Greddy turbo help, oil leak
 

I just installed the greedy kit on my car and im geting an oil leak but cant seem to find where its coming from. it is dripping of the bottom of the manifold.

im just wondering if it is possibly a bad turbo, i did buy the kit used with about 15,000 miles on it

thank you

at a guess I'd say it's the oil feed into the turbo housing - that sucka is hard to get sealed up good and tight

dam thats a pain to get to, too :banghead:

Either the oil feed or return, or you have a blown snail.

How much oil is coming out? If you start the car and let it idle and look underneath it can you see oil visibly dripping or no?

yeah like a drip every 30 seceonds or so.

Did you put the copper washer between the feed line and the turbo? Did you teflon tape it as well?

yeah i did all of that i went and checked it, its not coming form the top oil feed, and i put on rtv on the bottom oil line and it is as tight as i could get it. so im thinking its the turbo, but hoping its not. that would be a lot of work done for nothing!

did you manage to get the bottom oil line flange bolts tight ? I used capscrews and a ball headed allen key - only way to get the bolt tight IMO .....

might be the problem i couldnt ever get a good bite on them

no teflon tape on the oil supply fitting. If part of the tape goes into the bearings it will block oil feed passages to the bearings. Use liquid teflon.

its either oil feed, oil drain gasket or the turbine seal is leaking which tells you its time for a rebuild or an upgrade.

how much does a rebuild cost, for just a new seal?

A rebuild is inexpensive. There is nothing to the internals of the GReddy turbo. Ray from BHR did mine in about 30 minutes. I doubt its a blown turbo. You need to check the inlet line and outline of the oil lines. You will have a small leak at the oil pan coming from the return line if you dont have the GReddy oil pan. Mine has a very small leak that leaves a few drops in my garage after a few days. If you don't know, the teflon tapes goes on a certain way. Go over your entire system that relates to oil. You will know right away where it's coming from.

It's probably the return pipe, the way you have to slide one bolt in then tighten the other means it's never 'tight'. Then the drip falls right onto the header below, and a good puff of smoke every thirty seconds.....

S

yeah thats what im thinkng. Im going to take the bottom oil feed line off and make a new gasket and put allen heads like Brettus said, hopefully that will seal it up good and tight

No rebuild of mine takes 30 minutes! lol.

Please quit advising teflon tape. Liquid teflon! I have seen many turbochargers with teflon tape wadded up in the thrust bearings. When the thrust is starved from oil, it kills the shaft, bearing housing, seal plate and compressor wheel. Destroys the whole rotating assembly.

Bryan

I can not quote you a price for a rebuild since I am not a vendor. Average turbocharger rebuild shops charge anywhere from 300-450 for a rebuild.

its not the actual turbine seal that fails in the greddy. Its a dominoe effect that starts with oil coaking on the rear journal bearing. Once there is a build up of carbon on the journal it effects the turbine seal and starts leaking on ya.

The turbine seals can also lose their spring from ultra high EGT's. It collapses and then pukes the oil into the exhaust system.

The best solution to all your problems is a water cooled center housing. It eliminates the coaking issue and also helps the turbne seal stay cooler. This will save you money and headache down the road.

water cooled is definately the way to go

Along with the title of this thread, I too have a leak. Mine is coming from the oil feed line. I used liquid pipe thread sealer (Guy at Home Depot told me it was the same as liquid teflon) Just wondering if anyone has any easier way of hitting that line to get it a little tighter. My leak wasnt a drip here and there, it poured out. My turbo was rebuilt by BNR so it has been taken apart and should have fresh seals in it. I didnt crank the line on there when I initially put it on cause I wasnt sure if it would turn the adapter in the turbo. I dont really wanna take all this crap off. I tried using crows feet but cant get a good grip on it. ANyone else tightened the oil line while it was still on the car?? Thanks!

Adam

I'm going to say it's impossible to tighten the oil feed line with the turbo on.....it's just too tight of a space.

Are you positive it's coming from the feed and not somewhere else?

i would have to agree with it being pretty darn impossible. i was able to get it by having the turbo resting in the location of where the engine mount was and tightend it while i was in the wheel well area

you are going to have to unbolt the turbo
when I installed my turbo kit the first time, my oil feed line and my oil return line was leaking
the only way to fix the feed line was to unbolt the turbo...it sucks but there is no way around it

It is do-able; it just sucks some serious ass.


You need some super small wrenches... I got a set of them in my Mechanic toolset from Craftsman

^i couldn't figure out a way
quicker to unbolt it imo...I've done it enough times, lol.

I kinda got to it through the side where the lower manifold is and got about 1/8th of a turn on it. But now Im at the point where the nut is turned at an angle to where the wrench wont grab it, no matter how you hold it. I can get my hand on it from the bottom over the downpipe but Im not sure if I can a wrench on it. I need some one to guide me from the top to let me know where Im at. Trying all things possible before I take all that crap off!!

yeah i put my oil line on the turbo. before i even put it in the car. my oil leek was coming form the bottom oil return, but turns out i never tightened the back bolt just snugged it.