Am I facing Turbo Trouble?

[Chris]

Guys, genuinely I know sod all about turbos. OK OK they're an exhaust powered fan that increases air flow into the engine, I'm not a total numpty, but in terms of failure and faults, I am rather green. OK there are bearings that can fail. Right. Oil can stop flowing and they seize. Yep. Got all that but what about leaks and seals and stuff? My 80 runs absolutely fine. No issues. No horrendous smoke or anything and it goes like a train, but having cleaned it all off once there really does seem to be a good coating of black oil around the turbo area. Is this condensate running back down the pipe into the blower from the rocker cover? Is it an oil leak out of the turbo? Is it some sort of seal that's going? Is it leaking oil delivery pipes?

See, I really don't have a clue. What's the general consensus on oily old turbos? I don't want to be halfway to Romania and be in trouble. Is there much you can do with a turbo if you pull it off and stick it on the bench or are they throwaway items (not cheap items obviously) It's maybe an 80 question more than a general one but I'd like the perceived wisdom on this from a Landcruiser perspective. What do we know as being generally the common cause of oily LC turbos?

Educated comments please. It's not a loose door handle or low washer fluid. My tyres have plenty of tread and the ashtray is empty. Speculative guesswork will receive harsh comment. You know who you are

Have I most likely got another million miles of trouble free motoring ahead or it is dooooomed? It's pretty much coating the whole thing as far as I can see and no it's not spilled engine oil from an oil change. It's black

C

 

[Gary Stockton]

Hmmm...

 

[stumog]

Is this on the outside of the turbo or inside. If its the outside its likely to be the oil feed pipe or the main housing seal i would have thought.
If inside can be seal inside seperating the oil way to the turbine. You can reseal them but i have not or seen one done as we just fitted new as not our money. I did see a turbo seal kit on eblag the other day.
Stu

 

[Shayne]

A fine sort of oil mist running through the system is normal that's why your throttle body can get coked up . Do you have an intercooler fitted ? If so my personal observation is a cold start to move the truck a few foot before stopping the engine and removing the intercooler and pipework revealed an alarming amount of oil , it was literally dripping . Confused - to thin to be oil - doesn't smell like diesel ....... condensation maybe . Put it all back together went for a mile drive then pulled it all apart again . Everything looked fine so yeah condensation .

 

[Towpack]

Is it downstream of the turbo or upstream? I used to get quite a bit of oil from the CV pipe from the rocker cover. So much so that the inlet side of the turbo was wet. If the clip round the inlet hose isn't tight enough the oil can weep past onto the outside of the turbo housing. I fitted an oil catch can/seperator which cured 95% of this. I'm in the same boat as regards good performance and virtually zero smoke. Very slight play in the turbo bearing is nothing to worry about IMO. I have slight play on mine and it's been like it for the last 50k miles. Too much play usually means excessive exhaust smoke initially and can lead to catastrophic failure of the turbo if it gets bad enough.
Personally I wouldn't attempt a turbo bearing or seal repair but rather go for a new or recon exchange unit from a reputable Co.

 

[Chris]

Photos of what exactly Gary? It's a turbo covered in oil. Not a great deal to say more than that. It's a standard set up no cooler on it or anything.

Stu I have no idea what the inside of the turbo is like. It's bolted to the car and always has been so I can't really say.

TP, I'd say mostly it's the bottom half of the turbo housing, but there is oil evidence around the large flexible pipe joints. I know these engines can be a bit oily in terms of mist from the rocker cover. I could try a catch can, I've had one before.

I'll ry to clean it all up again and then maybe watch it a bit more closely if I can to see where it's coming from. I'd hazard a guess that its juice running back down into the turbo from somewhere. The PS pump is pretty wet too. But that's just something else to faff about with.

I don't look under there daily, but with having to pull the clutch / gearbox recently I have spent many hours looking up at it thinking Why are you so oily?

 

[Shayne]

Under my turbo from a very minor leak in the pipe I used to think only returned air . Not sure how long it had been leaking for but a better clamp on the pipe sealed it and no problems so far . Oils coming out under pressure so could travel a fair way I suppose .

 

[Chris]

It's pretty localised Shayne. It's not dripping. Just a sort of slow creeping spread. As I am not losing oil, it does point more to condensate etc. But was just hoping this was a common one that was simply a case of .......and sorted.

 

[Olazz]

What's the cost of a new GT26 Turbo then ? The ones on Ebay for a couple of hundred dollars are Chinese made copies I presume.

If its a concern CJ, why not install one of those spanking Garrett turbos that the LC community seem to rave about?

May just do that with my new, blue, intercooler!

 

[Chris]

TBH I don't want to fit anything new anywhere at all. I am just searching the LC knowledge database about reasons for a turbo being oily and what makes it terminal and what's just symptoms of an old car that are to be expected but not terminal and in fact might be fixable. It runs perfectly. It does sound rather as though it's not something catastrophic.

Can you get those GT26s in blue?

 

[Gary820]

Do they have a filter in the crank breather system? In the cam cover or anything? Also know as an oil separator.
See issues with them (obviously not on an lc) old filter cartridges types used to block and cause poor breathing, oil leaks usually followed from the intake system and worst case was turbo failure but that's because the oil would sludge up and block the oil lines, again not lcs and up to 20 k miles service


When I had the isuzus I fitted an oil catch tank as got a lot of oil in the intercooler which always found its way out.

 

[Chris]

Yes, that's partly my concern Gary that if the oil ends up going through the turbo vanes it won't do it any good. If it's just running down the outside, who cares. I shall be on the truck again at the weekend so I shall pay a bit more attention to where it's coming from.

 

[Gary820]

I wouldn't worry too much about a bit of oil going through the turbo vanes, I could go outside and take the intercooler or even the intake pipe off my beemer with 4k on it and have oil in there. Tbh it's designed that the crank case gasses go from the cam cover, into the intake pipe through the turbo/intercooler then intake manifold to be burned off. Not studied the lc but assume to be similar?

Fine mist/thin coating is generally crankcase gasses, as said above a hose clip needing a nip could cause it.
It's why I wondered if they had a filter/oil separator in there?
If not an oil catch tank plumbed in or even fitting an oil separator into the crankcase breather pipe ( between crankcase and cam cover) would reduce the oil within the cc gases.

Going back a few years, used to retro fit these on Vauxhall petrol engines as the cc gasses used to cause carbon build up in the intake and cause running issues, basically a gauze filter in a box so the oil dripped back down into the sump and the gas went on its merry way towards the intake via the cam cover
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/281185938209?nav=SEARCH

 

[karl webster]

To be honest Chris most trucks that I have Had,seen and worked on have been similar to what you will have. Don't know why so can't help you on that one.

The cheap ebay ones aren't worth a penny. I have loads of calls from people who have bought the cheap ones and ended up buying a second hand genuine unit. A guy has done that tonight with me. His hasn't failed but he's gone for a safer option.

 

[Chris]

Thanks Karl. Not rare then.

 

[Chris]

Wow, page 3 of Paul's thread is a useful look see at the turbo. I shall have my polishing cloths ready at the weekend.

http://www.landcruiserclub.net/forums/showthread.php/52114-Paul-s-80-photo-thread/page3

 

[Towpack]

I wouldn't worry too much about a bit of oil going through the turbo vanes, I could go outside and take the intercooler or even the intake pipe off my beemer with 4k on it and have oil in there. Tbh it's designed that the crank case gasses go from the cam cover, into the intake pipe through the turbo/intercooler then intake manifold to be burned off. Not studied the lc but assume to be similar?

Fine mist/thin coating is generally crankcase gasses, as said above a hose clip needing a nip could cause it.
It's why I wondered if they had a filter/oil separator in there?
If not an oil catch tank plumbed in or even fitting an oil separator into the crankcase breather pipe ( between crankcase and cam cover) would reduce the oil within the cc gases.

Going back a few years, used to retro fit these on Vauxhall petrol engines as the cc gasses used to cause carbon build up in the intake and cause running issues, basically a gauze filter in a box so the oil dripped back down into the sump and the gas went on its merry way towards the intake via the cam cover
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/281185938209?nav=SEARCH

That's what I've fitted in the CCV pipe on my LC and it works a treat. The oil doesn't drain back into the sump but we're not talking large quantities of oil so I just flush it out every 1000m or so.

 

[Chris]

Like I say, had one before. Think I might clean it all up then check hoses etc and fit some sort of can. I originally though it captrured and cooled vapour into liquid but in truth it really was somewhere for the oil to just dribble