Turbo failure...maybe??

7spdftw said:

Hi Folks,

In the midst of changing all the fluids on my car yesterday (both diffs, xfer case, transmission) I decided to peak down into the air intake ducts.

Bad news. I see oil in the RH passenger side air duct at the bottom where the bellow is. It's not a lot, but it's enough to appear a little bit damp. The LH side is bone dry for comparison.

To add to this issue, the last time I changed air filters about 15,000 miles back, I didn't realize but the previous air filter gasket had gotten pinched with a kink. I'm in dusty, disgusting northeast AZ with lots of blowing dust and sand so there was definitely some dirt that had gotten into the intake duct.

So what I'm seeing is a little bit of congealed dirt and oil at the bottom of the bellow. Not puddled, but definitely "wet" appearing.

As far as any issues - none. No noises, no exhaust smoke, good fuel economy and good power. I get a real frequent failsafe mode where it limits power under 3000rpm (topic for another thread maybe) that clears as soon as I turn the car off and back on again. Otherwise, no odd noises or power loss. I don't hear turbos whistling or whining. OCI has been 5-6K miles with good oil analysis reports. I've extended OCI to about 9K miles a few times and oil level has never dropped - not using oil.

How effed am I? To beat it all, I'm at 71K miles, so bye bye warranty.

Thanks,
Travis

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Avedis53 said:

I suspect the small amount of oil you are seeing in the passenger side air duct (#13) is coming from the passenger side rocker cover vent line (C) in the diagram below:

View attachment 115065

The passenger side blow-by hose (#4) in this diagram below shows where "C" in the previous diagram is connected to the rocker cover:

View attachment 115066

I don't think it's anything to be concerned about.

As far as your limp mode issue, if you have an OBDII scanner and this happens again, you might try scanning the car for DTCs before turning off the ignition. Temporary DTCs will typically clear on ignition cycling.

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IridiumRS400 said:

^This. The oil accumulation in the passenger side intake boot is indeed coming from the blow-by hose from the passenger side valve cover.

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7spdftw said:

Jeez this makes me feel so much better! It seems a little strange they would pipe the PCV blow-by into only one intake. Seems like that would contribute to a lot more valve buildup on the RH side.

I've read several messages about these transient failsafe modes and checking the codes before shutting the car off, as the codes clear with restarting (possibly posted by you ). Mine has this horrendous loss of power and (using manual mode to force a higher gear), with accelerator to the floor, it has ZERO power until around 2800rpm when I can feel turbos spooling and by 3000rpm it takes off like a rocket with what seems like full boost. Driving in heavy traffic gets really chaotic with having NO power or ALL the power when passing. I'm gonna post another thread later about it. Your input will be greatly appreciated.



Again - y'all sure know how to make a guy feel better! I had a few hours to stress about this. I REALLY don't wanna fork over $7K for a turbo replacement and it has truly been a super great vehicle. I want to keep for a very very long time! It generally lives a pretty easy life on the highway at 75mph 98% of it's life with occasional WOT passing on these desolate 2-lane roads here.

I think I'm seeing a little more oil accumulation too because there is a small amount of dirt in the intake hose from the mentioned leaky air filter and we all know how much dirt and oil love each other.

How much of a pain is it to remove that intake bellow just so I can clean it out thoroughly? That engine bay is TIGHT!

Y'ALL ROCK!!

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