# Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals...



## Stephen Webb (Apr 12, 2001)

My turbo leaks oil, and is only 5,000 miles old (or much less, most likely).
The only thing I can figure is that my oil pressure to the turbo is too high, thus it blew the seals out.
Does anyone know what kind of pressure to the turbo is OK? I'm running at about 70 PSI at the head, and I tapped the turbo oil feed line from the filter housing. It's a 1.8 liter engine, and the oil pump is larger than what came with the car (meant for hydraulic lifter heads, maybe?) 
At any rate, if anyone has any suggestions, let me hear them.
I seem to remembe reading about installing a restricter in the oil feed line to the turbo to prevent this from happening. I don't remember the details (I think it was in "Turbochargers"...Hugh MacInnes), but I don't have that book right now.
Any help appreciated.
-Steve


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## 2.0T (Jun 17, 2002)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Stephen Webb)*

i keep hearing abotu this and i think my turbo is on it's way out too







i keep hearing to put a resistor in the feed line, i heard one person say to plug the line up then drill a hole as big as you want, but then i'd be worried about not getting enough oil to my turbo??


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## Stephen Webb (Apr 12, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (2.0T)*

I share your concern.
I wish I had my "Turbochargers" book - I know the author has a discussion on this subject. He talks about required oil flow rates for various turbos, maximum pressure that the seals can deal with (was it as low as 45 PSI ?) and he talks about the restrictor size to use, etc. 
-Steve


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## Stephen Webb (Apr 12, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Stephen Webb)*

I found this info...may be helpful.

http://www.usdieselparts.com/turbochargers/turbo3.htm
-Steve


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## TurboABA (Mar 3, 2002)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Stephen Webb)*

Has anyone talked to a turbo manufacturer about this issue?


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## Nicke (Oct 17, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Stephen Webb)*

My turbocharged Rabbit is finally up&running now, but I have a serious problem which is closely related to this post. The oil pressure in my engine is very high when the engine is cold 75-95 PSI (@ 1000-2000 RPM), and during this period the engine smokes really badly! There are large amounts of oil coming into the turbine, producing the smoke and causing oil to leak out between the turbo and the downpipe.







However, as the engine heats up the smoke goes away. When the oil temperature has reached about 50 degrees C, I don't get any smoke although the pressure is as high as 65 PSI.
First I thought I had blown the oilseal, but as the leak disappears as the engine gets warm it must be something else...







What do you think, is the problem caused by the high oil pressure or is it due to some problem with the oil return from the turbo?!? Or is it maybe a combination of the 2 above... I was thinking that maybe the problem is that when the engine is cold, the oil is so "thick" that the large amounts of oil supplied (at the high pressure) can not pass through the oil returnline, and therefore oil is forced into the turbine...







Is that possible?!


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## vdubturbo (Aug 31, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Nicke)*

According to a race engineer at Garrett, turbos require moderate oil pressure and very little oil volume. You can, in fact, blow out oil seals as a result of prolonged high-pressure instances. 
hth
-SL


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## Nicke (Oct 17, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (vdubturbo)*

quote:[HR][/HR]According to a race engineer at Garrett, turbos require moderate oil pressure and very little oil volume. You can, in fact, blow out oil seals as a result of prolonged high-pressure instances. 
hth
-SL[HR][/HR]​How high is a "moderate oil pressure" then??







And how high pressures can a turbo handle before blowing out the oil seals??


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## vdubturbo (Aug 31, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Nicke)*

This is a * GUESS *, but I would say moderate oil pressure is between 50-80 psi. As for volume, a 1/4" line with -4 fittings is plenty of volume. 
I can't give you exacts b/c its been a while since I've had contact with him. We eventually switched from Garretts to Aerodynes, which had their own lube system. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## killa (Nov 26, 2000)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (vdubturbo)*

actually, 50-80psi is a little too much, 70psi of oil pressure it's about as much as the turbo seals can handle according to Corky Bell, Jeff Moss at velocity used to take the oil feed line from the back of the head, you can try to lower the oil pressure by running a larger diameter feed line, a -4AN might do it.
Paul


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## Nicke (Oct 17, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (killa)*

The pressures I specified are measured at the head, where I have a T-fitting for the oil supply line. So, I don't actually know how high the pressure is at the turbo... The feed line I use is about 10mm in diameter (inner), and I feel that's enough. What is the inner diameter om a 4AN-line?


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## vdubturbo (Aug 31, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Nicke)*

Well, for what its worth, I have a 1/4" line with -4 fittings coming off my filter housing and I have not a trace of oil in the intake tract. 
Its the copper line in this pic.


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## XSiVE (Nov 1, 2000)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (vdubturbo)*

as some of you may recall, I had this problem too.. I will be rebuilding my turbo as soon as the new bearings and seals come in and I will try to shed a little light on all of this. it could be blown seals, it could be a blocked oil return passage, or it could be coked bearings... We'll see.


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## Bonanza Gti (Jan 3, 2002)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (vdubturbo)*

cool boost controller!


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## Agtronic (May 14, 2001)

According to Corky Bell : 
"Too much oil pressure can create problems with turbos. It is possible to force oil past oil seals that are in perfect condition if oil pressure exceeds 65 to 70 psi at the turbo. If a particular engine creates more oil pressure than the seals can handle, it may be neceessary to install a restrictor or bypass system to reduce pressure at the turbo.
"Problems of oil pressure overpowering the seals are evident evident in a frequent if not constant smoking problem. Anytime oil pressure exceeds the 65-70 psi range and smoking persists, a restrictor or bypass should be installed prior to any other changes."
Good guidelines for virtually all turbos :
_______________* Min. Press.* (psi) __|_* Min. Flow* (gal/min)
Idle Hot.............|................5.............|............0.1...............|
Maximum Load...|..............25.............|............0.5...............|



[Modified by Agtronic, 9:04 AM 7-9-2002]


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## Nicke (Oct 17, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Agtronic)*

Well, it sure sounds like my pressure is a little *too* high when the engine is cold... Last night I looked a bit on the oil return line. I removed the hose from the connection in the oilpan and started the car, and out came lots of oil! I only run the engine for a short while, so I couldn't see if the car smoked with the returnline removed. However, now I know for sure that oil flows through the turbo (and lots of oil) and through the return hose... 
Is it possible then that my problem lies in the connection in the oilpan?! I have tapped the oilpan (as high up as possible) and have a ½" connection (don't know what AN it is) and the hose is about 13mm I.D. Could it be that the return is underneath the oil level in the pan, and therefor the oil doesn't flow well enough??


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## killa (Nov 26, 2000)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Nicke)*

i noticed that my car had high oil pressure when cold too, but then it drops cause of temperature issues.


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## Andrew Stauffer (Oct 2, 2000)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (killa)*

VWs run tremendously high oil pressures when cold. I had one that would puke oil from the filter gasket if it was too lose, just finger tight. Once it warmed up, it sealed just fine, but for the first minute of so, very high pressures. 
Too high of a pressure, even for rather short times, sounds like very bad news for turbo seals. How about adding a valve and after that, a pressure gage to the turbo oil in line, so you can choke it back to an appropriate # and quantify the pressure drop?


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## jassem99 (Feb 1, 2002)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Andrew Stauffer)*

If it's only the cold pressure that affects the seals then you can always use synthetic oil.


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## Nicke (Oct 17, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (jassem99)*

I already use synthetic oil.... Currently use Mobil 1 5W50


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## Peter Tong (Jun 17, 1999)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Stephen Webb)*

I count my blessings that my Autorotor doesn't have these kind of problems!
How about running an inline regulator of sorts to cap the pressure at an upper limit and vent excess back to the return line?
regards,
Peter Tong


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## Agtronic (May 14, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Peter Tong)*

quote:[HR][/HR]How about running an inline regulator of sorts to cap the pressure at an upper limit and vent excess back to the return line?[HR][/HR]​That sounds reasonable, but like they say, the more things you add, the more things can go wrong!


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## nigel (Jan 3, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Agtronic)*

has anyone considered simply increasing the size of the feed line. Assuming volume is constant doesn't pressure drop with an increase in cross section (diameter)?


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## Nicke (Oct 17, 2001)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (nigel)*

quote:[HR][/HR]has anyone considered simply increasing the size of the feed line. Assuming volume is constant doesn't pressure drop with an increase in cross section (diameter)?
[HR][/HR]​Provided that the volume is constant, it is true that the pressure would drop... However, I think it is the turbo bearing which limits the oil flow, and therefore I don't think the pressure would drop even though the size of the feed line would be increased. Note! This is just what I think!









quote:[HR][/HR]How about running an inline regulator of sorts to cap the pressure at an upper limit and vent excess back to the return line?
[HR][/HR]​That would probably be a good sollution. http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif What kind of (pressure)regulators are there on the market which would work?


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## XSiVE (Nov 1, 2000)

*Re: Oil pressure too high? Blown turbo seals... (Nicke)*

my seals went on the turbine side. check out what happened


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