Blue Smoke - Identifying Problem

[cosunrise]

Decided to do a leak down test tonight and thought I'd try warming up the engine without the boost pipe on just to see what was happening in the turbo. Obviously sensors were disconnected so the engine wasn't super happy, but a couple of interesting things: no smoke on startup (boost pipe disconnected all night so less oil draining into the intake maybe?) and then, the video. That's a lot of oil moving around there in the back of the turbo outlet pipe.

Confirmed bad turbo? Or turbo seals at least?

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[rsmith56]

That really does sound like turbo is shot. My experience is on diesel tractors; the seals fail, oil is under pressure to lube turbo, they would smoke white smoke and motor oil raining down from the sky, all over the hood. Never had much success rebuilding one. Just replaced with new and pre-oiling it EVERY time.

 

[cosunrise]

Adding to the presumed bad turbo...

I did a leak down test and Cylinder 1 shows ~50% pressure loss. The other three hold with almost no detectable loss. The odd thing is, compression test showed ~120 psi on the same cylinder, and I feel like with 50% loss, there's no way that cylinder should have the same compression psi as the other 3 cylinders that only lose a a couple of percentage points in a leak down test. What am I missing?

Considering running Seafoam to see if it's just carbon buildup preventing the Cylinder 1 valves from seating properly. However, if the turbo is still spewing oil into the intake, maybe that's not helpful?

Trying to figure out if I just need a new turbo, or a new engine. Am I on the right track here?

 

[58Willys]

Are you sure you were at TDC on #1. I’d try #1 again. Sounds like a bad turbo seal.

 

[dstevens]

Also make sure the leakdown hose is seated in the spark plug threads. With 50% leak down you should be able to isolate the leak by listening to where the air is escaping. Breather = rings, throttle body or exhaust = valves. I'd also trust a leak down over the compression test, but they should roughly agree. If there is a lot of oil then it more or less has to be rings or the turbo.

Also 3/4 of those DTCs are for wiring faults rather than operational faults so check the wiring, connectors etc.

 

[cosunrise]

Well, good news. I poured some seafoam into each of the cylinders through the spark plug wells last night, let it soak and ran the leakdown test tonight again. Minimal loss, 2-3%. I think the engine's fine... the turbo, not so much.

Anyone done one of these or have any tips on pulling/replacing the turbo? Everyone I can find who's had a bad 2.0 turbo had the dealer replace it.

 

[mwilk012]

Also make sure the leakdown hose is seated in the spark plug threads. With 50% leak down you should be able to isolate the leak by listening to where the air is escaping. Breather = rings, throttle body or exhaust = valves. I'd also trust a leak down over the compression test, but they should roughly agree. If there is a lot of oil then it more or less has to be rings or the turbo.

Also 3/4 of those DTCs are for wiring faults rather than operational faults so check the wiring, connectors etc.

4/4 of those faults correspond to low air flow.

 

[dstevens]

4/4 of those faults correspond to low air flow.

P0108, P012D, P0123 all are electrical. They can only occur if the sensor or wiring or PCM is faulty, otherwise it would be a range/performance or rationality fault.

 

[cosunrise]

I discovered a RaceChip tuner next to the fusebox which seems to connect to the MAP and boost pressure sensors. From a quick Google search, sounds like it sends the ECM modified values to trick it into increasing boost pressure and maybe advancing timing. I wonder if the tuner is causing those codes to pop?

Also, maybe a good way to pop the seal on your turbo...

 

[mwilk012]

P0108, P012D, P0123 all are electrical. They can only occur if the sensor or wiring or PCM is faulty, otherwise it would be a range/performance or rationality fault.

Good luck with that line of thinking. Doesn’t bear out in reality.

 

[oceanblue2019]

I discovered a RaceChip tuner next to the fusebox which seems to connect to the MAP and boost pressure sensors. From a quick Google search, sounds like it sends the ECM modified values to trick it into increasing boost pressure and maybe advancing timing. I wonder if the tuner is causing those codes to pop?

Also, maybe a good way to pop the seal on your turbo...

100% likely. I ran a similar piggyback and depending on the tune level it can overspeed the turbo which quickly deteriorates the seals.

I suspect you have a turbo that was road hard and put away wet.

Try to get a remanufactured unit or a low mile junk yard one and swap it in. Not a difficult swap.

 

[Tim_JLU]

Here is one
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1970071656...ruEWqHVbpf2NsK53usgPeuH8fQ==|tkp:BFBMjs2R07Fl

 

[dstevens]

Good luck with that line of thinking. Doesn’t bear out in reality.

I hear you. However I think the post immediately above yours sheds light on the problem - a piggyback was wired into those sensors and that is almost certainly the cause of those DTCs.

 

[dstevens]

I discovered a RaceChip tuner next to the fusebox which seems to connect to the MAP and boost pressure sensors. From a quick Google search, sounds like it sends the ECM modified values to trick it into increasing boost pressure and maybe advancing timing. I wonder if the tuner is causing those codes to pop?

Also, maybe a good way to pop the seal on your turbo...

Almost certainly the piggyback is causing those codes. I'd remove it and make sure no wiring was altered or cut from the installation.

As far as replacement turbos go, car-part.com has many in the $400-$500 range. There's some for $325 in Denver with a code which shows less than 60,000 miles.

 

[cosunrise]

Thanks guys.

I bought a used turbo and spent yesterday removing the bad turbo. What a bear.
I'll do a write-up and post for the next poor sap who gets to do this job, as I was kind of flying blind without instructions or a manual.

Now I'm waiting for all of the new hardware, gaskets and o-rings to come in before I can install the new-to-me turbo.

I probably should have dropped the exhaust to begin with, and I'll almost certainly need to do that to reinstall the lower coolant and oil lines which are borderline impossible to access.

I'm curious what advice you all have about the cat. Clearly there's been a bunch of liquid oil through it that was dumped directly into the exhaust from the turbo and ran all the way down the line before exiting through the weep hole in the Magnaflow mini-muffler/muffler tuck, and also burned oil vapors from the oil that the turbo sent through the charge pipe into the intake. One side of my brain says I should just replace the cat while the exhaust is out.

But... Cats are not cheap, especially in Colorado where they have to comply with CA regulations which basically means OEM only. And I have no codes that would seem to relate to O2 sensors or cat damage. Should I try a Dawn soak, or one of those cat cleaner products on the market? I generally have thought of them as snake oil, but with a couple K on the line...

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