Turbo Oil Leak

[coprey]

Hi I am a new member but have been on the forum frequently since getting my Auris in May 2014. I am just hoping for some advice as I noticed on Tuesday that there was some oil dripping from underneath my car. At first I thought it was the gearbox, as it appears to have oil on it. But on further inspection, it seems to be coming from the turbo. From the turbo, all the way down to the gearbox, it is quite "gunky" and oily. After parking from 3pm yesterday until 12pm today, there are 2 small drops of oil on the driveway. Hoping to get it on a ramp tomorrow to have a good look around. Just wondering if there is anything I should look out for? Any known problems etc. My car is a 57 plate 2.0 D4D T3. The turbo was reconditioned about a year ago under warranty.

Thanks for reading.

[TomdeGuerre]

Hi Coprey and welcome to the board. It might not be your turbo that's leaking, it might be coming from the engine breather system. The breather system vents into the turbo air inlet duct. If it's coming out the other side ie the pressure delivery side of the turbo at rest it could be from your turbo but did you get them to clean out your intercooler when they changed the turbo? If it's loaded with oil it can run back out.

Does the engine smoke badly or use a lot of oil? Hope not because an engine rebuild is a lot more expensive than a turbo.

[coprey]

Thanks for the reply TomdeGuerre. I am not sure if they cleaned the intercooler when the turbo was done. The only reason it was fixed was because it was making a rattling noise as the revs dropped when changing from 1st to 2nd gear.

Also there is no smoke from the engine or exhaust. Checked the oil level and its just below max on the dipstick. Oil was changed at the start of February too. Will keep an eye on it though.

If its coming from the breather system, is this normal, or what causes it?

Thanks again

[TomdeGuerre]

It's completely normal for some oil to expel through the breather system. All engines develop crankcase pressure, mainly from blow-by of combustion gases past the piston rings. If you don't allow the pressure to vent or 'breathe' it will blow past the engine oil seals, gaskets etc. It's a sure sign of a worn engine if the engine is breathing heavily.

In the old days crankcase breathers were just vented to atmosphere. Nowadays they all have sealed breather systems, usually called positive crankcase ventilation systems (Google it, there's a ton of information out there about it). If you're getting trouble with oil spots, you can always fit an oil catch can in the breather system. Again, there's a ton of information on the web about it.

[TomdeGuerre]

Tried to upload this pic with my last post but failed. Try again

[coprey]

Well got the car in to my brother-in-laws garage this afternoon. He had a look for me and took off the breather pipe, no sign of oil in there, looked quite clean. He also took off the intercooler pipes all the way from the turbo to the intercooler. Some traces of oil in the pipes but thought that was normal. The intercooler pipe connection to the turbo was a bit loose so dont know if that was the problem. The turbo vanes also felt fine with no play.

Cleaned up all the gunk and oil and will keep an eye to see if its still leaking. Looks like the turbo could be getting sent away to get refurbished and hope that fixes it.