Well I have a problem with my truck I had oil coming out the tail pipe so I did my research again and came to the conclusion of get rid of everything so I have done the egr delete the cat delete and the dpf delete as well as installed a programmer. I ordered and I talked the turbo rebuild kit for the second time as I rebuilt them 6 months ago when the dpf sensor went and popped the turbo seals. My question is what would cause the oil to still come out of the pipe after rebuilding the turbos again? I am not an expert on turbos and don't think that the new seals would go again in minutes they do sounds fine as in I don't hear any noise from them.
Any help would be great as frustration is setting in.

 

Are you for sure it's your turbos? There could have been some damage to piston rings from the first go around. What's the mileage on your truck?

 

I would have to say it's the turbo as there is oil and major smoke coming out of the pipe

 

Well I know shops around here shy away from rebuilding turbos for the reason you're dealing with. So many variables like worn housings, shafts or possible cracks on impeller or turbine.


But having said that a buddy of mine is getting me to rebuild his turbos so we'll see how well I make out with his. Just a kit off eBay

 

It appears you rebuilt the turbos yourself. How did you rebuild them? Did you just reseal them or did you replace the bushing/bearing and the seals. Did you check the shaft end play or shaft run out before and after with a dial indicator. There are tolerances that have to be met to insure proper operation.

If the shaft is out of spec from worn bushings/bearings i could easily see the seals failing very fast. These turbos spin around 150,000 to 250,000 RPM at that speed it won't take much time for a seal to fail if there is a issue.

If you have never rebuilt turbos before i always recommend a rebuild cartridge if reman turbos are out of the budget due to the tools and expertise needed to complete reliable repairs. The cartridge comes with everything except the turbine housings and they generally have a decent warranty as well for a fraction of the cost of remans.

 

Theres a lot of parts for sale on ebay, which are imported chinese replacement parts that are sometimes terrible quality.

Not saying this is what happened, but it CAN happen.

 

The first time yes was Chinese rebuild kit with seals and thrust bearing and all. After the second time I did more research and found the dpf to be the leading cause of it so did the complete delete filter cat and egr . This time I made sure the complete rebuild kit was made in Canada as to be better quality. Now there was a reply of a blown piston ring but am I correct in thinking that any blow by from that would be in the manifolds and not coming out of the turbo? And as I will be removing the turbos again tonight is there a way to tell which turbo has the blow by?

 

Well first of all, even a healthy 6.4 engine has oil almost everywhere in the intake and turbochargers, because the crank case vent is into the intake.

Oil out the exhaust is likely the turbochargers, or the exhaust valve guides are leaking. IMHO anyways.

Generally I think if one turbo is leaking oil, do them both.

 

I have just rebuilt them both and can't see a seal going again as I just ran the truck to check for leaks

 

OK well just to make sure, it's not fuel dripping out the exhaust?

Runs fine asides oil dripping and blue oil cloud exhaust?

Does it smoke mostly on startup, running hard, idling, etc?

 

I have backed out of the garage and have the cat pipe off and it is surely oil coming out at a steady drip it has only idled to warm up and allow any oil left in the system to burn out but there is oil dropping on the dip stick

 

And the truck runs as if it was new just oil dripping and smoke out the pipe

 

Addybeer, no offence but to help you i need more information. I had asked if you had rebuilt turbos before. I in no way trying to be rude i only ask because rebuilding the turbos is a process. I have done quite a few. About half the turbos i have gone thru need hard parts wither it was a shaft, a turbine ect... and about a third where just paper weights not worth repairing. There is a procedure to follow and inspect the parts to have a successful rebuild.

I have seen about a half a dozen you-tube videos on how to rebuild turbos, and maybe or two actual address a proper inspection of the parts while the rest to say the least where glorified parts changers that seem to have good luck. Then again most the you-tube videos are turbos for honda civics or some other cheap engine. Personally at the cost of any modern common rail diesel does not warrant any such risk. Im a do it yourself guy my self but i believe in procedures and following manufacture recommendations. Cutting corners only leads to unjustified expenses in my experience.

So that brings me back to my original statement

Even changing the bearing and seal does not mean you want have problems. Its always important to inspect your hard parts to insure the new parts won't prematurely fail. In addition, if the turbine has made contact with the housing there are additional things that need to be checked. I just want to help you find the root cause of your problem rather then run around a guess or miss something that could damage to your engine.

 

Yes this is the second time doing a complete rebuild I have taken them apart and spent hours cleaning and inspecting in the parts cleaner. There are no cracks in any of the housing parts that I seen the turbines have not hit or rubbed any of the housing and have a very very small movement to them that I believe is normal the only thing I don't have tools for is to check a bend in the shaft but I am thinking that if there is no rub that they would be fine. I also did the proper break in on the turbo as in turning over the truck several times without starting to prime the turbos with oil then started the truck and let idle for 15 to 20 min without bring up the rpm's that when I did my leak inspection on the turbo and egr no leaks but did see oil coming from the down exhaust pipe as I have not put on the cat delete pipe or dpf delete pipe yet

 

How bad did the pervious turbo leak,it is possibly you are pushing residual oil out the exhaust. Might be worth taking the cat and DPF off to make sure there not full of oil if there still on the truck and cleaning them as-well. I noticed you said you removed them not sure if that was before or after this repair. If you know thats all clean then we can move on from there.

Checking if the shaft is bent can be done when you check the shaft run out. It is also important to check the end play. These are not that hard to check and can be done with a dial indicator.


Ok so lets go thru a few things that can happen to cause the turbo to leak oil into the exhaust. Generally the most important item is the steel sealing rings, some refer to them as piston rings, they seal the oil and keep in contained in the turbo.

So here are some issues that cause this:

1. Seal collapsing
2. Seal wear
3. Contact surface wear
4. Incorrect piston seating
5. Out of tolerance parts
6. Pressurized crank case


Since you just rebuild the turbo i would be concerned with item 4 and 5.

Item 4
If the rings are nicked during the installation on the turbine side they can cause oil to leak into the exhaust. In addition there is a spec on the ring gap, if this gap is not within spec it can either bind or on seal correctly.

Item 5

If the bore is out spec you will have sealing issues on the rings. These are usually things you check first off and evaluate if the turbo is rebuildable or if you need another reman cartridge or complete turbo. My decisions are usually based
on time and availability to get the unit up as fast as we can if its in use. If i have the time i usually go the most reasonable route.

Last but not least is proper cleaning of the cartridge after disassembly. A lot of turbos have a small oil drain on the exhaust side of the of the cartridge. If pluged this will cause oil to leak past the seal. When cleaning the turbo this can be overlooked in the cleaning process. If the hole is plugged it has to be opened up which i usually use a seal pick to accomplish this. In the photos below the small hole i reference is shown. The other photo is a turbo that appeared to be clean but it shows what was scraped out with a pick. Again this turbo appeared clean, the photo shows burnt oil that had to be scrapped out during cleaning process. The photos are not mine own but i did find them online and they show a perfect example of what i usually see.

I personally have not gone through a 6.4 turbo set-up but most turbos are generally the same and i have rebuild a lot of turbos off various engines. We have had very good luck with the 6.4 turbos, the turbos seem extremely robust providing proper maintenance is done. This information should apply on a generally basis to turbos and turbo repair.

I dont do this on a daily basis like i said before I'm a DYI guy as-well, and have learned a lot by trial and error my-self, i have made a lot of investments for myself and my mechanics to make these repairs just due to how bad i have been beaten up by local dealers and not just ford our heavy equipment dealers are just as bad. I have never had an issue sharing anything things i have learned on that path, hopefully this helps you with your issue.