So I installed a new turbo (K04) about 5000 km, 1.5 months ago. Everything seemed to have gone well. No leaks, and car pulled strong without losing oil.

Lately (past week) I noticed I was losing oil quicker than usual so I topped up my oil last night. Today I did a couple of WOT pulls on the highway, nothing crazy or unusual. I checked my oil after and found it had dropped 1 notch which I believe is about 1/5 quart.

Over the past weekend I had taken off the intake coupler at the turbo inlet to clean it. Since the dipstick dropped so quickly, I decided to pop the coupler off again today and surely there was oil. Then I took off the upper charge pipe and found oil too. Not a lot, but it was not a trace amount either.

I checked for shaft play. Very slight play parallel to shaft axis, no play up and down. Seems to be the same as when it was brand new.

I also took out the fitting for the crankcase breather from the turbo to check for oil. It looked relatively dry when I looked inside.

This turbo was brand new from mongorat so I don't believe there was anything wrong with it. I really hope there's an explanation other than the turbo is blown. Any thoughts?

 

Clogged drain?

 

I'm really hoping this might be the case but it seems so unlikely. Everything was fine for about 4 weeks until recently. What would cause it to suddenly clog?

Don't have time to sort it tonight. Will look tomorrow.

Edit: Come to think of it, does the direction of the drain to turbo gasket matter? I recall the two sides looking slightly different. Don't remember which side I faced towards the turbo.

 

Could a bad pcv valve cause this issue? How is the PCV valve taken out of the intake manifold?

 

Yeah that is possible

 

You remove the IM and it's sitting in the IM where it mates to the head.

I think this valve is unlikely to be an issue. It is a one-way check valve that prevents boost pressure from building in the crankcase. If it fails that is what would happen, not excess oil consumption. If PCV is your issue the problem would be excess vacuum in the crankcase pulling excess oil. That is also unlikely because it is controlled via orifices not valves. Our PCV does suck significant oil vapors but short of getting an oil separator we have no control over it. At the same time, it's hard for an issue like that to develop.

 

Replaced the PCV tonight. Sure enough the old one was blowing through both directions. Haven't driven enough to confirm that this was the problem. My fingers are crossed.

 

I never tried blowing into my PCV when I had it out. Did you test the new one to see if it actually prevents pass through?

 

Yes I did. The whole point of a pcv valve is to be a check valve.

 

The excessive pressure can cause oil to be places where it shouldnt be, ie burned

 

So the PCV valve fixed the issue... sort of.

I am still getting blow-by. However, I am not losing a notch of oil per day like before. Oil level seems relatively stable now.

I took the car to the track today and the blow-by was causing my charge pipes to pop. This never happened before but I am not sure if the increase blow-by is due to the age of the motor. Its near 180k kms now.

 

Not sure how blow-by caused your charge pipes to pop off. Unless you had excess oil in the intercooler and charge pipes and the oil reduced the clamping force. Clean the charge pipes and see.

 

The blow-by was causing excess oil in the charge pipe which with the turbo pressure lead to oil slipping between the coupler and the pipe.

You have to realize that the popping is a symptom of the root problem which is excessive blow-by. What I need to know is whether blow-by is normal for a motor of this age, or if I have deeper underlying issues.

In the interim, a catch can + rolled beads on my charge pipes will probably be the fix. The Powell unit is quite expensive. Are there cheaper alternatives?

 

If you never cleaned the charge pipes and intercooler after changing the pcv then that's part of the issue.

I find it odd that oil would be able to make it between a compressed silicone coupler and the charge pipe. Also what charge pipes are you running that aren't bead rolled?

 

Its not that odd. You're essentially forcing oil in the seam at 23 psi. My charge pipe was cut by the previous owner because he installed a BOV. This has since been removed so the cut seam was patched using a coupler. I will look into getting this seam welded together.

 

I've taken my charge pipe apart multiple time and the PO of my car had turbo seals die on him (lucky didn't lock the motor) a tight clamp on a pipe should not move at all and there should be space for oil to make it. Knowing there is a cut in the charge pipe that makes it more likely since there is likely texture that prevents a tight seal. That makes sense, not in a standard joint even non bead rolled.

Just make a bead roller and clean the coating on the mating surface off.

 

So just an update. I lost about 2/5 qt of oil from road racing the car yesterday. Not sure if this is cause for alarm or not?

 

Do you run a road race pan? I wouldn't let the car get to 3 quarts of oil as the stock pan probably would be dry on turns at that level. If you have a trapdoor pan that can keep some kind of level, then maybe.

 

I think he's saying it lost 0.4 quarts not two full quarts.

 

Ahh

 

Yes, 2/5ths of a quart.

 

Starting to lose oil again. Not as much as before, about 100 mL over 70 km. This only happens if I go WOT a few times during the drive. Going to yank the drain out this weekend to have a look. I hate this car.

 

What happened to your old turbo? Did you consume any oil at all before the new turbo?

 

No, it was fine. Taking the drain off this weekend. Really hoping this is it.

Unless the PCV failed again... /facepalm

 

Nope it wasn't the drain. Going to look at the PCV again tomorrow.

I installed a catch can... it caught nothing.

I see a plume of smoke in my rearview mirror when I go WOT. All signs seem to point to a bad turbo. What could cause it to fail so early?