I think I need a new turbo - HELP!

[AZ88Turbo]

Looks like I'm going to be needing a new turbo (oil in turbo intake). Does anybody know if this would also contribute to my car using lots of oil?

I have an 88 Turbo, can anyone reccomend a place to buy a new turbo from and what to buy?

Thanks,

Mark

[lotusguy]

Mark,

Calm down... your turbo simply needs to be rebuilt. Get out your yellow pages and look up Diesel repair, these guys have been rebuilding turbos forever and have it down to a science. Look for one which specifies Garrett/Airesearch as you've got a Garrett T-3 turbo.

They will tear it down, clean it up, replace the bearing and seals and anything else which needs repair. Then, they will dynamically balance it all for under $400. Also, have then put new mounting studs on it as they are usually shot after you get the crush nuts off them.

I had mine done at a local place which did excellent work and has done 3 of the turbos in our club. They did an excellent job and in addition to the turbo, I also had them install a roller bearing as opposed to the stock race bearing and clean and rebuild my wastegate and recalibrate it to 10.0 PSI of boost.

If you cannot find a local source for repair, consider these guys as they do accept out of state work. Turnaround is 2-3 days and shipping should be under $30. My total bill was $400 incl. some shipping to have the turbo body ceramic coated. Their info is as follows:

Diesel & Import Auto/Truck Service
9102 Isanti Street
Blaine, MN 55449
[phone]
www.dieselandimport.com

Ask for Dave, he's the shop Manager and is who I dealt with. Hope this helps...Happy Motoring! Jim'85TE

[az88turbo]

Hi Jim,

I started to take off the intake and output hoses to remove the turbo. The turbo fan has a little play in it but only about 1mm (guess). When taking off the intake hose I noticed a crack in it. I taped it up and put it back on and low and behold my boost is back up around .5 bar. I don't think that solved the oil usage problem though. Do you think I should still get my turbo rebuilt? or do you think that the play in the fan is ok?

I guess I should try to find a new intake hose too.

Thanks for your help,

Mark

[lotusguy]

Mark,

The crack in your intake hose wouldn't mean a thing as regards turbo boost. This hose merely takes in air for the turbo to compress. It really doesn't matter whether the air is drawn through the airbox/air filter or straight from the atmosphere.

Sorry to have to tell you, but, if you have an oily intake side to the turbo, your seal is blown to one degree or another and needs replacing.

This will also cause excess oil consumption as the oil is being drawn through the bad seal and is being forced into the plenum/throttle body/engine along with the air the turbo compresses. If you remove your plenum cover, I expect that you will have a pubble of oil in there. You should rebuild the turbo and also thoroughly clean the plenum, throttle bodies and even the injectors. It's not all that bad to get it sorted out. Good Luck. Happy Motoring! Jim'85TE

[az88turbo]

Hi Jim,

I agree, I don't want something worse to go wrong by not fixing the inexpensive thing first. I'll remove the plenum cover tomorrow and take a look. I did notice that there was no oil in the outlet side of the turbo or pipe (the red hose to the intake on the FI system), I find that strange as I thought the oil would get sucked through from the air intake in to there. It is strange how the boost came back this evening though after fixing the pipe. The car starts well now and the only thing I have to complain about is that it won't idle when cold.

I have found a company here in Phoenix that seem to know what they are doing with turbo's, there website is www.turbosunleashed.com. Chris was very helpfull when I spoke with him this evening and the turbo rebuild is only about $400.

Thanks for all your help Jim.

Mark

[cnh1990]

You would not have by chance over filled the oil?
If you do the oil will froth and barf up the crank case ventalator and the oil will be sucked into to the turbo intake. Next time you change oil keep track of how many quarts is required to fill it. Hope you got the right oil dip stick for your car. May not be the problem but who knows.
Calvin

[AZ88Turbo]

Hi Calvin,

I did the oil change last week. I was very careful to ensure I didn’t overfill and did it in very small increments when filling (starting the car briefly to let the oil circulate). The oil was just below the high line when I had completed the change and checked the level after a few miles driving.

At the weekend I took the car for a drive of about 150 miles. By the time I got back the oil level was just below the low level. I topped it up and did another 100 miles, checked it again and the same thing occurred.

The plugs are clean but there are signs that oil is being blown out of the exhaust (not blue smoke but splatters on the floor). The oil leak that was evident before I changed the oil has gone now (nothing on the garage floor at all). I think this was coming from the drain plug as it had a makeshift gasket on it which I replaced.

The car only has 24k miles on it so the piston/oil rings shouldn’t be worn yet I wouldn’t think. I checked the intake and outlet again this morning and there is now no evidence of oil in either, just can’t understand it.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Also if anyone has any idea how to set the idle when the car is cold please let me know (this is the only running problem I have now: the car won’t idle when cold).

Thanks for your help everyone.

Mark


>> Edited by AZ88Turbo on Wednesday 16th April 17:08

[cnh1990]

Do me a favor and check the oil level in the morning and tell what the level is. Also insert the dip stick take the first reading, then rotate the dip stick 180 degrees then take another reading. It takes a long time before oil rests in the sump to take an accurate reading. If you take a reading too soon after stopping the engine it will read low. As the sump flares as it gets closer to the top of it even a little over on the dip stick is a fairly large volume of oil. The specks on the ground may not be oil it may be a mix of water vapor and unburnt fuels that leave black specks on the garage floor during cat heat up. Maybe related to cold idle not working. Not sure about if the EBPV is funtioning right or if your model has one. I sure wish Robert were reading this, He has the 88 Bosch experience. It would be real easy to help if you had an SE. I send Robert an Email about you car. Don't know where he is for now.
Calvin

[AZ88Turbo]

I checked the oil the morning after I did the 100 miles and it was still low. I didn’t try rotating the dipstick though, will try tonight.

I’m not sure what an EBPV valve is. I know I have the Bosh fuel injection witch uses almost a mechanical ECU with lots of thermal switches. I looked in the book last night and I can’t find anything about setting the cold idle, only replacing the cold-start parts.

Thanks for sending the email to Robert, hopefully he will be able to help.

Cheers,

Mark