aaronrossta

Sorry if this is a big multi-pieced question, normally I would normally just try to find a thread where someone has answered my question but I feel that I should involve myself in the community of the car I so dearly love. I'm having a few issues since I've installed my DIY turbo setup. The interesting part of all of this is that the TURBO, WASTEGATE, MANIFOLD, DOWNPIPE, BOV, & CATCH CAN, were all previously installed in my roomates 1.6l '92 before he literally flipped it in the local canyons. we both have slightly different versions of Megasquirt. Both have 1.6L but ill get into the differences below.

MY SETUP:
ISR Performance T25
BEGI Manifold
Custom shop made downpipe w/o flexpipe
Turbo Smart Kompact BOV
Mishimoto IC

Some differences between his set up and mine:
HIS: -had the pre-existing factory hi pressure oil feed on the exhaust side of the block.
-never ran the turbo without the BOV
-got up to 10 psi max with no ping no issues
The turbo ran perfectly for ~ 1k-3k miles until he flipped the car, then it went to mine.

MINE: -my engine is a japanese import engine, no factory oil feed on exhaust side of block.
-had to run an oil filter sandwich with oil feed line for turbo.
-ran for ~500 miles without BOV before installing BOV
-encountering issues currently at 6psi

PROBLEM: -Turbo is burning oil and smoking at idle after hitting any boost.
-Increased oil consumption. (~50mi drive consumed/burned ~1L of oil after fresh 10W-30 change, BOSCH filter since some filters lower oil pressure from what I've heard?)
-Oil pressure is at about 60psi on a cold start, 40psi at warm IDLE and if i get on the throttle at all it pretty quickly shoots up to 90psi by like 4k rpm

HYPOTHESIS: #1 -running the turbo without a bov wounded some of the seals & so now oil is seeping past the seals & being burned?
#2 -the oil filter sandwich is somehow supercharging oil feed pressure? doesn't make any sense to me.. but ISR says not to run a -4an fitting to the turbo w/o an oil restrictor; both instructions my roommate apparently ignored, or maybe he thought his -4an to -3an fitting adapter was restricting oil pressure. either way, he was NOT having any issues when this was on his car.

SOLUTION(S): -I ordered an oil restrictor banjo fitting. hopefully this will solve my issue. But I have a feeling it won't, if that doesn't fix the issue, what would you guys suggest I try to resolve the issue?
-If the restrictor doesn't help, should I rebuild the turbo for the guarantee of the seals being good?

SpartanSV

What have you done to confirm the oil is coming from the turbo seals?

borka

iTrader: (1)

90psi oil pressure is way way too high, something is up with oil pump relieve valve. Oil should be around 45psi when driving.

too much pressure and unrestricted 4an line will surely cause way too much oil for turbo seals to deal with.

figure out why oil pressure is so high and put a restrictor

aaronrossta

Oil smoke is appearing from the CRHA, against the turbine housing, after any boost.
are there other reasons the CRHA/ Turbine housing would smoke/burn oil?

side note to remember: my oil pressure gauge is reading ~90psi while crusing above 4k rpm (10w30, bosch filter)

borka

iTrader: (1)

oil line fitting into turbo could be leaking. I had that problem, had to tighten my oil line a few times to stop it leaking.

1L oil in 50 miles is one helluva leak.

oil drain fitting is above oil level in the pan?

mj1176

listen to borka and do a search, you need a restrictor.

aaronrossta

oil line fitting is very snug, checked all oil feed + drain lines for proper working order before posting this, and yes oil drain is above oil level, sorry for wasting time, I knew there was something i was leaving out of my long *** post

aaronrossta

Already ordered a restrictor.

aaronrossta

EDIT: went for a hour long cruse + some 3rd to 5th gear pulls this afternoon and the oil gauge was acting normal. 45-65psi max. none of this weird 90psi ****. my gauge was bouncing and acting odd this morning, gauge must have just been reading inaccurately, unless my oil pump is going bad..? do they do that, or will it just stop pumping period?

SpartanSV

They can do that but an issue with the gauge or sender is more likely IMO.

I would pull the down pipe and the coupler on the compressor housing to confirm the oil is from the turbo.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

If you have hit 90 PSI previously and it won't do it now and you are intermittently having oil pressure dropping on the gauge you are experiencing a failure of the oil pressure relief valve. This happened to me and several others on this site. Mine occurred when the exhaust heated the dipstick handle too much and it melted within the tube and sent molten plastic throughout my oil system. One of those droplets of plastic held my oil pressure relief valve open. But it can occur with any impurities in your oil.

The only resolution is to remove the engine and replace the oil pump.

x_25

When I first got my NA, it would run up to 90psi at high RPMs. Some Rotella and driving it more (it sat a lot before I got it) fixed that right up. It has been right as rain ever since (50k miles).

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

It was probably gummed up.

x_25

Yup. That was what I figured. I had no idea it was wrong until after it dropped suddenly one day, wouldn't go above 60 and I did research on it, lol.

aaronrossta

Its not that its dropping from 90psi to 60 ect. It was going to 60psi then spiking to 90psi quickly and sporadically, like a glitch. this was early in the morning.

after work i went for an hour cruse with some pulls and it never went above ~60psi.

this morning Ill drive to work. Ill leave an update on how the oil pressure behaves shortly.

thanks for all the help guys, I hope I dont have to pull the engine... but I do have my roomates 1.6 that this turbo was originally on, sittin in the garage... just need to get the dirt and **** out + replace valve cover before I can swap it

aaronrossta

SO, after I let it warm up to ~100degF and started the drive to work.

Before it got to full operating temp (~170-180) the oil psi would go above 60 to ~80-90 on acceleration.

Once It was at full operating temp, oil psi would not go above ~60 +- 5psi on hard accel.

That seems much more normal. yesterday I took the short way to work (less than 10 mins) and didnt let it warm up as much before driving.

andyfloyd

I think the reason for the smoke is the lack of a restrictor and possibly the drain line getting backed up.

aaronrossta

Almost a week later and I finally get that restrictor banjo!

No more burning oil smell/smoke from CRHA.