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General Information => General => Topic started by: Smokey Eddy on October 31, 2009, 05:22:21 am

Title: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: Smokey Eddy on October 31, 2009, 05:22:21 am
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?
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: saurkraut on October 31, 2009, 09:17:14 am
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
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: rallydiesel on October 31, 2009, 04:19:04 pm
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.
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: Smokey Eddy on October 31, 2009, 05:03:01 pm
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?
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: Smokey Eddy on October 31, 2009, 10:53:28 pm
Haha Thanks Andrew! :D 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?
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: Smokey Eddy on November 01, 2009, 02:24:33 am
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?
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: macka on November 03, 2009, 06:10:09 pm

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. :D
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: Smokey Eddy on November 04, 2009, 02:18:51 am
The compressor looks good
(http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f279/edmcclung/SSPX8077.jpg)
Just wondering what this tube is for? that goes from the waste gate actuator to the inlet of the turbo...
(http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f279/edmcclung/SSPX8081.jpg)

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...
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: theman53 on November 04, 2009, 08:26:24 am
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  ;D
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: Smokey Eddy on November 04, 2009, 01:30:44 pm
hahahahhahahah Yeah i bet bad things would happen too :P
ok thanks. But why do you want to get oil on the valves there? It doesn't make sense to me.
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: rallydiesel on November 04, 2009, 02:46:16 pm
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.
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: theman53 on November 04, 2009, 06:17:12 pm
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.
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: Smokey Eddy on November 05, 2009, 01:18:59 am
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.
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: jtanguay on November 09, 2009, 01:40:35 pm
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.
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: Smokey Eddy on November 09, 2009, 02:56:51 pm
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?
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: jtanguay on November 10, 2009, 03:04:32 pm
Is the pressure merely the restriction from the holes that the oil comes out of for the lifters and to oil the cam?

yes  ;D although you wouldn't want to run an engine for long without the VC... and 1x with libbybapa.

my 1.6TD had the problem of the dipstick shooting out if i drove the car hard... the sump vent to intake would virtually eliminate that (common) problem.
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: Smokey Eddy on November 10, 2009, 05:02:38 pm
That's not the right way to do it.  You want hose from the block to enter the port of the puck that is stuck into the valve cover.  Teeing into the hose from puck to intake would bypass the oil separator/pressure control valve entirely.

Edit: so what kind of line should i use and how exactly should it go into the sump? drill a hole, add a nipple of some sort and then thread that in with a nut on the inside (because the wall of the sump pan is so thin) and use lots of teflon tape... I don't have a welder to weld a nipple on it...

2nd Edit: does anyone have a write up on this or have they done it them selves?
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: Smokey Eddy on November 10, 2009, 05:08:58 pm
Is the pressure merely the restriction from the holes that the oil comes out of for the lifters and to oil the cam?

yes  ;D although you wouldn't want to run an engine for long without the VC... and 1x with libbybapa.

my 1.6TD had the problem of the dipstick shooting out if i drove the car hard... the sump vent to intake would virtually eliminate that (common) problem.

Is the dipstick firing out due to blow-by?

Edit: and im trying to AVOID blow-by entering the intake... i don't want ANY oil going past the valves. It really gums everything up :S
Title: Re: This is a question about turbos, rebuilds and oil issues.
Post by: jtanguay on November 12, 2009, 01:05:49 am
Is the pressure merely the restriction from the holes that the oil comes out of for the lifters and to oil the cam?

yes  ;D although you wouldn't want to run an engine for long without the VC... and 1x with libbybapa.

my 1.6TD had the problem of the dipstick shooting out if i drove the car hard... the sump vent to intake would virtually eliminate that (common) problem.

Is the dipstick firing out due to blow-by?

Edit: and im trying to AVOID blow-by entering the intake... i don't want ANY oil going past the valves. It really gums everything up :S

yep dipstick firing out due to blow by at high rpm/boost. but now i have my mTDI that i haven't really pushed due to slipping clutch :(

at least on your engine you don't need to worry about the EGR gunk  ;D but yea reducing blow-by is really good idea if theres a lot. it would be cool if there was a way to use the force of the incoming air to create a centrifuge to sling the oil out... but a much less complicated setup would be to either add a filter to the intake and a pipe running to the sump, or just running the simple catch can.