Turbo Oil Leak Help

[dlightfo]

Please see attached. This is a under-car shot looking up at the turbo. There appears to be a nearby oil leak. this car is a 2003 MSP and has 97,000kms on it. It ran and drove without flaw

This is a car i am looking at to purchase. It test drove it and poked and prodded at everything, and the car runs very smooth, comparative to a MSP 2003.5 i test drove days before.

Any professional opinions on the matter would be greatly appreciated!

 

[fr0st]

if it"s out from the intake side of the turbo, the turbo is probably fukkered..

from underneqth it where the oil return line connects is a ok fix but seal in the turbo if more of a problem.

 

[erick pina]

time for rebuild.

 

[shane02pro5]

Definately bad turbo seals and would need replacing or rebuild. This isn't a big deal to replace but it would make you wonder how much boost was being run and how much abuse the motor has been through.

 

[2.0t03speed]

check the return line where it bolts to the turbo,but from the look of that picture it looks like it dripping down from the front of the compressore inlet. take your intake and look at the inlet and the coupler

 

[shane02pro5]

It's not his car yet he's looking to buy it.

 

[2.0t03speed]

tell them you want it fixed before you buy it

 

[shane02pro5]

Yes "fix it" but that goes back to my point of bad turbo seals caused by what overboosting that may have also caused damage to the motor??

 

[2.0t03speed]

you dont have to overboost to have bad seals.....

 

[shane02pro5]

True but my point is that I would still put that car at the bottom of my list. You don't see many speeds running stock boost with bad seals!

 

[2.0t03speed]

its happened and some when they were close to brand new.

 

[fr0st]

tell them you want it fixed before you buy it

+1

tell them you want to see a new turbo BEFORE they put it in and a rebuilt one..

BEFORE they put it in the car..


car salesman... i had my "experiences" with them and don't trust them.

 

[Pumpkin_Speed]

looks like the same problem i had before. I purchased the same exact car and color from a car dealer. And i will agree with frost, dont trust them. It was the first and last time i ever go to a dealership. I got screwed. But anyways yea, i had an unusual oil leak to in the same area. I took it to the dealership and they said nothing was wrong and the car was fine. BS so when i got home i took apart the car to see for my self. As i took off the piping for the turbo to the A/R housing i found puddles of oil in there and oil all coated inside my piping. Yep my seals on the turbo were blown/ gone ! I purchased the car with about 60,000 miles on it. So i just went ahead and bought a disco potato lol = ) ! Does the car smoke or anything ? Because after i had noticed that something was wrong with my car n it started to smoke blue smoke, thats what led me to tear it apart and see what was up.

 

[dlightfo]

thanks for all the responses!

The car appears to be bone stock no upgrades have been made from what i can. Ill check the pipes and joints to look for seals that are past their service life.
Any other indicators or troubleshooting methods to further diagnose the state of the turbo? Any practical ways to measure the pressure in the intake during boost? I can do anything mechanical as I've done lots of engine work and the like, turbos are just a new thing i'm getting into.

 

[dlightfo]

how reliable are these MSP's ? If i use synthetic oil and do 4000km intervals on the oil change, could i have great day to day fun with frequent hard excellerations with smooth shifts, no higher than 5700-6000rpm. I would pan to upgrade the intake system to all aluminum and a proper blow-off valve. boost guage and oil pressure guage, turbo timer to ensure bearing are lubricated until they stop spinning in the turbo. and possibly an xbox 360 in the trunk with sunvisor monitors and headrest ones aswell. preferable upgrade to a bluetooth stereo, possibly a double din touch screen.. not sure how much i'd spend on that. maybe wastegate upgrade and remote boost controller and ecm upgrade. would i be able to do this and get reliable results? and decent power delivery?