Sajid

Ok so I just had the tbelt wpump done on my 951. I began to drive out of the mechanic shop when boom a big cloud of smoke comes out of the back and the car dies. Obviously I take it back to the mechanic and he takes of the cover to make sure the belts are in tact and in time. Everything checks out. However, he finds the dreaded "milkshake" residue on the oil filler cap. And he finds ALOT of oil in the intercooler pipe. I understand that its normal to have 'some' oil in there but this was just a pretty big puddle. He says that its most likely the turbo oil seal. Does this sound accurate? If so, what am i looking at in terms of repair costs? How difficult of a job is this to do if i were to try to tackle it on my own? And is the 'milkshake' related to possible oil leak from the turbo? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated thanks......

special tool

You are confident about your headgasket?

fast951

The turbo seal going bad should not cause the milkshake. If the seal goes you get smoke and oil in the IC, but why did the car die? A milkshake means coolant got into the oil... Have the mechanic do a leakdown test, to see if it's a headgasket.. Another source for coolant & oil mixing will be the oil filter housing (the old oil cooler housing), but that does not cause smoke..
I'm pointing to the headgasket! (unless turbo is cracked which I'm yet to see).

Sajid

i had 2 shops look into it and neither of them mentioned anything about a headgasket.

Another thing I just noticed after reading some material here on the forum is that i had the mechanic replace the motor mounts while he was doing the tbelt job and I read in a couple posts that the lower turbo seal sits right above the mount. Is it possible that it got damaged during the R&R of the mount?

fast951

The motor mount should not affect the turbo. If the turbo oil drain pipe got bent and restricted flow then the turbo will not drain, will flood and will smoke!

z3bra

And as big as the turbo oil drain pipe is, you'd have to try pretty hard to pinch that off enough to where it wouldn't be big enough to allow the turbo to drain. I think it's probably around 16mm ID or thereabouts.

Also the seal that's above the motor mount is just a viton o-ring in a groove acting as a face to face flange seal. The turbo being bolted to the mount holds it in place very securely. Chances are if they whacked the turbo hard enough to affect that seal they'd probably damage the turbo first before it had an effect on the o-ring.

I'd go with the headgasket assessment. The only way you'd get milkshake from the turbo itself is if the center housing cracked and the oil and water passages in it were allowed to come in contact. There was probably already oil in the intercooler pipes. There usually is anyway. It is possible your oil seal in the turbo is going as well but there most likely isn't any relationship between the oil in the IC and IC pipes and the bigger problem you're facing with the milkshake.

Sajid

Well i went back to the mechanic and had him do a compression test in front of me and all four cylinders were 145psi or above. So i started it back up and let it idle for 10 mins. There was a steady flow of smoke coming out of the exhaust the whole time. I then took it around the block a few times and the car seemed to drive ok, although the smoke continued to come out steadily. I kept an eye on the turbo gauge and it hit 1 bar and i could feel it kicking in but i just didnt feel the car pull because of it. When i got back to the shop and popped the hood i noticed oil leaking out of the intercooler hose right above the radiator. I guess that confirms that one of the seals by the turbo is leaking, right?

how big of a job is it to get this fixed?

special tool

Dude - all you have is DAMN BLOWN INTERCOOLER HOSE, and TWO shops didn't see it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Never, ever go to EITHER of those idiots again.

Go outside and put the ****ing hose back on the pipe, and you are done, dude.

Also - because of the recent work, the oil from the crank vent is between the pipe and the rubber connector. This will lubricate it, obviously, so when it is hot (under boost), it will come out, and when it is cold(under vacuum), it might slip back in. Check that idiot #1 tightened VERY securely the boost tube hose clamps.

Ian Carr

Tool, how does a blown intercooler hose lead to a milk shake?

special tool

That's just normal crap in the oil cap from short trips, young Skywalker.

Ian Carr

Hope the o-rings in the oil filter housing for that anti-freeze line didn't go like my car did....

Sajid

sorry for my lack of knowledge on this but just because the hose wasnt clamped down as tightly as it could have been, doesnt explain how all the oil is getting there does it? or am i missing something? sorry for being such a newb about this, but if you could explain to me how this whole system works, id really appreciate it. This forum is invaluable!

special tool

Oil is from crank vent - go put the connector back on and go for a drive.

cruise98

What color is the smoke?

Sajid

bluish white.