DRPM

Hello fellow Rennlisters, it has been awhile since I posted here, but always reading up on the 993TT forum.

Okay so I had a little surprise this AM when starting my TT - there was a lot of smoke coming out of the passenger side exhaust.

My car had 16g Protomotive turbo kit installed in 2010 and has been trouble free for the last 4 years.
I have the check valves and personally do the oil changes with factory filters and watch oil level.
The TT has been street driven about 2000 miles a summer and never smokes even after sitting 6 months in heated winter storage. Last drive was 3 weeks ago and I noticed this AM a pool of oil on the floor and obvious leakage on the hot side driver turbo.

Started the car to see if it would stop smoking - after 15 minutes - no luck.

See pic.


Any ideas? Or is it pretty a much a sure thing the hot side oil seal is leaking and I am in for a rebuild..

I search and read that some TT's can have "wet" drivers turbo's after sitting for more than a week but mine seems to be a real leakage issue.

My next step is to change the oil and filters and see if it has any effect but I'm not sure how that will stop this evident leak?

thanks in advance for any tips/advice

OldGuy

Jeesh man, I hope its not what I think it its but I had that problem and it was a turbo rebuild. The passenger side went first and then the drivers side a couple of weeks later. I dont remember smoke but I remember the $750 for the rebuilds

DRPM

Good news
All good
Rx.
Need to drive more often ;-))

OverBoosted28

So what was the 15 mins of smoke from?

DRPM

My tech recommended a good 20-30 drive.
Smoke stopped after 5 min, probably residual oil left in exhaust system.
So far running well.

azmurciev12

check the power steering hose which if loose can drip oil on that side of the exhaust.

its usually a slow drip and that big smoke may have come from the accumulation of steering oil that dripped in to the exhaust system.

morsini

Is it possible for the oil to get inside the turbo from this. I have a funny smell white smoke coming from that side turbo out the passengers side exhaust. At first I thought it was the same problem everyone has with the car sitting but I noticed that the hydraulic fluid was low.

OverBoosted28

Absolutely not. Oil cannot migrate into turbo from an outside source. He was just refering to the hydraulic fluid migrating down onto exhaust (from above) and in turn causing a smoking issue.

morsini

I didn't think so but the oil I'm smelling doesn't seem like it's motor oil at all. It's got a funny smell to it.

Johnny_law

Are you sure the smoke/smell is coming from the exhaust pipe.

If it has a strange smell, azmurciev12 might be on to something. It's pentosin hydraulic fluid and I'm pretty sure it would smell different than motor oil when burned.

If I were you I would remove the intercooler and take a look for evidence of oil down on the passenger side of the engine. If it is a power steering hose connection leaking or a weeping hose there would definitely evidence of it.

Johnny

BigInJapan

It's also entirely possible for the check valve to fail, which will lead to these same symptoms (OP's symptoms). I had a 1 year old check valve fail on my car...replaced it with new and voila, no more smoke on startup and no more leak. The thing I thought was weird about the failure though was that it not only failed internally (causing smoke), but it also failed externally (which caused the leak and dripping). Even with the recommended sealant on the threads...it still dripped out of the housing. All was made right with the new check valve.

I also have/had 1 year old Protomotive 16k hybrids.

Todd told me that failed check valves were somewhat common on the 996TT.

Ian

uicnick

Just an FYI to those out there, I always had a bit of leaking from my right side turbo, nothing major but just never had the time to deal with it. Well spring of this year my upper valve cover driver side started leaking and I had no records of any replacement so I decided to replace all of my valve cover gaskets. When I pulled the turbos, I realized that one of the o-ring seals on the turbo supply line to the oil bridge by the upper valve cover was slightly nicked. My car had check valves installed when I purchased it, the previous installer maybe re-used the oring or was careless in installing the new one. After buttoning everything together, I realized that this was the source of my "leak" as it was following along the turbo supply down to the housing. Just something to think about and a lesson learned from me, be sure you diagnose, diagnose and DIAGNOSE. I fear there are many turbos that get rebuilt prematurely. The leak path was never obvious to me, even as I was taking out the turbos, probably because the oil gets smoked off when the car is hot and only pools down when it is cold. Not really sure but just something I encountered that I've never read about anyone else having this issue. I'm glad to have spent only $2 on a new o-ring and not the money to rebuild the turbo.

DRPM

my tech also mentioned
"You should look into the 996tt style drain lines that have the inverted "v" to discourage the oil from gravity feeding back through turbo sump."

OverBoosted28

Or you can make these for under 100 bucks.

Kevin

There is misinformation in this thread..

If smoke is coming out the passenger side tailpipe. You have oil migration thru the turbine side sealing ring. IF you have a failed engine oil filter you will see oil in the intake piping PRE turbo.. Remove the black inlet piping to check if there is oil present.

From the picture the oil level is above the sealing ring GAP, oil is flowing thru the turbine side sealing ring and pooling in the hot housing/turbine housing.

Let the car sit over night and then remove the sump tank oil plugs and measure the oil that drains out. This will tell you the condition of your oil filter. If you pull out only 4 or 5 ounces of oil, it's not the oil filter and it's most likely a failed turbocharger.

If you get more oil out of the drivers side sump, spin on a new oil filter.

I would also lower the oil level to the 1st mark on the dipstick.

Clean the intercooler of oil and the inlet piping.

If this does not clear the oil migration, the drivers side turbine seal has failed AND/OR

You also need to do a engine leakdown test.. Over 12% will get you the above mentioned smoke show and oil puddle.