mkent

today I fired the car up for the first time this year. I got the OFI (overpriced forced induction) vertical radiator setup installed, and a nice electric oil scavenger pump. While mounting the intercooler, I noticed there was oil puddled up inside the intercooler so I assumed the turbo seals must need replaced.
I let the car get up to operating temp while sitting on jack stands. After about 10-15 minutes of run time, I noticed oil leaking out the compressor outlet and alot of blue smoke coming out the exhaust all at once.
Sooo...either my oil scavenging system is not sealed well enough to scavenge (I did find a leaky fitting in line), i have too much feed pressure, or my seals are bad. There really isn't much play at all on the shaft so the bearing seems fine.
What do you think is likely the problem?

crazycat

I had that problem with mine, ended up just being a bad check valve, on my sts. I would say check the pump.

mkent

Hmm...well, i happened to have a MP rebuild kit so I rebuilt the turbo today. I don't know how to tell if the seals are bad since they are piston ring style, but I did not notice anything obviously wrong except for the fact that oil was coked in the heat shield and a little bit on the shaft near the turbine seal.
The bad thing is, there's enough shaft play now that the fan will hit the housing. I'm going to try putting the old bearings in tomorrow and see if the play goes away.
I'm also going to call an Ohio based dealer and see how soon I can get a new turbo so I don't have to worry about this crap. I'll go with a Precision or Turbonetics this time. I hear they have better quality control and tighter tolerances than MP.

1982z28with18s

Call Jose at forcedinductions and get the TC76, hands down the best turbo I had out of of any I've ran.

mkent

Is that a Turbonetics turbo? How long did it take you to get that? I'll try to give him a call on my lunch break.

1982z28with18s

Turbonetics, took around a week and a half to get it. You have to get it from Jose though to get the TC76.

mkent

I called Jose today. He definately has the best deal on the TC76. I think your RealQuick's hotparts are different than mine. On mine the turine housing sits about 3/8" from the harmonic balancer. I have a heat shield and I actually had to clearance the heat shield to keep it off the balancer. Does the TC76 have a larger outside diameter on the exhaust housing than say a regular T76?
If you don't know, I'll have to ask Jose when I call him back tomorrow.

1982z28with18s

I don't believe it did, but ask him to be 100% for sure.

RealQuick

T60 thru T76 T4's should all have the same turbine housing outer dimensions.

mkent

yeah, I varified with Jose at FI and on his recommendation I should have a new TC-78 within the next 2 weeks

1982z28with18s

Hell ya! Jose is great to deal with.