Turbo is smoked - need some advice

[mrweelr]

So my RPM 60-1 non-BB turbo is wasted. It started making grinding noises on the drive home after my last trip to Infineon (11s at 26psi) and dumping oil into the intercooler. The shaft doesn't spin freely anymore so I know it's gone, but what I'm not sure about is whether my motor is toast. Originally, I thought the stock motor (76K miles) was gone because it still blows thick blue smoke out the exhaust when idling once warmed up. This is with the upper IC pipe completely removed. Compression checked out OK and there is no metal on the drain plug or coolant in the oil (or vice versa).

I drove the truck around the neighborhood on Saturday and it ran just fine but didn't have any power and was blowing some blue smoke. Once I got back home and it was warmed up, I let it idle and then it started just billowing thick blue smoke out the tailpipe. I looked at the downpipe while it was idling and I could see oil leaking out of the slip-flange on the RPM downpipe and burning off the outside as well (real mess). So it seems to me my motor might be OK and the turbo is just gone, but I don't know the best way to troubleshoot this further.

I was thinking of taking the turbo out and letting the motor run with straight headers to see if the smoke goes away, but I'm thinking that's going to piss off the neighbors, plus I'd have to block off or reroute oil feed line for the turbo and don't know how to approach that. Do turbos sometimes leak oil into the downpipe when the bearings go bad? I'm thinking of having it rebuilt or just getting a new turbo. It sucks this turbo went out with less than 5K miles, but I guess 20+psi on a daily basis with no water-cooling must have cooked the bearings or something? Let me know how you guys would approach troubleshooting/fixing this.

 

[It's just a six]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

Send it to RPM to get ovhld?
Take your oil filter off & cut it open to look for metal shavings or metallic looking stuff.
Seals & bearings go bad on turbos.

 

[Grimgrak]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

Or I could sell you my 60:1 for 500 bux. No idea on trim or milage tho bought the truck with 70k and it came with it.

 

[ghettosled]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

your turbo kit was purchased in march 2005, so over 2 years ago. Most turbo manufactors have a 1 year warranty, however most of the time there are some hidden strings attached to that "warranty"... turbonetics is the only company that provides a free 1 yr "no questions asked" warranty on all their turbos. at any rate, that sucks your turbo may be on its way out.

Pull the turbo off and look inside the pipes (header/downpipe) if its dry pre turbo but wet post turbo, then the turbo oil seal is leaking oil.. wet pre turbo, you got some issues! no need to run it w/o the turbo on.

the last customer who claimed his turbo/wastegate was leaking oil, turned out to be a blown axle seal which we later discovered. His previous mechanic claimed he put some special dye in the engine oil and watched it come out the external wastegate. We pulled the wastegate and turbo off, and everything inside was dry as a whistle. Upon closer inspection you could see the greese was being flung all over the wheel well and wastegate. :-(

 

[Jimmy]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

IMO an oil cooled turbo will last for a long time as long as you let it cool down before you shut the engine off. My PT-54 has over 80k on it,has seen 25 psi and works like new.

 

[mrweelr]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

Pull the turbo off and look inside the pipes (header/downpipe) if its dry pre turbo but wet post turbo, then the turbo oil seal is leaking oil.. wet pre turbo, you got some issues! no need to run it w/o the turbo on

Can you explain what you mean by "pre-turbo"? I'm assuming you mean from the header flange back (toward motor)? I'm hoping it's dry in there for obvious reasons. My original question was whether a defective turbo can leak oil backward into the downpipe? I will yank it next weekend and hopefully get down to the bottom of this. Assuming the turbo is bad, would it be worth having it rebuilt or just buying a new one? Does RPM sell a 60-1 ceramic-coated BB oil+water cooled turbo? If I replace it, I'm thinking it might be worth switching back to water cooling. I'm really hard on my $hit.

 

[mrweelr]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

Well, I have some good news: my stock motor is OK. I unbolted the turbo today, tied it off to the side, and drove the truck around the neighborhood for about 20 minutes. The motor is not smoking at all, but the turbo is dumping oil like crazy. One of the blades on the turbine wheel is broken off and there are marks on the turbine housing where the blades made contact. There is major sideways play in the turbine shaft :tdown: I guess it's new turbo time...damn. This turbo had less than 5000 miles on it so I have no idea why it went out other than I ran it too hard and overheated it. Going to speak with Mike Lee about getting a new 60-1 to replace it but I want to go BB this time with water cooling. Also would like to put an inline filter on the turbo oil supply line just for piece-of-mind. Any idea what could have caused the turbine blade to break like that? I found no metal on the magnetic drain plug and the oil is still very clean. Here are some pics:

 

[4C FED]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

I would say that the broken blade was the first victim to make contact with the housing.

Next turbo you can open up the wastegate port on the ex. housing.

 

[ghettosled]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

all speculation, but it looks like something went through the turbo, broke the wheel which caused the turbo to go out of balance and scrub the housing.

 

[mrweelr]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

Mike - I need a new turbo (bolt-in replacement). Can you PM me a quote for a BB 60-1 ceramic-coated and I'd like water and oil cooling this time, if that's possible. Do you also sell pre-cut coolant lines/fittings for the turbo because I got rid of my stock hard lines when I sold the original turbo. One more thing: do you sell an inline filter for the turbo oil supply line? Let me know what's possible, thanks.

 

[gjp]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

now would be a good time to re-feed the turbo oil line from the remote oil filter. Ask mike about it. Also if you need help LMK. Good to see the engine is ok. I still want a rematch with you.

 

[mrweelr]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

You got a rematch when I get it running ;-) I'll also give you a few cans of Torco so you can try it out. Gary - did you use a filter on your turbo oil supply line? If so, can I see some pics and where did you get it? Just want to get this truck back on the road...miss tearing up the streets with the mean black sleeper.

 

[gjp]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

my supply line is still stock. Mike sells a line that gets fresh oil strait from the remote filter. Thats on my list for next year. I still have some xylene left over but you need about 3 gallons to make a difference. I would love to try the torco. BTW I went by the 76 station and 100 octane is 5.40 a gallon....ouch!

 

[Luke]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

.... BTW I went by the 76 station and 100 octane is 5.40 a gallon....ouch!

100 is ALWAYS 5.99 in Charlotte, no matter what the regular gas does it just stays there :roll: :dunno:

 

[live1053rulz]

Re: Turbo is smoked - need some advice

Dang, glad to hear to motor's okay as well. At least it won't be a huge project, just a little frustrating one. Call me up anytime and I'll do the same.