its dirty you might have just read them wrong because the 47 is stamped not cast into the 01470 part.

by shaft play do you mean "side to side" or "push pull"

it sounds to me that your problem might not be with your turbo. Like you said before it could be coming from your valve cover. having oil on the inlet side of the turbo usually means that it is coming from there. check your PCV valve or buy an oil catch can and install that line from the valve cover to this instead of the intake pipe

that would be side to side...

some side to side is ok, you seem to already know that.

a good way to know where it is coming from is take that hose that runs from the valve cover to the intake and remove it from the intake side. slide it down inside of an empty coke bottle and wiggle the bottle down in somewhere inside the engine compartment so that it will stay there, maybe by the throttle body down inside on top of the starter.

take the car out for a spin, give it a little beating(not too much), try to reproduce the conditions that your wife witnessed and then take it home, pop the hood and see if there is oil inside the bottle. If there is you know where the oil is coming from and you probably need to replace your PCV valve. if there isn't and there is oil back in the pipes then you know the turbo is junk

ps - just in case, don't dump the oil back into the engine if there is some in the bottle :thumbsup:

great idea!! What does the pcv valve have to do with it? or better yet what does the pcv valve do?

positive crank case ventilation valve - PCV valve

wikepedia is amazing. click me

basically the PCV valve keeps your boost from going into the head, but at the same time allows the engine to breath. if the valve is not working properly, and sometimes if it is, one of the symptoms is oil seepage from any opening.

this is why the dipstick will fly out on some DSMs. under boost the valve is closed, as it should be. But, if you have an older engine with weakened piston rings you get more blow-by than normal. this raises the pressure in the crank case that can't bleed off because the PCV valve is closed and POP goes your dipstick.

even if they don't admit it, everone is scared the first time this happens

have you checked your compression lately?

lol... actually it was on the to do list for today... what is it suppose to be? 150 right?

that makes perfect sense... that is why it was exploding out of my oil cap then to...
it has not smoked before and only started now... so if it did get stuck or whatever that would explain why the oil was everywhere....

how bad, or how much devistation does it cause with blow by? i believe the only fix for it is to rebuild right? does it need to be done before it gets worse? etc.. etc..

thanks for enlightening me with your wisdom.. :thumbsup:

blow by is very bad. after you check compression, if it comes up good go to the dealer and get a new pcv valve or try cleaning your old one. they are only like $8 but sometimes the aftermarket ones don't hold up to any kind of boost like the OEM replacement ones will

ok, i did what you recomended with the bottle, but the only place i had leak out was through the stupid oil fill cap... my gasket fell apart when i was wiping up the oil... i would asume that could be pcv related... on a side note.. i took it out ran it hard while driving to my parents house... pulled into the driveway and talked for a minute to the parents... upon leaving.. it had been runnin for about 5 minutes in the driveway when i started to back up i noticed a plume of grey smoke.. i would call it a puff of smoke to give you an idea of the amount... when i started backing up... i didn't rev high upon leaving... just started backing up.. that was it though... nothing after that.. i drove it hard home and had the same deal... oil out of the fill cap and nothin in the bottle....

did you notice any oil in the intercooler pipe this time?

it doesn't sound too much like your problem is in the bottom end, as in blow by. It sounds like the PCV valve isn't sealing under boost. this causes the boost to leak into the head. That will cause your leak from the oil fill cap, and maybe it didn't leak this time from the breather hose on the end of the valve cover because it wasn't being "sucked" on by the turbo's spooling. (think of a turbo like a shop vac)

When the boost leaks into the head other than causing the oil to leak from the cap it could cause some oil to leak down the valve stem seals. That could be whats causing your puff of smoke after periods of idle.

replaced the cap.... no oil in the bottle now after 1/.5 days of driving. today gettin onto the interstate i noticed smoke inmy mirror for the first time everi was on it about 80% and in 3rd gear so it was moderate smoke for me to notice... didn't see anything though the rest of the way home. i swear after i drive it to, and stop, i can smell like burning oil or something.. is it ok to just get a pcv valve from napa?

have not checked the intake pipe yet...

2 things can happen here:

1 you are burning oil from the engine
2 your turbo is dead.

how many miles does your car have ?

117,000 just turned... and about 20,000 supposedly on the turbo...
ok. i have a new oil cap and that fixed the problem of the oil leakage... but there is still no oil in the bottle... it has been 3 days.. i would assume there would be some in there if i had a pcv problem...

i have not had time to take off the intake and check for oil again... nor to do the compression test.. hopefully this week sometime.. thanks for the help so far guys..

yea the bottle should have some in it if the PCV was failing. we will just have to wait for the compression test and I can't remember but did your turbo have any shaft play? Did you buy it new or used?

Hey guys... sorry no time to chat lately... business has been nutz!!
Ok, So after a week of having the oil cap that seals on the car i notice it is finally coming down the hose and starting to leak into the bottle.. just trace amounts, but enough that when i slid it back onto the intake it went right on....

turbo was on the car when i bought it. . . shaft play was a trace amount of up down

still have not done a compression test due to schedule... hopefully this week again..
have not noticed any smoke lately, but still am noticing as is my wife how after driving it moderatly hard and we come to a stop . . . . you can faintly smell what seems to be oil burning...

thats all the news i have for now.. will post up compression test numbers when i get em.. God bless you all till then... Eric