Oil in the air intake? Bad turbo seals?

[Hatterasguy]

I pulled the crossover pipe off today to replace the gasket and o ring in their. But the intake is coated with oil? If I stick my finger down towards the turbo it becomes thicker. But the whole intake is coated in a nice film of engine oil? I thought my intake would stay clean after I blocked the egr. What would leak oil into the intake? I'm thinking the turbo. What seals in the turbo would cause this and how hard are they to replace? The car doesn't seem to burn much if any oil so whatever is leaking can't be to bad.

What else would leak oil into the intake? The blowby seperator doesn't dump into the intake? Their really isn't any blowby though.

[boneheaddoctor]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

I pulled the crossover pipe off today to replace the gasket and o ring in their. But the intake is coated with oil? If I stick my finger down towards the turbo it becomes thicker. But the whole intake is coated in a nice film of engine oil? I thought my intake would stay clean after I blocked the egr. What would leak oil into the intake? I'm thinking the turbo. What seals in the turbo would cause this and how hard are they to replace? The car doesn't seem to burn much if any oil so whatever is leaking can't be to bad.

What else would leak oil into the intake? The blowby seperator doesn't dump into the intake? Their really isn't any blowby though.

Not familiar with that model but the crankcase ventalation has to feed back into the air intake, otherwise you would be dumping unburned hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, so I am certain that is exactly how the oil is getting there. Turbo seals could be cause but so could the other, is there oil on the inlet of the turbo side or is that part clean and dry?

The valve cover breather is designed to move engine oil vapor into the air intake and subsequently thru the turbo, intake manifold and into the combustion chamber where it's burned. When the EGR is functioning as designed, exhaust (including soot) combines with the oil vapor and builds up a black residue inside the crossover and intake manifold. In largely highway driven cars this is seldom any problem (city driven cars are another matter). When the EGR is shut down, only the oil vapor remains and it wiil coat the turbo and intake manifold quite heavily - especially if the car is driven at low speeds/short hops. The majority of the oil is burned and what's left in the intake plumbing hurts nothing.

Marshall

[Hatterasguy]

Ok that makes sense, but define short trips? My SDL typically runs for 1/2 - 1 hour at a time. I take very few short trips. Their really wasn't that much oil just a very light coating. It tends to collect around the big green o-ring thats on the bottom of the crossover.

[gsxr]

Some months back, I read a TSB in the WIS that asserted this was normal, assuming oil consumption rate is normal (roughly 4-6kmi per quart in a 603). I sure wish I could locate that TSB so I could post it on my website. My engine does the same thing, the intake is wet with oil, although consumption is very low (somewhere around 6k/qt, I believe). I have not been able to determine if the source is either the PCV or the turbo seals. I plan to route the PCV tube into a catch bottle and see if that makes any difference. If not, it's the turbo seals. (Right?) My EGR has been removed and blocked off, it had been leaking oil.


Oddly enough, I got to work on my dad's 87 300D for the first time last week (he was visiting ID from NY) and his whole intake tract was DRY! Sooty (from EGR), but dry! I was shocked - I've never seen that before on a 603. Overall his engine looked great in & out, despite being fed dino oil (with frequent changes) for the past 150kmi. I switched him to Devac-1, of course. Needed glow plugs & an IP stop lever shaft O-ring, and motor mounts, but that was about it. Chain stretch was ~3 degrees, IP timing was 17 ATDC (adjusted to 14). It was a pig off the line (0-60 in 16 sec), but an ALDA adjustment helped the low end; but it still didn't rev as freely as it should (only improved to 13 sec, should have been 11). Oh well. He's a lot happier now that it starts easy and doesn't vibrate!

[Hatterasguy]

I'm not going to worry about it for now I have more pressing issues to deal with. aka vac pump.

But my oil consumption is very low I never have to add any between changes. I would say maybe 1/2 a quart every 3k.

I need to time mine 0-60 whats spec for an SDL? 12sec? Over winter break I want to check turbo bost play with the alda ect. It is a dog until the turbo gets spooling I want to fix that.

[gsxr]

SDL spec for 0-60mph (ok ok, actually 0-100kmh) is something like 13 seconds, IIRC? I have the USA sales brochure at home which lists official 0-55mph numbers. I think the previous 617-powered 126's were ~15 seconds, and the spunkier 603 bumped that up to 13-ish despite the added weight of the long wheelbase.

[Hatterasguy]

I keep forgetting too it's 0-62 on Euro cars! 13 hmm I bet I can do better then that.

[chief_noseeum]

Hattersguy,

I have an 82 300 TD and I have found oil in the inlet of the turbo. Not a lot of oil, but some. My explanation is that the oil from the blowby gases is separated from the intake air in the separator inside of the air filter housing. The recovered oil drains back to the crankcase through a tube in the bottom of the air cleaner.

However, no separator is 100% effective. So if just a few percent of the oil passes thorough the separator with the intake air, it will condense in the relatively cool intake manifold and be conveyed with the intake air to the entrance of the turbo which is the low point on the system.

I agree there is nothing to worry about if overall oil consumption is normal.