Oil in hose to intercooler

[nate379]

Oil in teh hose to the intercooler, is that normal on these cars?

Oil level has never dropped, but oil is ending up in that hose (easy to check)

When I pulled the stock turbo off my Cummins powered truck, it had 215,000 miles and there was a light oil mist and that was it... nothing nearly as bad as the car has.

 

[spiceredwagon]

Mine dripped on the ground from the lower inter cooler connection. It was under warranty and the stealer replaced the seal in the hose coupling. If I had not had experience with a Peugeot and Mercedes having oil wet pipes after the turbo I would have been more concerned about it. A small amount of oil makes a big mess in those pipes.

 

[4bostons]

I too have oil in my IC pipes, I have also started to use more oil than normal. Could the turbo seals start leaking slowly or do they usually go bad all at once?

 

[BleachedBora]

Little bit of oil/mist is normal. If you have a cup or more down there then it's a bit more serious. Eventually you could end up with a runaway if the seal totally fails. Start budgeting for a turbo if you're seeing more and more oil down there.

 

[TonyJetta]

You'll also want to keep an eye on oil consumption. My turbo was leaking about 1/4-3/8 qt of oil every 750 miles (tankful of fuel). After the turbo change, I'm down to ~1/4 qt every 3000 miles.

As others have mentioned, oil misting of the turbo piping is completely normal. When you start accumulating oil in the low points of the piping, is when you'll have issues.

Tony

 

[4bostons]

Why not just replace the seals in the turbo if the only issue is the leaking oil??

 

[TonyJetta]

Why not just replace the seals in the turbo if the only issue is the leaking oil??

To replace the seals, you have to separate the compressor wheel from the shaft. To get it back together, you will NEVER be able to clock it right so that you won't have to rebalance it. Balance is critical to long life for a turbo that spins 100k rpm or more.

Tony

 

[TornadoRed]

Oil in the pipe before the intercooler can also come from the positive crankcase vent. In there past there have been heated debates over which source is most often the greatest. I do not think this question was totally resolved.

 

[MonsterTDI09]

Try not to let the car idle to long ,some oil will pass bye.Example like stop and go traffic once in while increase the rpm 30 sec or so.Raising the rpm you put pressure on the seals in the turbo and the pistion rings.I would check if there is play on the turbo shaft.

 

[nate379]

No stop and go traffic. I drive ~80 miles a day at 55-65mph. Only 1 stoplight on my whole trip.

 

[need4speed]

This was one of the symptoms prior to my turbo failure. Seals leaked, oil collected in the intake. Oil consumption was negligible at first, then it got worse and worse over about 3 months; (then it got really bad).

Run ons: . . . think fast! Put it in 5th, and jam on the brakes as soon as its engaged. Both of my run-ons happened right as I was accelerating, and upshifting. When the engine was unloaded between gears, it revved up when my foot was off the acc. pedal, so I put it in 5th. 5th will maximize the mechanical advantage to stop the engine with the brakes. You want to force the engine to stall.

When the first run-on happened, I thought it was a fluke. When the second one happened, I ordered the replacement turbo, and swapped it over a 3-day weekend.

The shaft-seal was blown, tons of play, and the intake vanes were all chewed up. It's likely something was ingested at some point. The VNT 17 I replaced it with has been running great. But cleaning out all the intake plumbing was a huge task. Oil gets in there, and turns into a nasty sludge.

 

[TornadoRed]

Oil in teh hose to the intercooler, is that normal on these cars?

Oil level has never dropped, but oil is ending up in that hose (easy to check)

How much oil? As has been mentioned several times, some oil collecting at this low point, right before the intercooler, is totally normal. It is also normal for this oil to come from either the turbo or the PCV valve or both. Consult an expert before deciding that a new turbo needed, because the one you have may be fine for another 50k or 100k miles. Or not.

 

[nate379]

I didn't measure. Wiped out with a rag, but it's enough to make droplets. I didn't pull the pipe at the bottom, just up top by the turbo.

 

[lekolite]

What you describe is normal. If you're concerned, check down at the intercooler. Thats the lowpoint.