Sal 965

You'll have to bear with me as i'm not sure if some or all of this will be relevant.

Since February 2008 i have only used my car a couple of times just to keep things turning and it has been on a trickle charger since then until now. The car is only just approaching 37k miles.

I started to tick off a couple of the more cosmetic jobs in anticipation of a run last weekend and this included detailing the engine and cleaning all the tar and dirt from the front and rear arches using degreasers of varying strength. I ran the car for about 8 to 10 miles afterwards to dry off and let it stand to check the oil before adding a small amount. * Before all of the below i'm hoping that i have just overfilled the oil and it is finding its way out anywhere it can *

So to the run.

Before i set off i noticed a 6" oil stain just ahead of the drivers rear wheel (RHD) but assumed i must have spilt some in the fill up and made a note to check it later when the car was warm.

During the run the car was smoking from the engine bay when stationary and also after it was shut down. Again i thought spillage? There was clouds of white smoke coming from the turbo tailpipe in standing traffic when the temperature was getting up to 9 o'clock. Over the course of the day the back of the car now has a huge amount of oil splatter from the number plate and up to the underside of the whaletail which seems to have originated from the turbo side of the car as the other side is relatively clean.

Now that the car is in my garage there are three puddles of oil under the rear of the car -
One about 4" underneath the turbo,
Another about 4" about 8" towards the front of the car from the turbo
A 6" one just ahead of the driverside (RHD) rear wheel.

Since buying the car five years and almost 20k miles ago there has always been some spray of varying amounts on the rear mainly on the side of the turbo tailpipe which i thought could have been unburnt fuel but now i am concerned that things may be much worse.

Can anyone give me some ideas what may be wrong or where to start tracking down all of the leaks. I'm going to clean everything up but don't want to run it if the issue could be mechanical.

I'll post a pic later of the splatter/spray as it sits now.

SonnyV

Hi Steve,

I can comments on 2 of the areas of as relate to my car. From your 2nd picture, I do have a drip once in a while from the 2nd location from left to right. In my case, the leak comes from the left hand side valve cover. It is not a big deal (in my case) and only need to fix when I next do the valve adjustment.

The 2nd area (front of right hand side rear wheel), from your picture it does not look like front of rear wheel. In my case, it was right in front of the right rear wheel, at the flare of the side sill. There is an oil drain plug there (the majority of the oil is drained here when doing oil change), mine was not tighten correctly so it was an easy fix.

Hope your will not be anything major. The area near the turbo it could be some loose oil lines that need to be tighten up a bit.

Sonny

tjr

Steve,

That could well be a blown turbo seal - under boost it would blow oil everywhere, splatter all over the rear of the car and and then drip from all over the place - just like in your pictures. My car had a similar problem, although it's turbo has done 90k miles.

If it is the turbo, it can be rebuilt pretty cheaply or of course it's a good opportunity to upgrade. Good luck with it.

Cheers,

Tim.

Sal 965

Just for a bit of clarity. Before the run out, and since i've owned the car, i have had no oil leaks at all, no visible spots on the floor and i don't have the undertray. Only since cleaning off of all of the dirt and years of build up since the begining of the year have these started. Could the chemicals have damaged any pipes?

Interesting on the turbo comment. The fuel?/oil spray from the turbo has always been there in a much lesser degree. The car only had 15k miles when i bought it and i think that the K29 which had been fitted had been on for less than 3k. Do the seals fail with age or useage usually?

If it is the turbo how much is a new one and what spec should i go for? And are there any recommendations for rebuilding the one i have?

Staffan

Wrote a long post and manage to delete it.
Could be a million things (and overfilling is one of them).

Short story, check where that big leak on the right side is coming from if possible, could be something obvious (like Sonny wrote, look also behind the wheel, oil lines there).

Next step, like you wrote, clean, start engine and check again.
Take pictures of suspect areas and post here, we will sort it out.
Good thing is that big leaks are easy to find.

I wouldn't worry too much about mechanical problems, I think it's very unlikely, but with this much oil this sudden I would be a bit cautios, meaning I would just start the engine at first (after cleaning) and see if I can spot it. Wouldn't worry too much though.

Having written all this, probably overfilling or something really simple, when it happens this fast it usally is.

Staffan

If the turbo seal is gone you will blow massive amount of smoke under boost when the turbo is hot.

Staffan

I wouldn't worry about damage from chemicals as longs as you didnt wear a hazard suit when applying them
There are many pipes that could leak, seals, gaskets, you would be surprised.
The turbo doesn't have an undertray.

Sal 965

Staffan,

There has never been any smoke when under full or partial boost and i have done quite a bit of tracktime and some good long autobahn runs at near to maximum speeds. The only smoke to come from the turbo pipe was on Sunday and this was at idle in traffic, once we were on the move again, at 10mph upwards, the smoke disappeared.

Sal 965

I had seen a engine undertray for sale on ebay last year, maybe misdescribed given your comment, so naturally assumed that some people must be running with one. I never thought to check PET or by using the search function as didn't persue it any further.

tjr

Sounds like the cleaning is just a coincidence or else the crud has been absorbing any minor leaks.

It sounds like your turbo has been leaking for a long time - there shouldn't be any spray at all.

Re. new turbos, I'd contact Kevin at Ultimate Moterwerks. I bought an K27 HFS from him in December 2007 for $1.5k, I think the standard K27 7200 was about $900. He also sells K29s I believe.

As Steffan says though, clean it up and check where its coming from.

Sal 965

I'm going to start the clean up tomorrow night so I will report back with what i find. I'm looking at getting a suction pump to pump out a litre or so from the tank before i run the car in case it is overfilled.

The chemical i used out of interest was Autosmart Tardis which is sort of a souped-up white spirit to dissolve tar, glue and grease.

I'm going to contact Kevin at Ultimate Moterwerks about potential turbo options as an earlier/lower revs spool would make for a better driving experience as a upgrade if i have to go down the replacement route.

kleinbbc2

looking at the pic your big drip is from overfill / the little one is from the turbo hose gasket upper or lower.
Let us know what you find

Staffan

This is what a blown turbo seals looks like, it's way worse than on the pictures.
I got more attention than I was asking for.

You can also see it in this video from the same lap.
I pass him 7 minutes in the movie (you can press pause and let the full movie load before fast forwarding).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRh_7SKeBc4
I few corners after I passed him he goes over a hill and you can hear him ease off on the throttle, probably due to the massive amount of smoke...

It's really bad, when I got to the pit a guy screamed my car was on fire (shooting some flames on top of the smoke).

Sal 965

Staffan,

Just watched the video and the car doesn't do that under boost, the only smoke visible was at idle in traffic so could it be that the seals having blown and oil is burning in the turbo but being blown out under pressure when driving?

fritz k.

hi Staffan,

impressive smoke, just wondering it comes out left side, would have expected it rather on the right tip.

will be no comfort to steve, but in my experience is oil leaking a special issue of low mileage cars. obviously it is necessary to drive them from time to time in order to keep all the gaskets and sealings in good condition.

my car have had a few leaks as well, i recently fixed one between chain and camshaft housing. hope that this was the last for a while.

to clarify the minor leaks it is helpful put the car on a lifter and have a look from underneath while she idles.

fritz