Oil in the intercooler

[Henry]

Loren, that oil will probably mean that oil is leaking through the turbo seal and into the inlet system. This does not necessarily mean that you have a turbo problem. Oil is pressure fed to the turbo and drains back to the sump by gravity. If the drain is blocked or more likely your crankcase pressure is too high it will push past the seals. These seals are a metal thing a bit like a piston ring, complete with gap. Check your breather lines, pcv valve, air filter etc, if you don't find anything, check the compression, could be that it is just worn out. Compression should be 9.5 kg/cm2 at 300rpm
more info at http://www.usdieselparts.com/turbochargers/turbo3.cfm
Hope that helps.  Henry

[Henry]

Glad to help, just wish I was only as old as you, and know what I know now!!! Henry

[blitz_power]

i have see most turbo charge car have this problem..
its not a major problem i hope cause my intercooler piping have some oil in it..
Same as the wrx my friend have...

if there is a bit oil i think should be fine but if there is a lot.. might be a big problem

arnold

[BOOSTBOY]

It's common in a turbocharged engine to get some oil in the cooler pipes.  It's caused by 'blow by' where oil is forced out of the breather under boost and into the intake system.  It's not a really desireable thing to have happening as the fine mist of oil finds its way back into the engine and when it mixes with the air/fuel mix it reduces the overall octane rating of the fuel, raising the risk of detonation.

To prevent this from happening you need to buy or make an air/oil seperator.  This is just a small cannister where the breather hose feeds to, instead of the intake system.  The cannister has a breather that is open to atmosphere so the engine will still breath properly.  The oil that collects in the bottom can be drained out when needed or a drain to the sump can be made.

I wouldn't worry about it too much!

Glenn

[Turbo3]

Hi Loren,

If you're not using the air conditioning, you can make use of the cannister that sits just by the heat exchanger. Split it and remove the baffles, then just attach a small filter to the top and make sure the incoming pipe sits near the bottom. It can even go back in the same spot and attach tube to the PCV outlet on the top of the rocker cover. It looks pretty cool when polished up too!!  ;D

Pete