04 6.0l ford puking oil thru turbo into exhaust
 

Hi all. Noob to forum, little bit of knowledge on diesels, real good at researching.

I cant find much help on this problem.

2004 E450 cube van
6.0L
180K
no mods

Buddies turbo let go on the highway and he drove it to the next gas station. Had it towed to me. When I got it, pulled the turbo and the exhaust side turbine had broke off and lodged itself into the exhaust pipe. Managed to get it out, bought a rebuilt turbo from a reputable shop local to me and installed. Still leaking oil thru the turbo into the exhaust. Pulled turbo and changed the drain pipe, cleaned egr, still have oil coming out of turbo. Ive spent two days on google with no luck. Hoping one of you pros has a little insight for me.

I guess your "reputable" shop isn't covering the turbo??

There is a passage that is leaking the oil. It's not supposed to if they fixed it correctly.

http://miketurboinc.com/products.php....0L-Repair-Kit

My understanding is that the seals in the turbo have nothing to do with stopping oil from entering. The issue seems to be that the rate of oil leaving the turbo thru the down tube into the crank case is too slow, letting it build up past the seals in the turbo and coming out. When I changed the down tube, the rate of oil coming thru definitely slowed down. Rather than a large puddle there is only a small trickle now. Cleaning the EGR valve didn't help much, and it wasn't that dirty anyway and there doesn't seem to be an excess of crank case pressure. I am sure the shop I got the turbo from would exchange it or replace the seals if they were at fault but from what I understand they are not the issue.

Guess you got a handle on it now. Good luck!

Well, not quite. And thats why I have joined this forum, wondering if anyone else has had this issue or has any advice for me as to what my next move is. I cant nail this thing down.

I don't recall the oil PSI going into the turbo to be all that high. IF there is leakage under low pressure it's pretty simple to solve.

Even if the drain tube was causing the initial issue, it ruptured or caused damage to the seals. Now the seals need to be replaced. It happens.

Ok here is the situation now. I had the turbo checked out at the shop where it came from yesterday. Everything checked out and it turns out that the vgt solenoid code was tripped due to having the key on when it was unplugged. Got the turbo back and installed it today and there is still oil coming out of the exhaust side, not as much but still enough to drip out, especially when taken off idle. Any advise as to what to look at next?

Nobody has seen this before?

Not stealing your thread, just inputting my experience so far...
My '03 is doing the same thing right now. Bought a rebuild kit from RiffRaff followed the directions on their website, and I'm still having issues. Now after a while, I get a lot of smoke out the tailpipe (smalls like oil) and going down the road it sounds like it's hunting for the right vane position. Like a rhythmic surge high low high low... Can't afford a new turbo, but don't want to take it to somebody I don't trust either... Good luck to you man! If you figure it out please let me know! :tu:

If it is leaking oil out the exhaust side, you have bad seals. A plugged drain tube might be the cause, but the seal is still bad.

I appreciate any input! even if its not a solution. Hopefully someone here has a little insight to this problem. When you had your turbo out, did you check your drain tube for a blockage. I replaced mine with the upgraded tube. It didn't solve it but it did seem to slow the amount of oil coming thru the turbo.

@lenzhotrod
the seals in the turbo aren't meant to stop the oil from leaking thru, they are for the exhaust gases. Whats happening is for some reason the turbo is filling up with oil and not draining fast enough back into the crank case. Ive got a rebuilt turbo here and just had it checked out at the rebuilders, the seals aren't the problem. There is something else wrong with this motor and I cant find the cause. Thanks for your feedback!

@avatardvr when I had the turbo out I did not specifically check the drain tube for blockages, though I have significant doubts about the likelihood of anything blocking that tube (mine is the updated variety). I followed torque specs to a T on every bolt inside and outside of the turbo and all of the clamps, but something somewhere is not happy with me. Afraid I will be pulling the turbo to inspect in the next few days. If I find anything that might help you I will make sure I let you know.

@smoran22
I seriously appreciate that! Something I read re: these vgt turbos is the tabs that hold the vanes, check them for wear. that wont have anything to do with the oil puking thru but if they are wore down, maybe that's the cause of your turbo hunting. As for the blockage I agree, there was nothing wrong with the old drain I pulled out but the new one was significantly larger and seemed to make a minor difference. (not that it matters lol, any oil coming thru the turbo is too much.) Good Luck! let me know how it goes.

So the seals prevent the exhaust gases from getting into the oil??

Not sure if you ever figured your issue out..... but I have been a heavy duty diesel mechanic for 10 years and one of the main causes I have seen for the problem you're having is a boost leak. I would bet you have a leak in your intercooler or piping.
Good luck!

Figured part of it out
 

So as it turns out, when I cleaned the turbo, I neglected a few areas. The groove where the oil seal rests in the housing had a few spots of crud I missed, and the oil drain passage right behind that was totally blocked. It's really hard to explain how to find that passage, but i'll try...

If you look from the compressor side in toward the turbine, as far back as you can see, that needs to be spotless. If there's any crap there at all, get it out. Go at it from whatever angle you need to but remember this, If you look through the turbine shaft opening on the exhaust side down towards the drain port, and shine a flashlight up through the drain port, you should see all sorts of light. If you don't, keep digging. That was the case with mine. Once I got all the crap outta there, she runs like a top and doesn't smoke and stink anymore. :jump:

That may not be the case for everyone though. If I can remember later, i'll post the few pictures I have of what mine looked like before I cleaned 'er out.

[EDIT]
As for my surging issue, After I did a VGT Relearn, it was still happening, but I caught the MAP sensor bouncing all over the place. I replaced the MAP sensor and that took care of that...

So, I should have replied to this a while back my appologies. Turns out Heavyassault had it all along. After much back and forth with the turbo rebuilder, they gave me another one and issue is solved.

Oil in exhaust
 

(Did you figure out want was your problem with oil coming out of the exhaust?)