Oil smokey JX diesel (was do I need a new turbo)

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   If I leave my van idling for 20 secs then blip the throttle then I get white smoke out the exhaust. I've convinced myself oil is leaking from the turbo bearing to the compressor. What should I do to confirm that replacing the turbo is sensible?

Maybe related: a while back I had the rear rhs jacked up for a month or so - so a slight lean with downhill in the direction from sump to turbo. When I first started the engine again it revved high without my foot on pedal so I turned off... but the engine didn't turn off - it was running on oil. To my relief, the source of the oil was not enough to keep the engine running for more than about 15 seconds, but it didn't half give me the willies. I've had a real demonstration of how a diesel can run on oil and I really don't fancy waiting until the leaky turbo oil seal is so bad it can support the running engine indefinitely. I guess this issue was probably oil flowing back down the return pipe, rather than oil from the feed pipe... but still somehow it gets into the compressor.

Edited by jhobson - 30 Sep 17 at 14:19

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jhobson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 27 Nov 09 Location: J6 M25 Status: Offline Points: 153	Post Options Post Reply Quote jhobson Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Oil smokey JX diesel (was do I need a new turbo) Posted: 25 May 17 at 17:34
	If I leave my van idling for 20 secs then blip the throttle then I get white smoke out the exhaust. I've convinced myself oil is leaking from the turbo bearing to the compressor. What should I do to confirm that replacing the turbo is sensible? Maybe related: a while back I had the rear rhs jacked up for a month or so - so a slight lean with downhill in the direction from sump to turbo. When I first started the engine again it revved high without my foot on pedal so I turned off... but the engine didn't turn off - it was running on oil. To my relief, the source of the oil was not enough to keep the engine running for more than about 15 seconds, but it didn't half give me the willies. I've had a real demonstration of how a diesel can run on oil and I really don't fancy waiting until the leaky turbo oil seal is so bad it can support the running engine indefinitely. I guess this issue was probably oil flowing back down the return pipe, rather than oil from the feed pipe... but still somehow it gets into the compressor. Edited by jhobson - 30 Sep 17 at 14:19

ob1 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Yardie FOUND IT, IT WAS HIDING! Joined: 11 May 08 Status: Offline Points: 732	Post Options Post Reply Quote ob1 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 25 May 17 at 20:46
	How much oil are you burning? If not much I'd keep running the turbo. The runaway is a worry though? I'd expect the turbo to be pretty covered in oil if the seals where leaking. Mines really oilly although it doesn't seem to burn a lot?

jhobson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 27 Nov 09 Location: J6 M25 Status: Offline Points: 153	Post Options Post Reply Quote jhobson Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 26 May 17 at 09:27
	In all the years I've owned this machine, I have only covered a few hundred miles between long periods of maintenance. I've managed less than 50 miles in the last year. I've no idea of the oil consumption.

jhobson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 27 Nov 09 Location: J6 M25 Status: Offline Points: 153	Post Options Post Reply Quote jhobson Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 Sep 17 at 10:16
	The reason I fixated on the turbo was that I had the feed pipe fail and was worried the turbo had got damaged. Lets ignore that for a moment and assume it is oil vapor coming out the breather that is the issue. What do I do about that? I have some other history: When I got the van, no smoke. When I changed the oil - smoke going up hill. I drained some oil and it was fine. I got some work done on van and they changed the oil without me asking. Since then, smoke. I checked the oil level and there is barely any sign of oil on the dip stick - so you would think it has run dry. However, I remember when I drained oil after the change, I did have to drop the level considerably below appropriate mark. If I drop the level any more then I have no indication of how much oil is in the engine. I believe the engine is a recon. I guess it is possible for the dip-stick level to be wrong. Wrong stick or some other quirk of getting a recon. The detail of the smoke symptoms: Idle and pottering along - no problem. Long idle then rev - a good puff of smoke. High revs while driving - smoke. Up hill - clouds of smoke. So, now I can convince myself that overfilling an engine with oil could easily cause these symptoms. Does anyone agree or disagree? Any advice on how I should proceed?

jhobson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 27 Nov 09 Location: J6 M25 Status: Offline Points: 153	Post Options Post Reply Quote jhobson Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 Sep 17 at 14:18
	I undid sump plug and drained 4 litres till empty. I put 3 litres back in. Massive improvement but still smokes revving hard up hill. No big problems down hill or on the flat even revving hard - there is some smoke on flat after going up hill. So it seems to be either oil level or something inside that doesn't like oil slopping around - no idea what that could be? How much do people usually drain out the sump when doing an oil change? Dip Stick length 690mm Edited by jhobson - 30 Sep 17 at 15:48

jhobson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 27 Nov 09 Location: J6 M25 Status: Offline Points: 153	Post Options Post Reply Quote jhobson Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 01 Oct 17 at 17:53
	Put oil back in :) Disconnected breather at rocker box end and blocked it. Then attached length of pipe to breather valve so I could see what comes out. Not much to report except no fumes coming out of breather. Then I put my finger on the breather for a couple of seconds to build up a little pressure - blipped the throttle and clouds of smoke. Is this normal, or helpful diagnostic information?

jhobson Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 27 Nov 09 Location: J6 M25 Status: Offline Points: 153	Post Options Post Reply Quote jhobson Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 Oct 17 at 17:52
	New turbo fixed the clouds of oil when going up hill. Blocking the breather will still cause some smoke - so that is mostly unrelated. Pretty happy with the performance - I can notice the difference.