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I made a previous forum post about my turbo oiling issues, and figured it was a bad oil drain. That sucked, but I ended up redoing the whole intercooler piping and was able to make enough space to come up with this:
I thought it was way better and although it isn’t leaking into my intercooler pipes I did see some oil on the downpipe. Just for my own knowledge, i pulled the oil drain and threw a plug in the pan and threw the oil drain line into a bucket and started the car for a few seconds, just for ***** and giggles idk, and there was a LOT of oil coming out. I’m running a G25-550 ball bearing turbo, which already comes with a restrictor but still there was a lot of oil flowing out. I ordered another restrictor and threw it into the oil feed line (dual restrictors? or is that not how it works?) but no luck. here’s how she’s running now.
Everything looks good, 13.5-14.5 afr between idle and maybe 2k rpm. Maybe when I messed my drain up the first time and noticed oil on the ground, it was my seals that blew? It’s a brand new turbo and it idled for maybe 5 mins, I noticed maybe a tablespoon or so of oil in the intercooler line when I pulled it prevuously. Nothing anymore after the new drain. I do noticed it sounds like the turbo is sizzling after i turned the car off. I’m about ready to sell it, i’m about out of ideas. any help is much appreciated!!
It's possible the turbo seals blew, but from my understanding they're like piston rings, not crank seals. So once the oiling issue is resolved, they'll still be fine. Keep in mind every time you attempt a remedy, you need to clean out your intercooler pipes/down pipe of oil to be sure you're not just burning off residual. It's not fun, been there, doing that.
gotcha, that’s good to know. i’ve been doing some research and all its leading back to is oil drain and pcv system. i already have a catch can, maybe my drain is still no good?
if you scroll through i followed it to a T, but im using a moroso catch can located in a different spot
hopefully you can see it in this photo. how should i run it with my setup? it’s a skunk2 intake mani and throttle body btw
Is the PCV hooked up to the intake still? Should be PCV-Catch can-intake manifold.
This puts vacuum on the crankcase while idling, allowing the turbo to drain easier.
Wouldn't doing it this way result in PCV not working at all under boost? I'm also assuming both ports on the valve cover would be going into a single catch can.
Regardless, I've got the Pulsar clone of the same turbo with my catch routing being both ports on the valve cover -> catch can -> breather filter. I haven't had any oil inside or outside of the intercooler or exhaust (other than when my oil drain fitting started coming loose because the idiot mechanic didn't tighten it all the way (it's me, the idiot mechanic)).
Wouldn't doing it this way result in PCV not working at all under boost? I'm also assuming both ports on the valve cover would be going into a single catch can.
Regardless, I've got the Pulsar clone of the same turbo with my catch routing being both ports on the valve cover -> catch can -> breather filter. I haven't had any oil inside or outside of the intercooler or exhaust (other than when my oil drain fitting started coming loose because the idiot mechanic didn't tighten it all the way (it's me, the idiot mechanic)).
I’m running a moroso catch can going from both valve cover ports to the catch can, however there is no vent on the moroso can like i see on some other ones.
maybe i should try one of those vent to atmosphere catch cans with a little filter on the top of it, and keep the routing the same as before? maybe no vent is messing up the crankcase pressure causing the turbo not to drain effectively?
I’m running a moroso catch can going from both valve cover ports to the catch can, however there is no vent on the moroso can like i see on some other ones.
maybe i should try one of those vent to atmosphere catch cans with a little filter on the top of it, and keep the routing the same as before? maybe no vent is messing up the crankcase pressure causing the turbo not to drain effectively?
Okay, this might be a stupid question, but is there an outlet at all to your catch can? In this picture it looks like both hoses are inlets and there isn't an outlet at all. Catch cans require an outlet so the air can actually flow and vent. Without air flowing through it, you've effectively just capped off both ports on the valve cover. If you're running both ports to a single catch can you will need a 3-port (2 in/1 out) catch can. That or two 2-port catch cans, one for each side of the valve cover.
If this is the case, I'd just about bet $100 that it is causing your turbo to leak oil. This setup that would just pressurize the crank case with nowhere to vent to.
The catch can you have is probably designed to be in line, I.e., between your cam cover and intake on either side. You’d need to plumb both cam cover lines to one side of your can and the other to vent. Keep in mind, that’s not a lot of flow so may not be enough if your engine is a heavy breather.
some very useful information here. my catch can is only 2 port, running both lines from the valve cover ports directly to either inlet. just to be clear, here’s my options
1. buy another catch can exactly like what i have, and plumb each one to their own port or
2. buy one of those catch cans with a filter/vent on the top of it and just swap it right out
am i missing anything or did i understand correctly?
I feel like you're missing the light bulb that should have went off in your head just now, but I'm assuming you're just not an enthusiastic guy, and/or you already didn't plan on driving it until this was fixed, which we just did.
I had a customer come in with a catch can setup like yours, looser engine so a little blow by, and I had to replace his cam/crank seals and timing belt, since they all blew out and soaked the timing belt.
option 1 or 2 works, you could also drill/tap your current catch can for ~1/2NPT, get a 1/2npt to 1/2" barb, and put a breath filter on the top. Not sure about the design of your catch can though, it might destroy the "catch" part of it's design. Aka catch oil vapor, let air out. You might end up just spitting all the oil out too.
You could also buy a couple of catch cans from https://www.radiumauto.com/index.aspx mount one for each side, they have built in check valves for boosted applications. They have lots of threaded fitting options, right now you have what looks like -10 fittings on the valve cover, clamped on to (hopefully) 5/8" barbs. With their catch cans, you can have a -10 fitting on both side instead.
not that i didn’t think of that, but this isn’t my daily. i’ve been slowly building an engine for it and a turbo kit over the last 3 years, it only started for the first time a few days ago. not a big deal to spend $30 and amazon will have it tomorrow. and BTW, the lines are going to be full AN now instead of barbs on one side, i’ll send pics of the new setup tomorrow as well as how it went. hopefully first drive
05-20-2024, 08:46 PM
More turbo oiling issuss…
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