2001 E-350 7,3 PS.
Smokes bad - blue/gray smelling burnt oil - when started. Worse when sitting for a while. Loses oil. Valley was full of oil and I noticed it leaked from the intake runners where they meet the heads because of loose clamps. Tighened the clamps and valley stays dry so it seems the oil comes through the turbo. It's fine othervice. Fires right up and pulls strong as before. This has been going on for a while but now it is so bad that I don't want to park near others as it will leave a heavy cloud of smoke when fired back up
So: Guess it's time for a turbo rebuild to get it to seal, and as the turbo runs fine othervice a standard rebuild kit should do the trick, right?
Garrett turbo, but what should I look for to identify it for correct parts and where can I get a kit? Should it be the GTP38R?
Any other advice along the way according to the rebuild?

 

Is it possible for the turbo to leak so much oil that the engine could run away? The engine will run on the motor oil.

 

Usually when the turbo seals start to go, it will smoke all the time, not just on start up. Are you sure it's not some other issue? Have you checked the turbo shaft for play?

Not typically. When they leak, they do it on the exhaust side so it just starts to lay down a smoke screen that would make Batman jealous instead of feeding the intake side.

 

Hi! I have not checked end play or much else yet. What I found when it started smoking when fired more than a year ago was that the engine lost oil and I got what looked like an oil leak at the rear of the engine. The oil was running from the valley as it was full. I dryed everything and saw signs of leakage around the intake hose where it meets the intake. Only took a few days to fill the walley again. After that I was sure where the oil was coming from and tightened the hose clamps. Valley has been dry after that and it, at least to me, indicates that oil is coming through the turbo. The last weeks it has started smoking a little grey-blueish and it gets worse when driven hard. Engine is still strong thou.
I need to find the right parts and can not see any id-plate on the turbo so I need to identify it 100 % without pulling it as I don't have time for down-time waiting for parts.

 

Could it be that the bolts that hold the turbo together are backing out? I know the rebuild kits come with new bolts that have Loctite on them. Maybe a rebuild is all you need.

 

It's a GTP38...if it's stock.

 

So you have no more visible oil leaks in the valley. How much oil are you burning? Do you have the CCV mod? How much smoke out the tail pipe are we talking about?

 

Stock CCV. Not sure how much oil it burns, but I guess it is close to a gallon between 4000 miles oil changes. Anyways its a lot more than it used to burn. After sitting a couple of hours it will make a grey cloud of smoke that hangs in the air and can be seen in the rear view mirror as the size of the van! Smokes a little when driving, not bad but sure more than normal. Engine has the Edge Evolution box set to max/100 hp.