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So I'm a bit confused as to what's leaking here. Car runs fine and I have no weird colored smoke in the exhaust while the car is warming up or running or anything.
I see oil in this spot on the turbo.
What's causing this? Too much oil pressure? There's already a pop rivet restrictor in place. I cleaned the oil off and it came back so sadly it wasn't just an old issue. I changed out the fittings which fixed the other issue since it was dripping a bit more in the past.
How to fix?
Oil on a part that see's 1500F+ regularly should concern you.
Assuming you're not mistaken about it not originating from the feed line/fitting, then rear seal or perhaps blowby from engine that's dripping down the hotside
Not overly concerned as the car isn't really being driven much right now.
I'll have to clean things up around there and go drive it so I can put it up on and take a look.
It's not the oil feed since those are no longer leaking. The drain wouldn't be putting oil there since its on the other side. I think I have a valve cover leak, but I can't see how that would end up dumping oil all the way over there.
blow by = oil from valve stem seals or rings. meaning it's making it's way through the mani and into the turbo, and since it's being driven so lightly it doesn't burn off
Previous owner didn't have this issue but he also had the driver side of the crank case connected to the downpipe to create a venturi effect which may have helped him.
It's the fitting. No way that would be the location of oil coming from crankcase pressure or bad turbine seal. No way.
If not the fitting itself, then crack or casting hole in CHRA.
My thoughts too. Fitting or chra crack.
Originally Posted by Art
I agree that it seems weird for oil to seep through the turbine housing connection to the center section like that. It seems like it would just blow out the exhaust if the turbo seal was leaking or engine blow by for that matter. Clean the area around the oil feed fitting very well with some hot soapy water or brake cleaner and a stiff brush. Then after running a bit check closely and take some macro pics to see if the oil is actually coming from the oil feed. I guess you can sprinkle with a bit of baby powder or corn starch first to highlight the oil leak but that probably isn't necessary.
Just in case, threaded fittings like pipe fittings should be quite snug with thread sealer like teflon tape on them. Flare fittings (this includes "JIC," "AN," and just regular old "flare") should not have any sealant at all on any of the threads, but should also be quite snug. Like feel it tight enough just so that it does not begin to stretch or strip with an 8" hand wrench for example. As tight as you can without ruining the fitting pretty much. Can't quite see what kind of seal you have right at the oil feed to CHRA. Maybe the pop rivet is getting in the way of making a seal. Something easy to do is just see if you can snug up the fitting a little bit maybe less than 1/8 of a turn.
Just as an aside, although I'm kind of harping on the crankcase vent thing, people like Savington have been racing these things for so many years that I'm sure they have it figured out. If it really isn't an issue they would know.
Thought you werent supposed to teflon tape oil feeds, did i miss something?
I'm quite certain that using teflon tape or thread sealant for tapered thread is a pretty big no-no. As such, I didn't use any.
I don't think this is caused by a casting defect in the turbo since the original owner, thirdgen (posting above), didn't have any such issue. the fittings all look and feel dry. The only thing leaking oil right now that's visible is the valve cover but the location of the oil here would make me hard pressed to believe that the oil is from the valve cover. There's just too much in the way. It's also not like... pouring out oil or anything. I'll try to get a new valve cover gasket on next week and see if that helps matters. Of note, the valve cover didn't leak till the turbo was installed. It was totally happy with the car NA. I'm guessing that's not terribly uncommon.
I'll try to spray brake cleaner over everything to see where things leak from. Is there any dye that can be added to oil? That way I can see if the threads for the fittings are leaking even if there is no oil visible there. If it's the CHRA that's cracked, then i'm not really sure what I'd do at this point since there has been a leak at that location for as long as I've owned the setup. I'm guessing that isn't something a simple rebuild would fix since it technically the seal that's leaking. Like thirdgen said, I guess I'd have to do a leakdown test to figure out where it's coming from.
I'm quite certain that using teflon tape or thread sealant for tapered thread is a pretty big no-no. As such, I didn't use any.
I don't think this is caused by a casting defect in the turbo since the original owner, thirdgen (posting above), didn't have any such issue. the fittings all look and feel dry. The only thing leaking oil right now that's visible is the valve cover but the location of the oil here would make me hard pressed to believe that the oil is from the valve cover. There's just too much in the way. It's also not like... pouring out oil or anything. I'll try to get a new valve cover gasket on next week and see if that helps matters. Of note, the valve cover didn't leak till the turbo was installed. It was totally happy with the car NA. I'm guessing that's not terribly uncommon.
I'll try to spray brake cleaner over everything to see where things leak from. Is there any dye that can be added to oil? That way I can see if the threads for the fittings are leaking even if there is no oil visible there. If it's the CHRA that's cracked, then i'm not really sure what I'd do at this point since there has been a leak at that location for as long as I've owned the setup. I'm guessing that isn't something a simple rebuild would fix since it technically the seal that's leaking. Like thirdgen said, I guess I'd have to do a leakdown test to figure out where it's coming from.
I have used teflon tape on threaded pipe for oil feed fittings that were NPT, no leaks as of yet.
06-19-2017 | 10:57 PM
Turbo Leak?
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