Serious oil loss, need help.

[benniev]

Recently, I had the turbo inlet gasket fail on my redtop sr20det. Car is a '95 240sx.

I replaced the gasket, as well as having changed several broken studs from the manifold to the turbo.

That's not my issue though, after having done this, I began driving the car. Things were going great, until I started noticing what seemed to be a layer of oil residue on the backside of my car.. Bumper, taillights..part of the trunk. I know my valve cover is leaking, that's obvious, there's a light coat of oil around the topside of the head, but it's not that big of a leak. I changed my oil monday, and have burnt through close to four quarters as of today (thursday).

I found a crack in one of the hoses that taps into the VC that goes back to the block rather than the one that goes from the VC back to the catch can. I noticed oil buildup on the side of the head below the turbo manifold, and buildup where the oil feed/return tap was on the turbo, however neither of the fittings were loose.

Would it be possible for THAT much oil to blow through the PCV hose? It doesn't seem to have any buildup on it.

Any help is muchly appreciated, full synthetic isn't cheap.

[fliprayzin240sx]

I'm guessing you took the turbo off, double check your oil feed and oil drain line. Make sure they are not leaking. Thats alot of oil just to be a leaky valve cover gasket. I'm willing to bet the turbo lines are the culprit.

[benniev]

Stainless braided lines, so it's not like they're busted.

I cleaned everything with cleaner/degreaser, refilled the engine with oil and drove about 20 miles on it. Popped the hood, had ZERO buildup around inlet and outlet fittings.. I do have a crack in the PCV hose going from the T in the valve cover to the block but it only has minimal oil buildup on it.

This is SERIOUSLY fucked up.

[word sux]

clean everything


then take a look. 4 qts of oil in that short of time is fucking insane.

[Def]

Get some UV dye from an autoparts store and a UV light (I've got an LED blacklight I got off ebay for cheap).

Clean everything up, add the dye, drive a few miles then check it out. Should be VERY obvious where the leak is.

[word sux]

i don't think you even need dye if its that bad 4 qts? it should take a few seconds of running to tell you were it is

[benniev]

I'm thinking my turbo may be letting go. I'm not seeing ANY oil buildup after 20 miles, and yes I flogged it in several places. The only place I'm seeing oil is on the backside of the car. Taillights, bumper, muffler..

[benniev]

And when I replaced the gasket I actually didn't remove the turbo, I was able to disconnect my exhaust from the downpipe and shift the turbo downward, and pull up and out on the manifold to make room. It was a pain in my ass, but I didn't disconnect anything.

[redline racer510]

You might have damaged one of the turbo lines when you removed the turbo from the manifold. BTW just because its stainless doesn't mean it is impervious, it means it is a little more resistant to abrasion

[Robb]

How are the threads on the oil feed/return lines? Think you could have stripped them?

[srstan]

my oil lines on my turbo went out (they were braided) and i ran through 4 quarts in a matter of 2 hours...

[benniev]

I haven't removed the lines so I don't really know.

Would this create oil buildup on the rear bumper?? The bad loss started when I started seeing the oil on the rear of the car.. Came after the gasket change.

I should note that the coolant feed backed off a hair and the car ran low on coolant and got a little hot .

[blueshark123]

is your coolant brown is there any oil on the bottom of Ur car also since u say its on the bumper but where on the bumper is it. i could just be that when ur driving it ends up leaking and getting kicked up on the bumper. any oil in the intercooler pipes?

[benniev]

Spent the day fuckin with the car.

Poked my head under it, had beads of oil hanging from several places on the exhaust, places with points anyway.. Was bizarre. No idea how it's making it from the middle of the car, around the chamber, up the rest of the exhaust and up and around the muffler to end up on the back of my car but, it's obviously happening.

I removed some of my intercooler piping, didn't have anything inside of it.. As I was examining the feed and return lines, I brushed my hand across the bigger of the two lines on the backside of the turbo. The actual line itself rotated, but I couldn't physically spin the nut going into the turbo. So I'm assuming I've got a high pressure leak there. It'll spin, but the nut is cinched down. I took an 18 to the nut and tightened it down so that not even the braided line can spin anymore. Haven't driven it since, but I'm thinking that may have had something to do with it. Directly below where the small and large braided lines are is thick, black goopy oil buildup that I couldn't see at first.

[murffy]

could be that..has your car been smoking up blue? your turbo could be dying, the seals could be going out thus resulting in the burning of oil and oil in your exhaust pipes and bumper

[benniev]

Only smoke I've seen out of my car has come between shifts at high rpms and it's said to be black (by the camera car LOL)

though i have seen white smoke before, it's from where the catch can i had apparently had filled up and if i got into it hard it'd blow the dipstick upward and i'd get oil going somewhere that would generate some SERIOUS train-like smoke billowing.