Oil discovered in IC hose - need advice

[xc17pilot]

I'm a new 2002 996TT X50 owner and need a recommendation - I removed the ICs to change the spark plugs and in doing so found some oil in the turbo to IC hose on the drivers side. There was enough that it dripped out of the turbo when the hose was removed and the hose was coated in oil. The turbo to IC hose on the passenger side was dry. I don't think this is normal. The car has 7 months left on Porsche CPO warranty. I'm going to bring it in once the snow lets up, anyone ever have this issue? If so, how was it resolved, rebuild?

Thanks in advance.

[xc17pilot]

Here's the other side of the hose...this is after I wiped some of the oil off.

[Boston Duce]

Your turbo's bearings are on the way, if not already, shot. They're looking at a turbo rebuild or replacement.

The oil gets coked up in the bearings from the latent heat after engine shut down, and just grinds away at the tight clearances. The pressure created under boost then blows the oil across the bearing 'seal' into the air passages.

Did the former caretaker do a cool down before shut down? I let my turbo cars idle about 2 minutes before I shut down just to let the oil cool a little, since oil flow is the only thing that cools the turbo's.

I also switched to Delvac 1 5W-40 which although a heavy duty diesel oil, it's rated SL for gas cars and is designed to resist the high temperature coking in the turbos of diesels. Not entirely kosher as far as Porsche's recommended oils goes, but what do they know anyway? ;)

Edited February 13, 2010 by Boston Duce

[jpflip]

It was discussed on 6speed and according to what I am seeing on your pics, this is completely normal! (6speed oil in y pipes) and here Oil in intercooler, Las summer, I installed silicone hoses and my pipes had a little bit of oil and I was worried. But it seems a common thing... But what Boston Duce is mentioning about cooling time, it is in fact a must!

found another discussion on Renntech here: Oil discovered in ic hose

Edited February 13, 2010 by jpflip

[Boston Duce]

sorry brain freeze

Edited February 13, 2010 by Boston Duce

[Boston Duce]

My I/c hoses have zero oil in them.

Oil in the air flow is not a design feature. It will cause all sorts of secondary issues as it gets ingested and burned in the combustion process.

Turbo-side (turbo to intercooler) is where to look for oil contamination.

You may be better off with sand in the turbo's than coked oil, at least the oil filter will catch it- coking is forever until disassembly.

BD

[jpflip]

My I/c hoses have zero oil in them.

Oil in the air flow is not a design feature. It will cause all sorts of secondary issues as it gets ingested and burned in the combustion process.

Turbo-side (turbo to intercooler) is where to look for oil contamination.

You may be better off with sand in the turbo's than coked oil, at least the oil filter will catch it- coking is forever until disassembly.

BD

I agree with you Boston Duce (except for the sand ;-)) and I was worried when I found oil in my pipes. But after reading the post from these forums I felt more confident and don't seems to have any problem since.... Of course we are talking about a sweat.

[Boston Duce]

Not to promote another source but go to Rennlist. com search the turbo forums for Kevin from Ultimatemotorwerks.

He goes into great detail, including pictures, why oil in the I/c tubes is a sign of failed turbo seals or worse.

Don't know if he's still around but he knows his stuff, and his work is/was aerospace quality.

[Danyol]

I've seen oil working on 2 cars; not unusual.

[andymac]

+1 normal in these cars. Been discussed lots on other forums

Nothing to worry about

[xc17pilot]

Thanks for your replies. I feel better and will post an update after the dealer weighs in.

[xc17pilot]

Just got done talking with the dealer. Written on my paperwork is the following:

"The turbo oil collection tanks had excessive oil indicating that they have not been drained. This will cause oil to come out of turbo into hose. Some oil in hoses is normal operation."

[jpflip]

I don't understand the first part of the dealer statement "The turbo oil collection tanks had excessive oil indicating that they have not been drained". Because the oil in the turbo reservoir is sucked by a scavenge pump, the same one for both sides, and this oil is routed to the engine casing." not been Drained" ??? .. But the important thing for you is the second part of the statement ;-)

[Chuck Jones]

HUH??? Oil collection tanks hadn't been drained??? That's a first for me. He must have pulled that one out of the posterior part of his anatomy. Most folks who do their oil changes never mess with what little oil there might be in there. I know I don't, and neither does my indy. I think that falls under the heading of extraneous and irrelevant verbiage. Next time you go in there, ask him to explain that statement. The response will probably commence with ....Well errr, ahhhh, ummm...what I meant was ahhh.....you know...

[xc17pilot]

I agree on it not making any sense -- if that were true then both passenger and driver side should have shown the same I would have thought. The passenger side turbo to IC hose was bone dry as I expected. I'll continue to seek out more explanation as this makes no sense mechanically that this is possible as the oil comes from the engine oil system and why would it "overflow" into the turbo to IC outlet? :huh:

[msallen]

I've just had the same problem - substantial amounts of oil in the passenger-side inter-cooler hose. There was so much oil that it started to appear in the intake tract and foul the mass airflow sensor, as well as start to saturate the air filter. Turned out to be a turbo bearing failure. Fortunately I had installed a magnetic drain plug in the turbo oil reservoirs so the flaking metal ended up attaching itself to this magnet rather than being distributed around the engine.

Although I only needed to replace the passenger side turbo, I replaced both turbos with a pair that I found on eBay (replaced after 8k with K24s) and the problem disappeared completely.

[xc17pilot]

I've just had the same problem - substantial amounts of oil in the passenger-side inter-cooler hose. There was so much oil that it started to appear in the intake tract and foul the mass airflow sensor, as well as start to saturate the air filter. Turned out to be a turbo bearing failure. Fortunately I had installed a magnetic drain plug in the turbo oil reservoirs so the flaking metal ended up attaching itself to this magnet rather than being distributed around the engine.

Although I only needed to replace the passenger side turbo, I replaced both turbos with a pair that I found on eBay (replaced after 8k with K24s) and the problem disappeared completely.

Thanks for your input. With my car I am still monitoring the oil consumption and will bring it back to the dealer with your added info. My consumption rate is about 500 miles per quart. The reasoning they gave me that I posted above still does not make sense and my CPO warranty is good another 2 months. In my opinion I probably have the same issue you had.

Any definitive way to prove this without taking the turbo apart?

Thanks.