Late 99' F-350 Crew Cab Daully 2wd AT 7.3L 223,000 miles completely stock!


Are the seals inside my turbo bad? Here is the situation. I am losing oil, I say losing, because I don't know where it is going. I am losing it at the rate of about 1qt. for every 150 miles. It is not leaking out of the motor at that rate. That would be easy to spot. The truck might smoke a very slight amount if it is sitting idle for a period of time, but does not smoke enough to see it unless you are looking for it. It does not appear to smoke at all going down the road. After reading a lot on here, I thought I might have bad inj. o-rings. I did what every thread said todo, check the fuel filter for oil, but it was spotless! I had put a new filter in it approx. 1500 miles ago, and it was just as clean as the new filter I put in yesterday. I have had this truck for 1500 miles. I changed the oil and fuel filter as soon as I got it. I did not know it was losing any till it got a little hard to start a couple hundred miles ago since I just got the truck. When I got the truck the map sensor nipple was broken off and the truck would not build any boost. I found and fixed that, and since then it seems as though it started to lose the oil. This morning I pulled the intercooler tubes off to have a look, and this is what I saw.
Turbo wheel is definitely in need of replacment, but the shaft has no play, and spins freely.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...iteF350015.jpg

There was a considerable amount of oil in the boots and the IC tubes.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...iteF350016.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...iteF350017.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...iteF350018.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...iteF350019.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...iteF350020.jpg


As you can see, I think the seals inside the turbo are bad and allowing oil to pass into the IC tubes and into the IC itself. I have not pulled it out yet, but am figuring it is about full of oil. I guess this would be a good time to install the 6.0L intercooler that I have has stashed away for a couple years. (never got around to doing it to my other truck)

Any other suggestions, or am I on the right track. Is it possible that the oil is coming through seals in the turbo? Anyone have a stock turbo they want to let go cheap?

Any and all help and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Stephen

 

the oil is probly comming from crankcase vent that goes from left valve cover into the intake tube

 

That amount seems like a lot coming from that little vent. Enough that is is all over the boots going into the motor on the passenger side. The cool side IC tube was covered in oil on the outside about 2/3rd of the way up also. Seems like a lot from that crankcase vent.

Thanks,
Stephen

Any one else with suggestions? Motor runs great, does not miss or anything.

 

I agree with ray. The crank case vent runs into the intercooler via the black piece of plastic that's inbetween the smaller turbo intake and the larger turbo intake (where the air filter connects; if you look on the top of the valve cover it looks like a dog house with a piece of 1/2" heater hose running up into the intake). Doesn't look bad compared to the amount of mileage. One thing to try, start the truck and take the oil fill cap off. If it kinda has a "puff puff puff" you might have blow by. If it's real smooth and consistent, then probably nothing to worry about. Just a start.

 

Looks to be about the same amount of oil i found in mine ant 115,000 miles. I did the ccvmod and cleaned things up as best as I could.

Are you sure you do not have any oil laying on the top of the intake under the turbo and fuel bowl?


An observation that I have had with my truck is when I do an oil change I fill it to the top mark on the stick. I'll check it later and the oil level will be own almost a quart. But it stays at that level until the next change.

My truck does not smoke from oil or leak oil.

 

Let me add one more thing here. When it was hard to start because it was low on oil, it was almost 7 quarts low!!! Seven quarts would be easily visibly if it was just leaking. That happened in about 1100-1200 miles. Since I filled it back up, I have been watching it every 100-150 miles and it will lose about a quart in that time. I fill it back up and watch it again in about a week and it is another quart low.
I took the cap off while running, and it had minimal, if any puffing from there. The oil has to be going somewhere.
Like I said, I have only had this particular truck for about 1500 miles. I don't know if it was doing this before. I bought it wrecked and fixed it. It wasn't running well when I first got it because of the bad MAP sensor. Once I fixed that, it ran like my other F-250.
Has anybody else had the oil seals inside the turbo leak, and if so, what were the symptoms?

Thanks for all input.

Stephen

 

it is possibe or the turbo to leak,before changing my turbo y truck would sometimes use 2qts in 750 miles now I seldom have to add oil

 

I agree the oil in the IC is from your CCV, but that's not the source of your leak. Just to be on the safe side try going 300 miles before you add oil next time to see if your 2 qts low. There have been some trucks that lose 1 qt then never drop further.

It could still be injector O-rings, or the turbo. The turbo is the easier one to check so if you're going to tear things apart that would probably be the place to start.

When you put the IC tubes back on did you tighten up the clamps on the orange boots too? It looks like the clamps on the passenger side are loose.

 

I have. It would have a brief puff of smoke when I first started it up, then would also have smoke sometimes when I was coming off the throttle, on decel. Also, if it was sitting in park at idle and I'd stab the throttle, some puffs of smoke would come out then as well.

As simple as the turbo is to pull and tear apart and rebuild, it might be worh a shot. You're looking at $100 for a rebuild kit. If you're going through a quart every 150 miles, you'll spend that much on oil every 3500 miles or so.

 

Thans to everyone that has responded. I just put the truck back together this evening, and will drive it one more week (approx 125 miles) to see if it will lose another quart. I am positive it will since it lost about 7 qts after 1k miles.
Some new info that now makes me a believer in the turbo seals being bad. Before I put it all together, I used a pair of pliers to get a decent grip on the intake side of the turbo shaft, and it has some visible movement. I would say about 1.5mm total movement. This would probably explain why the tips of the blades look like they do. With having movement in the shaft, that would allow oil under pressure to pass by the seals and into the intake stream, correct?
I cleaned all the tubes, couplers, and clamps and then re-installed them tonight. I made sure the boots going to the head were tight also. After buttoning everything up, I gave the motor a good degreasing so that I could see where any oil might be leaking in the near future.

Once again thanks for the help and support. I have been signed up on here for over 3 years, but usually do a lot of reading and searching.

Thanks,
Stephen

 

Where is a good place 2 get a rebuild kit ???

 

Was the movement up & down / front & back or in & out? Some movement in the up & down direction is normal as the turbo shaft actually rides on a cushion of oil when the engine is running. When the engine's not running, you can move the wheel a little since the pressurized oil is not there.

However, movement in the in & out direction, along the lenght of the shaft, is not desirable. Too much movement in that direction means the thrust bearing and/or thrust washer is worn. If you are able to move the turbo shaft in and out 1.5 mm, it's time for a rebuild.

Typically on eBay. Like this: eBay Motors: FORD 7.3 POWERSTROKE TURBO TURBOCHARGER REBUILD KIT (item 110248106315 end time May-28-08 21:18:16 PDT)

 

Thanks Jeremy
I just acquired a turbo that was leaking oil internally so i guess ill rebuild it 4 that price ... ...

 

Back to the problem. I just checked the oil again and it is still losing it. The motor is still nice and clean from the other nights degreasing and washing.
I now have a little more info also. Saturday, I cleaned out all the IC pipes and the rubber intake tubes from the airbox to the CCV plstic tube. I also cleaned out the rubber hose from the CCV plastic adapter to the turbo inlet.
Tonight I removed the IC tubes and intake hoses once again and found oil puddled up in the ends of the IC tubes and rubber couplers into and out of the y shaped aluminum piece in front of the turbo. What I did not find was any oil (I mean none) in the intake hoses that lead from the filter to the intake side of the turbo. I went ahead and took the CCV off the valve cover and cleaned the wire mesh out with brake cleaner to be sure it wasnt stopped up, and it wasn't. The oil in the IC and IC tubes has to be coming from somewhere and the only oil passage left in the system is the turbo, correct? While I was in there, I re-examined the turbo shaft for play since someone stated that it should only leak if there is in and out movement, and there is. It is very slight, but you can tell it is there. It has about 1mm of up and down movement.

Are my conclusions plausible? Does anyone have first hand experience with the oil seals inside the turbo leaking besides what was written above?
This makes 2 qts of oil in 175 miles. There are no leaks on the motor, or in the driveway. I have been parking in a different spot lately so I could see if there were. I am just waiting for ther IC to fill up, and oil to start pouring out the tail pipe. That thing has to be getting full.

Thanks,
Stephen

 

What oil are you using?

The CCV sends smoke into the intake then turbo. When the smoke goes through the turbo and ends up in the IC it condenses back into the oil that you're seeing. If you're burning that much oil I would think there would be evidence of smoke out the tailpipe.

You have double checked to make sure there's no oil pooling up in the valley right? If you're concerned about the oil in the IC you could always do the CCV mod and solve that problem.