[Wagamos]

Ok so Tom started tuning my car yesterday while I installed the tunes and alerted him as to what was happening. After we got her running she started pouring heavy white clouds out. Smelled like oil, so I shut her down. Tom said that he thinks my turbo is prolly shot. There was still some shaft play side to side but none in and out. So I got ambitious tonight and pulled everything off of the car and pulled the turbo almost competely apart. I didnt feel comfortable pulling the turbine itself apart (both housings are off but I left the shaft nuts on). Im wondering how I can check to see what meh damage is. The fins looked to be in good condition with only one on the exhaust side with a small bend on it, probably from removal or something. Im wondering how I can check my seals? I need to call a guy about rebuilding it tomorrow or tuesday.

Oh and there was oil on the intake side housing. Not tons but when i would touch the sides they were oily. The exhaust also has pretty good amount of oil on stuff. Any help would be appreciated. I can post pics too if that would help.

Thanks everyone, sorry for the long story. Im gonna head to bed, gotta work in 4 hrs.

Jeff

 

[focusguy87]

Well if you have oil in the IC piping your seal is bad. I had the same problem, what caused mine however was my oil drain was not correct so it built up pressure causing the oil to push past the seals. You may want to check yours and make sure the line is clear.

But in the meantime it is very convincing that the turbo is the problem.

 

[focusfreak03]

def sounds like your seals are blown, or you are building up lots of pressure like 87 was. that would be the first place that i would check would be the drain. make sure it isn't blocked and make sure that it is big enough. a lot of people's problems come from not getting the right size things. the drain should be slightly bigger than the feed so that there isn't any build up and it drains more than it feeds to get good/proper flow through the turbo. if all of that checks out, then i'd say your seals are toast.

 

[700whpfocus]

how big should the drain and the oil feed lines be? does anyone have pics or reccomendations?

 

[07FocusST]

your drain line should match the outlet size or be a little bigger coming off of the turbo and should not be any smaller. Do you have a restrictor in your oil supply line? If not I would suggest getting one installed. Sporadic had a similar problem. The restrictors are for cars that run higher than 60PSI oil pressure. I believe the focus does because it seems like a lot of turbo focus use them. You would probably notice some build up on the exhaust side of your housing if you blew out a seal.

 

[Wagamos]

Yeah Im pretty sure of it. It was a used kit and I didnt bother to check the turbo b/c it was supposed to be good. And when i checked it my mechanic buddy and I thought that the shaft play was minimal but apparantly I was wrong.

The feed line is like -3 and the drain is pretty large. Id say -6--8. Its a 7/8 wrench to get the drain line off.

 

[Wagamos]

Here is an oil line reference. These are side by side.

Here are some pics of the turbo 1/2 torn apart.

Pic of the two housings.

Yeah thats oil making it so shiny. Intake housing.

Exhaust housing. Its all full of oil and nasty (yes that is the technical term).

Turbine itself. I think that the fins themselves are in pretty good shape. Not perfect but very good imo. Then again what do I know.

Opinions?

 

[Roushturboedzx3]

Deff blown seals

 

[1turbofocus]

With that much oil on the Exh side your seals are gone and maybe more

Tom

 

[Wagamos]

More?

 

[Roushturboedzx3]

could of blown the bearings too

 

[Wagamos]

Would that still be fixable?

Im so glad that it was supposed to be in perfect working condition and had no shaft play...

 

[illinipo]

Hate to be the one to say this but just get a new turbo...

 

[Wagamos]

Id rather not if at all possible. Not only cost but having to deal with clearance and making sure everything bolts up...not my idea of a good time. Its the reason i bought a kit. Ive contacted the seller that I got this off of. Im not trying to extort money out of the guy, just want to get the turbo that I paid for, not this pos.

 

[Roushturboedzx3]

Who did you get it off of and yes a new turbo would be better

 

[Wagamos]

Baracuda. He hasnt replied yet so dont jump on him yet lol. He doesnt even know there is a problem yet I assume. Im just really frustrated and upset right now.

 

[Roushturboedzx3]

I wont i have talked to him before he almost bought my old built short block

 

[07FocusST]

defintally bad piston seal on the exhaust side... that is a given. Pretty sure that the compressor piston seal is bad too. I bought a rebuild kit off of G-Pop Shop for my IHI which I was sure would never run again, but surprisingly after a good rebuild and balance it was all set. Yours just might need a rebuild and .06 restrictor

 

[03OrangeSVT]

I dont agree with a bad "piston seal" I've seen a couple turbos let go and it was only the turbo... not the piston

 

[Wagamos]

I havnet heard of anyone running the oil restrictor that you are talking about either. Am I missing something?

Im assuming your talking about the internal seals? I gotta take this to someone that can take it apart further. I dont have the tools to disassemble it any further.