I'm starting to get a little oil coming out of my BOV, it's an inline set-up so the BO is on the turbo side of the IC. It's a GT35r w/about 7k miles on it. Just wondering if anyone else experienced the same symptom if/when the seals started wearing. I was hoping to get more miles out of it before a rebuild but I'm thinking now I better pull it and have it checked out. I think it's slowly getting a little worse. It's not dripping or anything it justt sprays a fine mist on everything near it and is starting to make a mess.

Does anyone have an estimate as to how much it is to get rebuilt, is it something I can do myself?

thanks in advance,

MM

 

Man that is weak, surely it's under warranty right? How is your oil return and feed, proper restricter on the feed and smooth return?

 

Yeah, oiling is all good. It didn't start leaking untill recently. Return is tapped into the girdle so no issue there, restricter is in place.

Kind of sucks, not sure 'bout the warranty, I got it from Inline about 2 years ago. I guess I'll have to give them a call. I haven't pulled the piping off yet but that's the only place I can figure where the oil is coming from.

 

The seals aren't really a wear item from my understanding. Genereally it's an oil pressure or drain issue. But you say those are fine. So, maybe it's not the turbo? Do you have oil from the PCV or something plumbed back into the intake? Where's the residue going?

You do have the water lines hooked up right?

 

I'm going to recheck everything this weekend but I have over 7k miles on it since the turbo and would think I'd have noticed an issue before now. PCV's going to a Krankvent and then to a small filter. BOV is off the FPR, oil and water lines look good, no overheating issues whatsoever. But like I said I'm going to look over everything really good this weekend.

Thanks.

 

I had the same issue with oil coming out of my BOV...and it was my seals but it was a brand new turbo. GT35R, which by the way only has a one year warranty as of two weeks ago when I checked...sorry but the good news is my turbo was leaking oil b/c it was clocked wrong, something I didn't think about until it was too late. If you've got 7K miles on it with no problem till now chances are it's clocked right...my oil feed and drain weren't vertical enough so it leaked through the seals into the exhaust and intake, causing the car to give off white smoke and if you pull the air filter you'll have oil leaking out from around the compressor and pooling where the coupling joins the air filter to the compressor. Pull it off and check, if there is no oil it's not the seals. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the info, I haven't noticed any smoke and I've been looking the last couple of days. Had a run w/a sport bike yesterday after work, and was pushing hard WOT to the limiter and didn't see and smoke then either. It's a pretty fine mist coming out. My feed is pretty much right at the top and the drain is right off the bottom. I'm gonna pull the piping this weekend and should have a better idea what I'm looking at.

Did you have to replace your seals or was it fine after reclocking it?

 

Seals on turbos are gapped piston rings, so they generally are not an item that wears out on its own.

The two major ways a turbo can smoke are:

1. If oil backs up into the bearing housing due to a kinked/obstructed drain, or excessive crank case pressure slowing down the drain flow of oil (keep in mind the drain isn't under much oil pressure so crank case pressure would definitely impede its flow).

2. If bearing failure has caused enough shaft play for the turbine piston ring to become crushed or damaged, and allows oil to flow past it.


Garrett ball bearing turbos are designed to not develop shaft play. Those cartridges are almost literally indestructible. The only failures I have ever seen are from when it was completely oil starved, or when someone sucked in something to the compressor inlet.

If it is the turbo that is smoking, my money is on crank case pressure or a drain issue.

 

Very good info guys.

My car smokes from time to time, but only after I get on it for awhile, then when I drive normal it goes away. I'd bet it is because of excessive crank case pressure.

I will be making a custom oil catch can setup soon to use which will hopefully lower the pressure down enough to diminish the smoking problem.

 

Ramocheese is pretty much spot on...you can't replace the seals. That's what I thought too before pulling the turbo apart. There is nothing to replace. It's just two machined surfaces that fit inside one another very very very tightly...so much so that when you attach the compressor and turbine housing to the cartridge it makes a "seal". Which is why excessive pressure can bleed by...I'd say if there were an actual gasket there nothing would leak through, but then it would build more pressure in the turbo. Maybe it's a safety feature...heck I have no clue I just know that when I push that far right pedal now it goes fast hope that helps!