smoking at idle???

[GTphil]

I have recently fitted a rebuilt garret T28 turbo and have had smoke at idle more or less straight away after fitting it.

It only smokes at idle and is fine on boost there is no play at all in the turbo bearings so i have checked my oil return for kinks ect and all seemed fine.

It was fitted correctly with new feed with an inline filter, new oil, all primed up ect ect.

I removed the turbo today to inspect further and I'm still a bit stumped. The only one thing I can fine is my oil return flange that bolts onto the turbo has a noticably smaller I.D than the oil return hole on the turbo.

Could this be causing a build up of pressure at idle and pushing oil past the seals?

P.s It is definatly the turbo that is causing the smoke I have pretty much ruled out every other possability and after removing the turbo i can actually see where it's pushed oil out from the side of the exhaust housing:eek:

[GTphil]

http://i425.photobucket.com/albums/pp339/gtphil_2008/DSC01770.jpg

In this picture you can see where the oil has pushed out of the exhaust housing:eek: In exactly the same place as the turbo that was removed:confused: (new on right, old on left) Both turbos seem to smoke only at idle and have no play in the shaft at all and they were both fitted with the same oil return flange.

[Brigsy]

As long as the restriction isnt really small i.e under 15mm you should be ok,its probably still worth opening up to match the rest though. Any kinks in the return pipework?

Personally id say the turbo rear oil seal isnt sealing properly with the oil leaking out the ex housing joint though, due to poor tolerances or wear etc.

[GTphil]

No kinks, all seems tickdy boo:( When you say rear piston ring do you mean causing crankcase pressure?

[Brigsy]

Sorry i meant the rear oil seal(piston ring) on the turbo, have edited as it souded misleading!

[GTphil]

LOL, had me worried for a second then!:laugh: I was thinking about taking my sump off and changing my pistons ect on my drive with the car on axle stands! :cry:

My initial thought was the turbo then when i saw the marks on both old a new turbos it got me thinking, bit funny how both seem to have the same problem/fault.

[old skool turbo power]

I have recently fitted a rebuilt garret T28 turbo and have had smoke at idle more or less straight away after fitting it.

It only smokes at idle and is fine on boost there is no play at all in the turbo bearings so i have checked my oil return for kinks ect and all seemed fine.

It was fitted correctly with new feed with an inline filter, new oil, all primed up ect ect.

I removed the turbo today to inspect further and I'm still a bit stumped. The only one thing I can fine is my oil return flange that bolts onto the turbo has a noticably smaller I.D than the oil return hole on the turbo.

Could this be causing a build up of pressure at idle and pushing oil past the seals?

P.s It is definatly the turbo that is causing the smoke I have pretty much ruled out every other possability and after removing the turbo i can actually see where it's pushed oil out from the side of the exhaust housing:eek:


hmmmmmmmmm sounds familiar this dose as well.i have same prob as you and for where your pic shows the oil leaking its the same for me as well:scratch: its boost fine but just might smoke on idel few times but normally once car is warmed up 5mins like.wont happen every time just some times.the car is warmed up before i drive the car and drive the car pretty nornmal for a while(off boost)i even let it idle for a half min of so before i turn off engine.i would like to get prob sorted out though:(

[jonnyshaw49]

i thought turbo only smoked on boost/driving and if a car smokes on idle it is the valve stem seals :scratch:a car normally smokes on start up as when the engine is off and cooling down oil seeps through the nackerd stem seals then when started up the engine is burning leaking oil and with the heat the stem seals expand and seal again and it the smoke clears and compression seems fine, best to compression check on a cold engine if stem seals seem to be the problem, sorry if im miles off the question here lol but it its not the turbo i could be right :)

[Kenobi]

Could this just be condensation?

[GTphil]

I have ruled out pretty much everything, comp test was fine, engine makes good oil pressure, no problems with the oil return ect ect.;)

I got the turbo second hand but it had never been fitted, it came with all the paperwork/guarantee but when I have read through it all it says the guarantee only covers the person who originally bought the turbo. Bit gutted to be fair I paid a decent price for it but kind of means nothing now as I will have to get it sent off and rebuilt/new seals and thats if the core isn't goosed or any other of the million things that it could be.

This seems to happen all too often with rebulit hybrids. out of 5 turbos I have purchased only one has been good for more than 5k :disagree:

[Slim]

this is exaclty whats happened with my turbo. Same leak in the same place. What causes this????

[LYNCHSTAR]

this is exaclty whats happened with my turbo. Same leak in the same place. What causes this????

i have a turbo that did the very same thing i gave up with it.

[Slim]

could it be the same batch of turbos? :scared: strange...

[GTphil]

Bit of an old thread but i thought i would finish it off with what the issue actually was:)

The oil return fitting I had was too long as in, it pointed downwards to far, the oil which drains from the turbo needs to flow downwards all the way to the sump otherwise it will back up and eventually push past the seals.

So the long fitting coupled with a bent bracket on the oil return pipe that bolts to the gearbox meant that at times the oil actually had to try and travle upwards:disagree:

No drainy = smokey joe turbo!;)

[Slim]

Bit of an old thread but i thought i would finish it off with what the issue actually was:)

The oil return fitting I had was too long as in, it pointed downwards to far, the oil which drains from the turbo needs to flow downwards all the way to the sump otherwise it will back up and eventually push past the seals.

So the long fitting coupled with a bent bracket on the oil return pipe that bolts to the gearbox meant that at times the oil actually had to try and travle upwards:disagree:

No drainy = smokey joe turbo!;)

This may be the issue with mine currently,,, i just re-adjusted and would love to test it to see if its cured... If only it started now :cry: lol... once i get the starter motor sorted....il update :)

[Woznaldo]

Bit of an old thread but i thought i would finish it off with what the issue actually was:)

The oil return fitting I had was too long as in, it pointed downwards to far, the oil which drains from the turbo needs to flow downwards all the way to the sump otherwise it will back up and eventually push past the seals.

So the long fitting coupled with a bent bracket on the oil return pipe that bolts to the gearbox meant that at times the oil actually had to try and travle upwards:disagree:

No drainy = smokey joe turbo!;)

Have you got a couple of pictures of what you mean to help others that may be experiencing the same issues?

[Slim]

he means... the oil return pipe (under the turbo) should be pointing/slanting down all the way to the sum,,, so the oil doesn't end up tryin to travel up, as this would cause the oil to go back up the turbo

[GTphil]

Something along those lines yes.

The oil that drains from the turbo is not under pressure so needs to flow continuosly downwards back to the sump, otherwise it will back up;)