So my car has been spewing out smoke like crazy and I couldnt figure out why, So I took off the turbo and noticed that in my (turbo to carburetor) piping there was a puddle of oil... I looked inside my exhaust manifold and there was oil in there too... Any idea's why???? Can I take apart my turbo to clean it out, or would that require me to get it re balanced and all that technical stuff i cant do

seals on turbo are bad,check your drain line make sure its all gravity bled and big enough

I will start with the most probably noob mistake

1) inadequate oil return line inner diameter and/or routing

2) improper oil return at the pan (dumps into oil or bad angle)

3) too much oil pressure (need flow restrictor)

4) incorrect crankcase venting (causes pressure in the oil pan...usually blows gaskets first)

5) incorrect CHRA clocking

6) bad turbo piston rings

Since you are getting oil in both the comp. and exh. then it is HIGHLY unlikely that it is the piston rings. What size oil return line are you using and does it have correct routing? What is the oil feed line size and what is your oil pressure?

I posted the Holset turbo oil in/out instructions here before. You can also search for them on the web. They give the correct oil input flow rates and the correct oil out parameters.

Lots of noobs end up with oil in the housings due to improper oil lines.

Do not take that turbo apart to clean out the oil. It will clean out itself if you fix your oil problem. Turbos are not that complicated to rebuild, but require attention to detail.

I have the oil return line going out on a 90 degree angle to a straight pipe about a foot long than another 90 degree angel down towards the oil pan... Think this is the problem??

Sorry for the crude drawings but drawing two is my setup now, I have the oil coming out via a 90 degree brass fitting into a 12 inch piece of copper tubing, that tubing is hooked up to another 90 degree brass fitting which is than fed into the oil pan... Since its gravity fed this apparently was a bad idea...

Drawing one replaces the 90 degree fittings with 45 degree fittings so that the copper tubing is mounted on a slanted angle instead of a straight angle... I would run it straight down at a 180 degree angle but my oil return port for the oil pan is in in the back below the number 8 cylinder ( Im using the oil dipstick port I modified, and no theres no problems there, its not dumping the oil return straight into more oil, there is enough space for the oil to free flow into the pan)

Yes, the picture with the 90* elbows will cause a problem. Set it up with the 45* elbows.
Also, you mention trying to use an oil dipstick hole for the return. That would be way too small of an ID. You need at least a 7/16 to 1/2" hole. You might get away with a 3/8" hole with the proper oil restrictor on the the inlet side. Gravity feed is the correct way to do it. The return line and fitting are definitely a problem. How much oil pressure are you running? High pressure pump? It is highly likely you need a .063" hole flow restrictor (www.mcmaster-carr.com).

This is why people weld a return fitting on the pan. They do it to get the right hole size for the oil return. You could squeak by using the fuel pump oil return hole and plates setup.........but you are running a mech. fuel pump so that is not an option.

BTW, good job on building your first turbo setup. They are a lot of fun. You will get the bugs worked out, it just takes a little time. You mentioned getting a turbo T70 from you Dad. Was it a Master Power, Garrett, China?

He got it from his maintenance shop, i thought it was a master power but i think its china cause it was dirt cheap... however there is no play in the wheel, and it sounds great(when it worked, for all of about 8 seconds than the oil problem)

The oil return line that came with my kit was only a 5/16 fitting for some reason, but i can most certainly get an adapter to run 3/8 piping, any bigger and ill run into fitment issues =/ but ill test out the 45 degree angle fittings and if that dont work, i guess ill have to take off the oil pan and tap it

and btw the oil pressure varies from about 30 to 60, 30 at idle and 60 at wot, dont ask me why, but yeah... http://www.mcmaster.com/#flow-restrictors/=2cd5g0 on this page can you help me choose which would be the proper restrictor?

A master power turbo would say master power on the compressor housing. A China turbo would just have numbers on the compressor housing.

I would try the 45* elbows and 3/8" line first. If you still have a problem I think it is due to trying to use the oil dipstick hole as the return. Some people use a 3/8" or 1/2" NPT (usually a 1/2") fitting for the oil pan. They install it in the car by punching a hole (not drilling-metal chips in oil pan) in the pan and using lots of gasket marker. They screw it into the hole. Paxton or Vortech (I forget) supercharger instructions do it that way. You may want to download the install instructions. On my setups, I pull the pan and weld a fitting on it. I weld on a -10AN (10/16" = 5/8") or -12AN bung. I like to go on the large side.

I am not sure what a China turbo requires for oil. Holset, Garrett, Master power all require pretty much the same oil flow. With your current 30 PSI at idle, 60 PSI at higher RPM I would go with a mcmaster part #: 2712T44 if using 1/4" brake line for the feed. Change that part number depending on your current thread setup. That is, male x male, female x male, and NPT size. Since the China turbo oil requirement is kind of unknown then I would go with a .063" restrictor and then drill it out to 3/32" or 1/8" just to be on the safe side. I don't know how well the oil channel wedge is designed in those turbos so I would rather see you putting a little more oil into it than may be required.


Overall, I still think you will have a problem using the dipstick hole, but it is worth a try installing the 45* elbows. The 90* will definitely cause a problem any time the front of the car is not headed uphill. Also, since you are seeing the oil problem under acceleration (oil being sent rearward to oil hole) then it kind of points to the oil dipstick hole being a problem.

Im doing it the vortech way, I ran a 4 bump brass fitting that I clamped a 1/2" hose out of the turbo and am running it 180 degrees straight down to the oil pan where I'm using a screw in 1/2" fitting, I hope this works best, the only problem I can predict is the 90 degree angle going into the oil pan...

As for the oil feed, I've got the 5/16" line feeding into a 3/8" fitting which on the output is about .120 or roughly 1/8", don't ask me where I found it, it was in a bucket with about 300 other sized fittings lol, so hopefully that'll work good for the oil feed.

Thanks alot for the advice it was very helpful, I probably woulda ended up with a flamethrower exhaust if I couldn't figure this stuff out...

I think the 90* fitting with a 1/2" diameter at the pan will be fine. By the sounds of it that will fix your oil problem. Be careful when you install the fitting in the pan. Watch out for where the main caps are in the front of the pan if you put the fitting there.

Your oil feed sounds fine.

You are welcome. It will work out for you. The first setup is always a learning experience. The best part is you built it. The performance you get out of the setup will FAR EXCEED the HP you would have gotten with the same money doing heads/cam/etc.

I forgot to mention........having a small fire extinguisher in the car during a first turbo install is a must. When I did my first turbo setup 4 years ago I went to the local hardware store and bought one before I even started the car. It stayed in the car for the entire summer.

I think it is one of the most important pieces of a turbo setup that most people forget about.

Did the new oil return fitting, restrictor, and line fix the oil in the housing problem?

Yeah it works great now, no leaks at all, now i just need to let the car run for about 26 hours to burn the oil out of the exhaust wrap