[fredcase]

Check in and out shaft play on turbos. I chased this down for a while summer. Replaced everything. Checked turbos for radial play early, thought they were ok. Didn’t check in and out play at the time. Fml

[Rob@RBTurbo]

I would bet very big that no one in this entire world has torn down more of these turbos than yours truly (literally thousands), and I can tell you 100% that anymore all that I see are that at least 8 out of 10 have turbine side piston rings (which are the "seals") have lost literally all ductility and snap into pieces upon removal. This loss of tension is going to be a killer for retaining oil inside the CHRA, even if the bearings are still fairly healthy.

Long story short- do the cheap easy stuff (ie. PCV system piece parts, valve cover gasket, etc) and if you do not mitigate your oil consumption (or smoking) issues to your liking then rest assured your OE turbos have just had enough.

Rob

[dpaul]

So Rob - just for clarification, is it normal to see some oil in the intake path (turbo outlet, intercooler, charge pipe) or do you consider this a sign of turbo seal degeneration?

[Rob@RBTurbo]

Originally Posted by dpaul

So Rob - just for clarification, is it normal to see some oil in the intake path (turbo outlet, intercooler, charge pipe) or do you consider this a sign of turbo seal degeneration?

It is not unusual whatsoever to find some oil on the intake tract of any turbo car.

Focus mostly on oil consumption rates and excessive smoke out the exhaust (mostly notable on catless exhaust systems).

Rob