This is the 92,000 mile 850 turbo wagon that i have had for two weeks now. The first 5 days no leaking, then i put in 10-30 synthetic blend oil and immediately got a leak from the turbo area. It makes a spot about 2 inches across every night in the garage. After about 4 days of that i drained the synthetic blend and put in conventional 10-30 and the leak is still going on. I traced the flow and found the following: The oil pools in the bottom of the fresh air intake hose right where it is clamped to the intake side of the turbo. I examined and swabbed the inside of the PCV hoses that go into the intake in that area and they are clean, no fresh oil is entering the intake/turbo from the PCV system. All the oil connections to the turbo are clean on the outside. For the oil to be inside the intake and front of the turbo, and not from the PCV hoses, I'm guessing the leak must be from inside the turbo itself. It leaks enough to make the small puddle/spot every night, but does not appear to make smoke when under full power. It did smoke the first day I had it but that smoke seems to be gone now after I ran a tank of fuel injector cleaner. So is there anything else that will cause fresh oil to be inside the turbo and intake hose directly in front of it? What am i damaging, other than my garage floor, by driving the car? will running oil through the turbo eventually clog the system downstream from the turbo? and what is the ballpark part cost of a new or rebuilt turbo if that's what I need? thanks for any help. Arlo

 

arlo,

You are correct that if there is not any oil coming from the PCV hoses the oil is coming from the turbo charger itself. BUT, do not rule out the PCV system all together. Is there excess crankcase pressure? IE; remove the dipstick with the engine running and place your thumb over the tube. You should feel "slight" vacuum. It is possible that the excess pressure is preventing oil from returning well to the oil pan. If that is not the case then be sure that the oil is definately coming in from the turbo itself by cleaning the fresh are hose and compressor vanes and then check for oil there later. You really are not damaging the engine or turbo any if it is a small abount of oil BUT lets really be sure that is were it is coming from.

If you are relatively handy with tools you can "rebuild" the turbo yourself. Figure about $200 for the kit and any other miscellaneous parts and a weekend to do it. There are some "how-to's" out there on the TD04 turbo and they are pretty easy to do. BUT I recommend buying a "good" rebuild kit not one from Ebay. The kit I purchased from Ebay had a "piston ring" seal that would not fit properly and I ended up having to "re-use" the old one. So I now have an 80% rebuilt turbo which I will pull again in the near future to do it right. (I needed the car back on the road quickly and could not wait for a new kit at the time)

You want to be 100% the turbo itself needs rebuilding and that it is not just PCV or Oil return Gasket troubles.

 

Thank you for that good info. When I checked the PCV pressure last week it seemed to be creating a bit of positive pressure because there was a slight amount of smoke coming out of the dipstick. I will check again at the dipstick and oil filler cap. There is some oil being pushed past the filler cap so this may also indicate positive pressure. If I have positive pressure in the PCV system are you sugesting that this will slow the return of oil from the turbo to the crankcase therefore causing the turbo to allow oil to back up through the turbo internals and then into the end of the intake hose where I have found it? This would be ok with me because the PCV repair is something I can do for sure with the great write-ups and pictures I have seen. I'm sure that the gaskets connecting the oil return line to the turbo are good as far as oil not leaking from them onto the block, the oil is definately coming from the mouth of the turbo and collecting where it connects to the intake with the hose clamp. Maybe I don't see smoke behind the car because when it's running the oil pressure still forces most of the turbo oil through the return line, but when I shut down the backpressure from a bad PCV system forces oil through the turbo to the intake area. Does that make sense? Thanks again.

 

What I did for a similar problem was to remove the intake hise from the turbo ad clen the turbo intake flange and appl some silicone on it and then put the intake hose on it and rotated the clamps position before tightening it to dislocate it from the original location.

Basically a good seal at that joint. Its never leaked from there although I had little pressure inside the engine from the leaking exhaust valve seals (major work). This pressure is still there inspite of new PCV job and what not done on the engine.

 

I juts drove enough to warm up the car and checked the dipstick. At first it pushed out a little smoke, then nothig. I felt no suction at the dipstick, then i put the dipstick back in and took off the oil filler cap. With the engine still running i put a light piece of paper over the oil filler opening. It was not blown off, or sucked onto the opening. It feels like my PCV system is neutral at best, but for smoke to come out of the dipstick there must be some positive pressure. That was also at idle, so I probably have more pressure while driving. I plan to get the PCV kit for $118 and put that in. It looks easy enough to do and I will need it soon enough anyway. I like the car and plan to keep it for a long time so I might as well get that repair done. If I still have oil in the turbo after that I'll look into rebuilding that next.