This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.

[Smokey Eddy]

I took my dub apart due to incredible oil loss, oil in the intake and rough cold starts.
I got new rings which im doing regardless and i was thinking i needed to rebuild my turbo and that attributed to all of the oil coming into the intake.

However... I have my turbo on my table and i took the cold side off (just the snail part) to measure the play in the shaft at both ends and there is none at all...
Maybe I'm going it wrong?

It doesn't move at all in any direction other than clockwise/counterclockwise. It doesn't move in an out or up and down or side to side... nothing.

Should i still take her apart and do a rebuild + re-balance?
Edit: will post pics for good measure!

OR

Should I change the rings out and see how it goes with new rings because the turbo is relatively easy to take off with the head on and in the car right. Should the oil issue persist i can always fall back on that.

What is the advice of the wise and the masses?

[saurkraut]

Sounds like the bushings are ok, so don't touch them.  it may be that the seal are are tired.  If its a KKK turbo, they're piston ring type seals and are relatively easy to change

[rallydiesel]

You don't need to rebalance if you mark the position of the turbine and compressor wheels relative to each other. This is directly from a turbo rebuilder site (gpopshop). Unless of course there was contact with the housing or damage to the fins.

[Smokey Eddy]

It's a Garett T3.
I wiggled the shaft a little harder today and it sort of "came free" and wiggles now so ... I guess i'll just rebuild while it's all apart and easy to do. Only God knows the last time this turbo was apart... The bolts do NOT look very friendly...

Ok, so if i mark the wheels (niether of which have ANY damage which was to my surprise. the cold side looks perfect... like .. no marks or anything on it anywhere) what is the best method for doing so accurately?

[Smokey Eddy]

Haha Thanks Andrew! You're the best.
So andrew has very nicely pointed out that shaft play is fine. I'll still need to mark where the wheels are though yes as i have to take it completely apart to change the seals that are possibly leaking the oil into the intake?

[Smokey Eddy]

Thanks budd that's what i'll do.
Phew, saved me a potentially very expensive and worst of all pointless job.
So that being the case, when would you ever rebuild a turbo like ours?

[macka]

So that being the case, when would you ever rebuild a turbo like ours?

If it went bang, or my brother in law built it.

[Smokey Eddy]

The compressor looks good

Just wondering what this tube is for? that goes from the waste gate actuator to the inlet of the turbo...


Also, if I don't feed the blow by into the intake pre-turbo and just use a ... "to atmosphere" breather would that be damaging to the turbo as it won't get oil vapour coming past it anymore? :S seems like a silly question but i figured there had to be a reason VW decided to feed the blow by into the turbo...

[theman53]

Your valves won't get the oil if you don't put it into the intake before the turbo. Also, I would imagine bad things happening if you tried to "vent" the oil in after the turbo 

[Smokey Eddy]

hahahahhahahah Yeah i bet bad things would happen too
ok thanks. But why do you want to get oil on the valves there? It doesn't make sense to me.

[rallydiesel]

The only reason the crank case vent goes back into the intake is for environmental reasons. If you don't want to route it back into the intake you have three choices.

1) Have it expel straight to atmosphere. This is called an elephant hose due to its shape. The oil accumulates at the bottom but lots just goes straight into the environment because its a fine oily mist. Kind of barbaric and I would not recommend it.

2) Put an inline filter in. Some types are the Mann Provent, Old Navy or you could make your own with some farm supply parts easily

3) Make or buy an oil catch can that has a filter and vents to atmosphere. This is pretty much the same as #1 but with a filter so you're not dumping oil into the air.


And the little hose on the turbo is the wastegate pressure line. That's what tells the wastegate to open at a certain pressure. If you crimp that line off, the wastegate will stay closed.

[theman53]

No really there is a service bulletin somewhere that says the valves like the oil mist they get from the valve cover. I think VW was always over doing themselves, but this one makes sense to me. Almost like when gas cars went from lead to unleaded. If it were me I would leave it there, but that is me.

[Smokey Eddy]

I'd idealy likely to remove the waste gate entirely if at all possible. I thought the much larger hose that came off the waste gate actuated it... I filled that hose with JB weld and my boost was un-regulated. Perhaps i'll just remove both and just but normal bolts in where the fittings used to be?
no?

I'd like to go with an oil catcher so that im never "losing" oil... and the oil gets caught in the filter and drips down back into the cam... is this reasonable?
anyone have a set up already?

Also, since basically no other manufacturers vent into the intake I don't think i'm too worried about it. I figure it was just an easy solution for the venting + oil vapour. After all diesel is just oil...
But then again that oil vapour keeps all the turbo parts + head a little bit, from weathering, rusting what have you. Nothing keeps metal clean (underneath it that is) like oil.

[jtanguay]

do what VW did on the 1.9's. have a drain to the block so that you still get oil mist going to the intake, but any massive blowby can drain back into the sump.

[Smokey Eddy]

do what VW did on the 1.9's. have a drain to the block so that you still get oil mist going to the intake, but any massive blowby can drain back into the sump.

Interesting. So replace the hose from the breather to the intake with one that has a T in it and have that T drain back into the cam cover (easiest location) and just past the T have some sort of "catcher" or filter of sorts that catches the oil and lets it dribble back into the cam cover. That's a pretty easy mod.... hose with a T, filter and a drilled hole in the cam cover with a rubber gromet. What really makes me wonder is ... why can you have the cam cover off and run the engine and still have oil pressure? that doesn't make sense to me. Is the pressure merely the restriction from the holes that the oil comes out of for the lifters and to oil the cam?