legacycentral bbs

I noticed today that there was some smoke coming off of the front of the turbine side of the turbo, and it smells like burning oil. It looked like there was some on one of the bolts in the turbine housing on the driver's side of the turbo. Is it likely that the seals are leaking? The turbo seems to be working fine. Any info/suggestions would be appreciated, as I did a search and didn't come up with much.

Id check valve cover gaskets.

I'll take a look, but I just replaced them, and I made double sure they were torqued correctly.

Okay even better, the O-Ring for the rear cam.

Is it dripping on your up-pipe and burning off? If so then the rear cam seal on the passengerside (as mentioned by ciper) or the oil supply line that comes from the back of the passengerside head for the turbo is probably leaking.

I took another look at it tonight. It was dark, but from what I could tell, it looks like there was some oil on the backside of the center section/front part of the exhaust side, on the little flat part of the uppipe flange. If it's not coming from the center section of the turbo, the only other thing close by that I could see is the oil return hose, which looked dry. The smoke is definitely coming off of the turbo itself; at least it's burning off from there. I'll have to try and check it again during the day, when I can hopefully see everything better. The valve cover looks fine, and all the bolts are tight. Unless it's spraying from the rear cam seal, it doesn't look like it could get to where it's burning off from the cam seal. Also, the oil feed line is dry, the banjo bolt is tight, and it's dry around where the line bolts to the turbo. All of this is making me think the seals are shot inside the turbo, but I really don't know for sure.

Does it smell like oil, it could also be coolant smoke.

Yeah, it's definitely oil. I have a fair amount of experience smelling both from my turbo projects!

I took the turbo off tonight, and there is a bunch of oil where the center section meets the exhaust housing. I think I'll need a new turbo. Pics can be seen here:
http://www.rs25.com/forums/showthread.p ... post214603

is there white smoke comeing out of your exhuste. how much boost do u run and how many Ks on the motor with that turbo.

This may be a dumb question, but are the oil lines to the turbo solid, particularly the feed line on top? You might want to try changing the copper gaskets on the feed line just in case. Someone may have removed the line once and reused the gaskets even though you're not supposed to.

I get some smoke from the exhaust, but it's from running extremely rich. I'm running about 9 lbs of boost on the stock RHB5 turbo. I don't know the mileage for sure, as it came from a junkyard that told me it was from a '93, but I found out with vrg3's help that it's actually a '91.

I checked the oil feed line, and it is completely dry. I got a new banjo bolt and washers before I installed it. It's definitely coming from the bottom somewhere; either the oil seal or possibly the oil drain tube gasket.

check all your rubber hoses, pcv and your blow off valve. if there all ok i would say your turbo is smoked, but how my turbo still works after 20years of 18psi.

how do you have a 20 year old turbo?

check all your rubber hoses, pcv and your blow off valve. if there all ok i would say your turbo is smoked, but how my turbo still works after 20years of 18psi.

I checked everything before pulling the turbo; however, almost the entire pcv system is new, and I've had the bypass valve on the car for a while now, so I'd say that's okay. I went to a local performance shop and had two people look at it, and both of them said the carbon seals were likely shot. I certainly don't doubt it from the way the turbo looks, so I'm now looking for a WRX turbo.

I was also wondering about the 20 year old turbo!

sorry i made a mistake i was thinking of some thing else 12years old. i get so stoned some times.

<shaking head>