RS Legacy turbos

[samlloyd]

1998 RS-B Legacy ej20r.

Oil in intercooler and pipes which points to dodgy turbo seal ( no smoke out exhaust though) Noticed oil leak at actuator.

Are these standard turbos rebuildable? Is that something i can do, i cant quite make out the turbo numbers on them, IHI VF's.

Drivers side one appears to be the one thats suspect although quite hard to tell.

Any gurus out there? Cheers

[Girvs]

Couldn't help you directly, though I'd suggest you may want to try here if no one on TS can help

http://www.clubsub.org.nz/forum/

[edit] I find it quite entertaining that the site has a "stolen" area [/edit]

[Malcolm]

have you ruled out the possibility the oil has come from the crankcase breather? I'm not sure how the legacies are plumbed, but on gen 1 & 2 3sgtes the crankcase breather is before the turbo so your intake pipe, compressor housing and intercooler + piping all get nice and oily in the standard configuration

[samlloyd]

I havnt ruled it out, it seems an exesive amount thought, for it to be leaking out of the actuator and onto the exhaust which i can smell, and visible see smoke from under the bonnet

[sik_gt_starly]

can you take off inlet pipes to turbos, if you can take them off and see if any oil is visible on intake side of turbos

[samlloyd]

It is possible, but an absolute bitch,

If its on the intake would that be a breather problem rather then seals,

there is oil in the outlet of both turbos and the inercooler is golden

[sik_gt_starly]

from what you have descripes sounds like you have an oil leaking onto exhaust or something as well as oil getting through the turbo(s) seals

i have the same thing in my starlet, tiny bit of oil comes out of the inlet of compressor housing and intercooler gets a bit of oil in it from time to time. i just assumed the turbo is on its way out as it was a cheapy, so ill be watching this thread to see what is actually wrong with it

[samlloyd]

How often do turbo seals fail but not smoke out the exhaust??

[RS13]

I havnt ruled it out, it seems an exesive amount thought, for it to be leaking out of the actuator and onto the exhaust which i can smell, and visible see smoke from under the bonnet

Sounds like cam cover seals, they leak onto the exhaust causing engine bay smoke and the smell, very common with Subarus. I would also suggest the crankcase breather, in fact I can't recall owning a turbocharged car that didn't have a little oil in the intake piping somewhere!

If you aren't blowing smoke and both turbos are boosting nicely with little noise, I would look elsewhere for the leak.

[steve murch]

Any oil coming from a turbo threw the seals isnt the seals failing its the end result of something else going wrong, the seals in any turbo arnt designed to keep oil in or out the are a neutraliser and when the balance is upset they cant compinsate.
These seals are a tiny piston ring and at timeS no bigger than 1mm wide thus they dont take alot of punishment when other things go wrong.

[sik_gt_starly]

what would be some examples of other things going wrong?

would too much oil flow to the turbo be a cause?

cheers

[sergei]

what would be some examples of other things going wrong?

would too much oil flow to the turbo be a cause?

cheers

Pressure in crank case will cause this.

[sik_gt_starly]

in the case of the e series motors this could be caused by blocked breathers on top of rocker cover?

any other reasons?