Oil to Lubricate the Turbo

[gmenor]

Just a question on how oil goes to the turbo. Does vacumn from the turbo spooling up create a oil going to the turbo for lubrication? Or is oil pumped to it for lubrication. I kmow the oil vapor from the CDR provides some lubrication. I have been checking the oil tube (the one coming out of front the engine block and enters the top of the turbo) and it has been dry. There is oil in the intake. Should this be a concern? Thanks in advance for any input.

[patrick m.]

the braided steel line in the center section on top, is the oil feed line. The oil then drains back to the crankcase through the tube on the bottom.

[gmenor]

Ouch! Is this vacumn feed or oil pumped feed?

[DmaxMaverick]

Pressurized oil from the gallery. Gravity drain to the sump. If your oil line is dry when running, you have a problem.

Oil in the intake pipe from the CDR is normal. Too much oil can indicate a problem.

[chickenhunterbob]

Near as I can figure, the service manual indicates that oil flows to the oil galleries providing pressurized lubrication to the various componenets (lifters, rocker arms, cam bearings).

The oil to the turbocharger comes from the front right lifter gallery through the braided steel hose, and returns to the crankcase via the drain tube to the lower right side of the block.

Some oil in the intake is normal, from the CDR function, as the vaporized oil condenses.

Excessive oil in the turbocharger housing could be caused by the drain tube being plugged, but you should see some amount of blue exhaust smoke if that was the case I would think?

[JohnC]

Originally posted by gmenor:
I have been checking the oil tube (the one coming out of front the engine block and enters the top of the turbo) and it has been dry. This cannot be true. Turbos require copious amounts of oil and fail in very short order (minutes) without it. I suspect that the oil is simply draining through the turbo before you have a chance to check it.

The oil from the CDR is not intended to and does not provide any significant lubrication.

If the oil return line were pluged, there would be more than just a little blue smoke. Your oil consumption would be measured in quarts per hour.

[Dvldog 8793]

Howdy
The amount of oil flowing through the turbo is significant. I had the lower return hose fail(or maybe I forgot to hook it up :D ) and it made a nice puddle in my shop very quickly! I would have to agree that you turbo would grenade in short order if you had no oil flow. When I put in my new motor my turbo was on the bench for about 2 months. Before I started the engine I prelubed the turbo with synthetic oil. A friend of mine was inot high test turbo racing motors for awhile and said that they even had post shutdown oil systems to keep oil flowing to the turbos for a few seconds after the engine shut off.
L8r
Conley

[gmenor]

I took the flexible line off and blew it out. There was very little crude (mostly oil) coming out of it line. I replaced the line cranked it up and had all kinds of oil flow. Question is WTF is going on. Prior to blowing out the line it was almost dry when I had it cranked up. Is this an indicator of impending disaster?

[JohnC]

Originally posted by gmenor:
Prior to blowing out the line it was almost dry when I had it cranked up. Is this an indicator of impending disaster? The turbo doesn't present much resistance to the flow, so the oil drains out pretty quickly. I don't think it's an indication of anything. If you're expecting to see the downward portion of the line full of oil, you've got to be quick!

[gmenor]

Thanks John. I feel so much better now.