---- SOLVED!! - The white smoke in exhaust was a kinked CCV hose not allowing enough crankcase pressure to escape. Solution in post 15 ----


Help!!! I have a massive oil-in-exhaust problem - it looks like my truck is a James Bond car. The smoke is blue-brown with white opacity and smells very much like oil. There is also liquid oil at the exhaust tip. When cold, the smoke is only on revving up, then it is consistent with airflow through the engine (rpm&load)

There is oil dripping from the turbo to downpipe clamp, enough that I can see it drip at high idle. The back of the block on both sides is of course covered in oil. It makes boost ok, but after it warms up, I can barely go uphill and ICP doesn't go over 2000psi. If i switch to 80hp economy on the DP-tuner chip, I can go up hill and it drives almost like normal.


Background and explanation (pictures and videos in next post): I noticed a bad oil leak on the back of the block while on a road trip. I used a gallon of oil made it 200 miles home without going under min oil level.

The P.O. had installed a turbo with EBPV delete, but didn't delete the actuator piston. I installed a new EBPV delete turbo pedestal, and while the turbo was out, installed bellowed up pipes.
After re-installing everything, the truck smoked a bit of oil out the exhaust on the test drive. On a second test drive, the smoke got much worse.

I decided to rebuild the turbo and install a billet compressor wheel from Riffraff. One of the cartridge to turbine housing bolts was finger loose but all other bolts were pretty tight. There was also liquid oil in the compressor housing and turbine housing.
I used a rebuild kit from DieselORings.com and used all brand new bolts except for the compressor housing.
After cleaning and rebuilding the turbo and reinstalling, I replaced the ICP sensor with a new one I had waiting.

On this test drive the truck started smoking more and more until it was like a smoke screen by the time I got home. It used about a quart of oil over a 20 minute drive. I can see oil seeping out from in between the turbine housing and EBPV housing. At high idle I can see oil is dripping out of the turbo to downpipe junction, and the back of the block is of course covered in oil again.

It seems to me like oil is just spraying out of the inside of the turbo into the exhaust - how can this be?

Does anyone have any ideas?


Video of the most mild smoke (this is after sitting all night). After a 15 minute warm-up, the smoke is so thick, I could barely see the high-beams of my dad's car behind me.
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Videos of compressor side play after rebuild and assembly:
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All photos are in chronological order and only the last one with the yellow markup is after the turbo rebuild.

Both videos are after cleaning and rebuilding the turbo and assembling it.

 

Just watched the first video due to having a slow internet connection, but that looks like enough play that the wheel will contact the housing. You need to pull it back apart and go through it again.

Typically when it's smoking that much, you need to rebuild the turbo. If it moves that much again after you pull it apart, look into what's missing, blown or wrong before you put it back in.

Some of the oil coming up through your pedestal is now dumping out your exhaust instead of returning back down through the pedestal.

 

The videos show far too much play in the shaft. I'm not so sure there should be that much lateral movement between the thrust bearing and the compressor housing back plate either. Are you sure everything went in correctly? In the video with the compressor wheel and housing still installed it looks like the blades on the compressor wheel are nice and straight. Then in the pictures, they are clearly bent. If the video was before running it, and the pictures are after, the compressor wheel has almost certainly contacted the housing. The compressor wheel needs to be replaced, possibly the compressor housing back plate and probably the turbine wheel/shaft assembly as well. Maybe replacing the whole center cartridge as an assembly would be an even better idea. In the end, it might be cheaper to find a good used turbocharger at a salvage yard.

 

That's what I thought, and asked Clay over PM, but he said some play is normal. That's what I was afraid of - I searched online, but couldn't find any specs on allowable lateral and longitudinal movement. Both videos are just after rebuilding the turbo, with just assembly oil on the parts.

That is sure what it seems like. There does not appear to be any oil leaking out the compressor side anymore, so that's good I guess.

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My gut said that was a lot of play also. I've rebuilt engines and such, but never cracked open a turbo before.
Do you know where online there are specs for play in the turbo rebuild?

Everything went back in according to the instructions here, which was consistent with how it came apart:
How To: Rebuild Your Own Turbo - Diesel Power Magazine
Welcome to BDrummonds Van Turbo Rebuild Web Page

Sorry I wasn't more clear on the chronology, I've updated the 2nd post.
All photos are in chronological order and only the last one with the yellow markup is after the turbo rebuild. Both videos are after cleaning and rebuilding the turbo and assembling it.

The original compressor wheel clearly had a couple fins bent when I first opened the intake last year, but there was not enough play to contact the housing. When I disassembled, there are no scrapes on the interior of the housing. Because of that, I installed a billet Riffraff compressor at the same time as rebuilding the turbo.

I am now super gun-shy about anything used, because the P.O. had this turbo rebuilt in 2009 by a place in California. The invoice reads: "Repair Kit: GTP38R; clean, machine, balance, and assemble unit".

Maybe it's time to look at an upgrade...

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I added smoke info and a video to the first post: The smoke is blue-brown with white opacity and smells very much like oil. There is also liquid oil at the exhaust tip. When cold, the smoke is only on revving up, then it is consistent with airflow through the engine (rpm&load)

Take a look at the pic below. After cleaning the cartridge, it looked like there was a gap between the outer shell and the cast housing. is that supposed to be there, or could that be where the oil is coming from?

 

I'd be interested to know what machining the place that rebuilt it did. That could be most of the problem, depending on exactly what they machined.

 

Thanks, Good thought. I will phone them on Monday and ask.

 

BREAKTHROUGH!!!!

I talked to the place that rebuilt the turbo and he said their usually hone the cartridge and put in oversize bearings if the journals are worn. He said they may have also turned the shaft if it was worn.
That could definitely explain the play, and probably the oil leak.


Now I'm getting somewhere!

I found a local used turbo with 140,000 miles that has never been rebuilt and am planning to pick it up tonight as long as the turbine housing doesn't have oil in it and there isn't much shaft play.

My question: Would it be a complete waste of time to pull apart my current turbo and put the billet compressor wheel and rebuild kit bearings, seals, thrust bearing etc in the 'new' turbo I pick up tonight? (assuming the compressor wheel hasn't scraped the housing)

At least I know that it's been well-lubricated for the 15 miles it's been in the truck.

If not, I'll just buy another rebuild kit from Clay and hope the billet compressor wheel is still good. (I didn't hear any scrapey sounds, so I'm crossing my fingers)

 

The compressor wheel can spin at an unGodly amount of RPM's, so if it's touched the housing, the absolute minimum is to send it off and get rebalanced. Otherwise, you're better off just starting over with new parts since if you're going to get it balanced, you might as well get the whole assembly balanced and not just the wheel.

 

Yeah, I would definitely not use the compressor wheel if it's touched the housing. In case it did touch the housing, any reccommendations on where to get a nearly new billet wheel balanced? Or is it not even worth it and it's now a $200 piece of art?

I was thinking more of the split-ring seals, bearings & thrust bearing. Seems a shame to just toss them after 20 minutes of use if they're still good.

 

I wouldn't chance it. For $100 bucks I would buy a new kit and be rest assured your Turbo doesn't send chunks through the intercooler. As far as the billet compressor wheel, the only way I would use it is if I sent the unit out to be balanced and the Turbo shop said it was good.

Just my .02 bro.

 

Ron's turbo shop in Utah used to be the go to place for stuff like that before the likes of Riffraff came along. I'd give them a call since they're still a top notch turbo shop.

Oh, you mean the parts that were leaking oil? I guess you could inspect them after you took it all back apart, but what does a seal or bearing cost compared to having to pull it apart again, and possibly buy even another wheel if the new rebuild fails?

 

Well, it turned out to be a much simpler problem than I thought: A kinked CCV hose.

After pulling the turbo a 4th time and making sure that there were no obstructions in the pedestal or oil return passage, it occurred to me that I noticed that the CCV mod hose was kinked and it was possible the heat cycles did it and it got worse when it was jostled during the first pedestal replacement. I could not visibly see a difference from taking off the oil cap from before or after the kinked hose.

I installed a 90 degree elbow in place of the curve and the smoke was almost immediately gone. there was about 15 minutes of light white smoke and 20 miles of light blue smoke that was probably the leaked oil burning out of the downpipe. I just did a 300 mile road trip over the cascades with no smoke or performance issues! No uppipe leaks + the Riffraff billet compressor wheel are awesome.

We measured the original tubo cartridge and it was bored 0.050 inches radius (0.050 diameter) over for the journal bearings. There was no damage, so I took the entire rebuild kit and put it in a turbo cartridge with 140k miles that had never been rebuilt. Both turbine shafts measured within 5 thousandths of new (0.4010), so I used the new turbine and shaft on principle that it had fewer miles.


FTE rocks and I'll probably just ship the the leftover turbo parts to whoever wants them.
Thank you to everyone for your help!