Increased oil consumption

[Turbo Negro]

Car has just under 100k mi's.

I suspect my oil filler neck grommet into the valve cover on the driver's side, rear main seal, & turbo are all responsible for an increased oil consumption. Oil is on the valve cover around the grommet, top of driver's side header, in boost hoses, intercooler, & exhaust, AND underneath on the bellhousing between motor & tranny.

What to do now? The grommet is easy enough to replace, but what about the rear main & turbo.

I want to retain the stock 3 bolt, internal wastegate on the turbo, but what are my options? Rebuild... upgrade... I dunno.

How about the rear main seal? Tranny out, oil pan down, is this the time to upgrade the oil pump & replace the timing set?

Also, I am planning on an upgraded trans, motor mounts, roller rockers & new valve springs, but I wanted to wait for a complete rebuild, heads & cam.

What is my best course of action here?

 

[SHADOWII]

Your best bet is to discover the origin of your problem.
Your sig. says you have the stock turbo, does this mean you have the stock tube to the turbo bell from the valve cover? That is a common cause of oil showing up in the int. side of the turbo. The pcv valve can cause oil blow-by on the v/covers as well as oil build up in the intake/throttle body. The rear main seal you can change w/o problems.
I would suggest you warm up the eng. and take a compression check to make sure you are not having excess blow-by due to the rings or valve seats. If your dip-stick pops up while driving w/occasional boost, that is an indicator of crank-case pressure.
When you have discovered the source of the problem, that will dictate the course of action you should take.

 

[trixdout]

What SHADOWII said. That tube going to the turbo comes out of the passenger side valve cover from its side and not from the top. So the oil you see everywhere in the vacuum hoses could be coming from there and possibly your pcv. At this point. There are aftermarket inlet bells that do not have the vacuum provision. Get one of those and eliminate that hole in the passenger side valve cover by putting in a air filter there with a 90 degree bend as to not soak the filter with oil. If and when you find oil in the intake side of your turbo and or exhaust side. Clean out your IAC and throttle body, it'll be totally black.

 

[bishir]

Ever notice your dipstick sticking higher than it should? Perhaps you're getting blow-by causing oil to come out of your dipstick too. You said the drivers side had oil on the header... Pressuring the crankcase can cause your other oil leaks as well. Worn rings? Do a compression check.. I'm currently pulling my not due to oil consumption, but oil loss. Nearly every gasket/seal is leaking and the rear main caused the bottom of my car to look like that beach in Alaska after the Exxon Valdez.

 

[Turbo Negro]

I think I've got the problem narrowed down to the turbo, rear main seal, and filler neck grommet. I've got a breather by-pass kit installed, and TT chip (which I think disables the PCV). My dipstick seems fine, too.

So, if I address the issues above, is there anything else I should consider while there? Thanks in advance for your replies, keep 'em coming.

 

[Turbo Negro]

I found another minor oil leak last night on the hose fittings going into the top of where the oil filter threads on. Also the oil lines going to the turbo look to be in pretty poor condition. Any nice kits available out there for these oil lines, or should I just have them made up?

 

[Buick Mark]

Post pics I think your confused as to what your looking at.

 

[vacuum 6]

Oil in TB?

Also check exhaust side of turbo. Mine was using oil, noticed on dip stick, with very little smoke from the tail pipe.

 

[Turbo Negro]

Here are the pics

 

[bogies87]

Looks like its coming from higher than that. With the oil on the lower radiator hose, my guess is the oil return pipe is leaking.

 

[Turbo Negro]

Good eye, bogies. Thanks for lookin. I'll check it out, although, I believe the oil on the rad hase is from some other recent work that was done.

 

[Howling Mad]

Valve cover gasket?

 

[Turbo Negro]

Valve cover gasket?

They seem good. Clean all they way around.

I did find some residue on the oil return from the turbo, but not a significant amount.

 

[Turbo Negro]

Just found about everything I need at Kirbans Performance: Oil supply line to the turbo, oil drain pipe & gasket, oil fill tube & grommet, rear main seal, oil pan gasket, and oil cooler lines.

I'm still looking for an oil pump, and waitng to hear back from Bison regarding one of his 59mm/ stage 3 turbos.

 

[Turbo Negro]

After much reading through old posts here, I have decided to use a stock replacement oil pump rebuild (gears & spring), and booster/ thrust plate along with the original timing cover and filter adapter being re-worked. It was also recommended to me that I install a new cam button at this time.

I was also told to install new valve seals while doing the springs (I have a set of 100lb springs coming).

Does anyone here know a source for these parts? Part numbers, etc?

 

[trailinjake]

IMO, I would definitely do a HV oil pump instead of stock replacement

 

[bison]

IMO, I would definitely do a HV oil pump instead of stock replacement

Why?

 

[trailinjake]

Why?

I have seen ported front covers with thrust plates and stock pumps still have only high teen oil pressure at idle. I would rather have another 8-10 psi oil pressure a HV oil pump will supply. Is there a down fall in your experience?

 

[Turbo Negro]

Really just want to fix the oil leaks (rear main being the biggest) for now. Original oil pump works perfectly, as-is: +/-55lbs at cold idle and 15- 20lbs hot using 10-30w at 99k mi's. Jumps right up to 45-50lbs under acceleration, too. I read the HV pumps can be harder on the cam. The car pulls hard to higher higher rpm's at 20lbs of boost, too, so I've considered just leaving well enough alone.

My goal is to preserve what's already there, resto-mod it in stages, & enjoy the car for what it is. I guess I've got a serious case of the "while-you're-at-it's". I don't plan to do the the work myself either, so all this stuff adds up pretty quick, considering. The timing set & tensioner seem like "no-brainers" while the oil pan & timing cover is off, but why pay for a bunch of extras that I could do without? I'd rather save up for the trans/converter, heads, & engine rebuild, later.

Combo and tune are everything with these cars, right? So, I'm still just trying to figure the most sensible way to go about it all. BTW, found the all parts for the oil pump, valve seals, cam button, springs, & keepers, etc. available from TA Performance.

 

[bison]

I have seen ported front covers with thrust plates and stock pumps still have only high teen oil pressure at idle. I would rather have another 8-10 psi oil pressure a HV oil pump will supply. Is there a down fall in your experience?

There's a huge downfall with the loading in the pump drive. Gear wear and thrust loading the cam. I don't care what my oil pressure is at idle. I do care what it is at 6000/rpm and 800+hp though. I just don't see the need for a high volume set if the clearances are ok. If you need a high volume pump to have enough pressure then there is a lot of leakage somewhere.