You might have an oil drain issue Which would explain why you have oil in the compressor and exhaust side. Remember the only seal you have is that piston ring like seal on shaft near the turbine for the exhaust side. Do you have any pics of the compressor backing plate and thrust bearing? Nothing looks downright trashed… Garretts are supposedly component balanced but I usually mark mine particularly for the compressor wheel and the shaft location just to be on the safe side. You will probably be fine if you didn’t. Also make sure the center section is not coked up with debris or burned oil etc internally that would reduce oil drain flow… Remember it’s just oil being drained by gravity.
Yeah, the more I read / learn it sounds like a drain issue, and possibly related to coking of the oil. Wondering if it had to do with 5W/20 vs. 10/W30? Here’s some of the other pics I took. Don’t know if they tell a story.
There were some aluminum metal fragments in the grooves of the drivers side turbo that I didn’t see in the passenger side. Not sure if these were even a factor. I’m guessing no.
I also remembered that this system comes with a separate pump and not sure if that has any bearing on oil draining.
No obvious damage, so I’d just have replaced a few things like the bearings/thrust bearing and compressor shaft seal with backing plate o ring and fresh compressor cover gasket. If the oil drains go right into a scavenging pump which pumps it from a sump back to the oil pan I def suspect you have an issue with either that pump or the return to the oil pan. The coking on the internal cover for the turbine (the thin steel cover) is normal considering the oil burning in the exhaust housing… The shaft looks clean and I don’t see major coking in the center section so I don’t nessescerily think that the oil viscosity is an issue.
edit: you may want to flush out your fmic with gasoline, excessive oil inside of it really hurts efficiency, plus you will be surprised at how much crap will get rinsed out. Pour some in, cap the ends and keep flipping it slowly from end tank to end tank to work it back and forth.
Thanks for all your help / input. I ended up ordering a couple kits from a company in Virginia. While “shopping” around (there’s a ton of rebuild kits out there for these) I noticed some kits included more or less than others. Some included all the bolts to connect the housings, which I really didn’t think needed to be replaced, not only the small black O ring for the internal portion, but also showed a larger O ring. I did not come across this larger O ring upon disassembling either unit. Could it be I’m missing something here?
This is the kit I should receive Saturday:
Some of the other ebay / internet kits I looked at.
If the bolts/clamps are in good shape you can reuse them. The large o ring you see in the kit could possibly be for the compressor cover depending on what style cover you have and might actually be paper instead of an o ring (tough to tell from the pics). Don’t forget to install that cover gasket or o ring bc you will have a large boost leak if you don’t and itll blow the turbos in short order. Surprisingly all of those kits have the 360 degree upgraded thrust washer instead of the old style 270 degree like you have currently…
I’ll see if there’s even somewhere for them to go. I’m certain there wasn’t one on either when I took them apart.
I’m going to run the 20 weight oil when it all goes back together. No one seems to think it matters.
Yeah there has to be either a big o ring or a thin paper gasket seal in the compressor cover that might still be stuck on cover or backing plate… It’s critical.
Kits are supposed to be in today. I will check on the gasket situation when I get back into it tonight. Thanks.
Update. Kits came in last Friday and was able to get to work on them over the weekend.
Bronze: New, Grey: Old
[SIZE=3]1. If I had to do this again, I would’ve probably bought a kit without all the other associated bolts, plates, and such. I re-used all the originals and saw no need to replace them.
2. The new journal bearings had a higher “sheen” to them. I guess I felt better about that but don’t know if it really matters.
3. There was no o-ring seal in the passenger side compressor housing. There was on the drivers side. Both now have new seals installed.
4. The drivers side turbo seemed to be “hanging up” on the drivers side and I decided to disassemble and investigate. The seal ring on the shaft on the exhaust end was slightly tweeked as it sat in it’s channel. I little manipulation seemed to solve this and it spins quite freely.
5. Overall, shaft play (side to side) was decreased slightly. There is still shaft play but nothing allowing the compressor vanes to come close to touching the housings.
6. Took a run down the street and did have some smoking but guessing that was residual oil left in the inter cooler / piping. I did flush the inter cooler with gas to help remove as much as I could. Re-opened the compressor side housings and found no oil in there. Found a little bit in the bottom of the inter cooler lower piping. Started up again last night, got up to temp, and this morning found a little more oil in the bottom of the inter cooler. May be more residual. I plan on taking it on some longer drives and continuing to monitor.
All in all I have a better understanding of how the assembly works and how things go together / work. I guess it’s really not that complicated. Thanks to LXIFLYBY for all your input.[/SIZE]
Nice work, keep us updated!
:tup: to self done projects
Good work, slowest ttv8 ever. 
Now that’s not very nice.
Solid
LoL <3
Update, hopefully final. After a couple few weeks of monkeying with the turbos and removing / installing them numerous times, I ended up pulling the scavenge pump and checking wiring connections. Based on all that I know at this point, it appears the pump was failing, or at least failing intermittently. I think I had more oil in the intercooler and exhaust than I had ever thought possible, which may have lead me to believe the turbo’s were leaking post rebuils when they probably weren’t.
I ended up contacting Hellion Power Systems and they had a replacement pump shipped out. I had a Turbowerx in the car, which I don’t believe was standard equipment from Hellion. The one they sent was not the same. Little smaller. Reviews on the Turbowerx were good though.
Been driving around on short, and longer trips, just keeping an eye on everything. I still get some oil out of the drivers side exhaust but it must be residual. My thinking is if it was coming from the turbo, it would burn / smoke, which it’s not. Checked the ground connection and the plug connection to the new pump and reconnected everything. I can hear it running quietly with the key in the ignition. I haven’t had it up on the lift to pull the lower intercooler connection but I see no visual evidence of oil / leaking.
The passenger side compressor housing had no gasket / seal so I would imagine some boost loss. I rebuilt the turbo’s replacing only the important internals (snap rings, journal bearings, seals, etc.) I saw no reason to replace the external bolts / plates as the originals were just fine. I see no issues with shaft balance and have spun them up a few times since install. Side to side play seems to be about the same as pre-rebuild. Not tight, but not touching the housing either. We’ll see if anything develops. With the return lines from the turbos to the pump / pan, an obstruction would’ve have had to be MASSIVE to cause a blockage.
All in all I learned a lot about the inner workings, and enjoyed the lesson, even though it was frustrating from time to time. Thanks to LXIFLYBY and CHODA for their advice.
Even if you didn’t have to rebuild the turbos the car will be that much more reliable. In for final updates!!
Ready to race that bitch yet?
Street or strip?
Street Son