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Technical Turbo Oil

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Technical Turbo Oil

s130

s130

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Checking my car over recently, I noticed a small amount of oil on the underside of the turbo. Has also been dripping into the undertray.

I'll admit to having zero experience with turbos so am not sure how oil tight there are in real life, especially bearing in mid the very harsh thermal environment they are in.

I could be that this is a normal design feature.

I'm not worried as the car still has another twelve months of warranty left, but in the meantime would be interested on any feedback you guys and gals have to offer about (a) oil & turbos in general and (b) any other Cromas showing signs of this oil on the underside of the turbo.

Nick /////
 
Nick

Mine had a simular issue after 2 years old. The oil inlet and outlet pipes where leaking. From what I was told by dealer is that both sets of gaskets where changed and they also changed the inlet and outlet exhaust gaskets as a precaution. If your Croma has been serviced as per your schedule, this issue should be applied to the Croma's warranty as mine was.

Jon
 
FiatFleetFamily said:
Nick

Mine had a simular issue after 2 years old. The oil inlet and outlet pipes where leaking. From what I was told by dealer is that both sets of gaskets where changed and they also changed the inlet and outlet exhaust gaskets as a precaution. If your Croma has been serviced as per your schedule, this issue should be applied to the Croma's warranty as mine was.

Jon
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. Warranty won't be a problem. Just had my 2nd year dealer serivce and noticed this oil when fully checking all their work. :)

If it is just the oil pipe gaskets/banjo washer then that is really good to know as they will be cheap and easy to replace (out of warrnaty) if this is a common two year stress failure. Last thing I want is expensive turbo problems.
 
Hellcat said:
Where is the oil coming from? I find turbo diesels usually have a very oily pipe heading from the compressor to the intercooler.
Click to expand...

I guess you are talking turbo diesels in general. Are you a mechanic in the 'trade' or just a turbo diesel buyer? Having noticed what you have, do you know what the cause is? Oil has to come from somewhere?

I think this is the same pipe. Looking from the underside of the car the rubber hose that comes off the turbo and is on the driver's side had this light oil sheen and the base of the turbo/braket was a bit more oily and had a drip of oil waiting to drop at some time in the future.

Looking at the workshop/parts manual it looks like the outlet air feed from the turbo goes backward and up over the top to the intercooler.

Difficult to see properly so will have to take the airbox top and feeds off to get a good top down view. (will do this when the weather cheers up).

I'm hoping it is the oil feed gaskets as mentioned by FiatFleet. If not I guess I'll have to disconnect the turbo air outlet pipe and check inside for evidence of oil.

Nick /////
 
///// said:
Thanks for the info. Warranty won't be a problem. Just had my 2nd year dealer serivce and noticed this oil when fully checking all their work. :)

If it is just the oil pipe gaskets/banjo washer then that is really good to know as they will be cheap and easy to replace (out of warrnaty) if this is a common two year stress failure. Last thing I want is expensive turbo problems.
Click to expand...

Nick;

you might get some help from www.alfaowner.com, some of their multijets have had a lot of use and from memory it's not uncommon to get misting/leaks around the turbo pipework due to less-than-ideal sealing during manufacture. It doesn't take much imagination to believe that Fiat might have the same problem :rolleyes:

As a consolation, the turbo units themselves appear to be quite long-lived (just as well as they're 'kin expensive variable geometry jobs!)

HTH.
 
Hellcat said:
I'm just a TD buyer.

Had a 1989 1.9TD Tipo, 1994 1.9TD Tipo, 1999 1.9JTD Marea, 2.4JTD Marea, 2007 1.9multijet Bravo and the Mrs's had a JTD Bravo and now the multijet Croma.
Click to expand...

So does your Croma show signs of oil and are you bothered by it?

Also, in any of your turbo diesels have you ever occasionally experienced lift off over-run. That is when you lift your foot off the throttle, sometimes, the car apprears to momentarilly run on for up to a second or so before the engine starts to break?

It doesn't happen that offen for me, but could be an indication of oil vapour in the inlet flow causing self diesel operation. I recall a few years ago some diesel vehicles self destructed due to piston ring oil bypass and the engines just ran on and reved themselve to destruction.

I love petrol engines, only because I have many years experience and know how they work, from simple carbs, mulitple carbs, SPI and Multipoint sequential technologies. Diesels and epsecially turbo diesels are a new ball games for me.

I'm also *uggered by my self taught worry yourself to death perfectionism.
A professional engineer by education and training, I can say/see that a gasket (for example) should seal. Full stop. However in reality there are no perfect seals and all seals will degrade over time, even leak by design. In many cases this can be a "so what" situation because of the broad range of tolerances and costs involved in motor vehicles. Show me a car that after a few years does not have oil seeping from one joint or another.

Maybe I should work on psace shuttles?

Interestingly our 130TC has various minor oil seepages but I know where they are, why they are there and that they are not a mechnical, safety or of other concern. You get to live with what your have exeprience.

These turbo diesels are new ground for me but appear to be old territoy for you, based on your lovely list owned turbo diesel cars.

Nick /////
 
Nick, alfaowner.com is not AROC, I have used it since I got the GT over 2 years ago. A mine of useful (and useless) information on the diesels. In 2 years the GT (only 15000 miles) did not use any measurable oil. The Multipla (previous) could use as much as half litre if I left it 12000 miles. (78000 in 6 years). Punto 60 D did 75000 in 3 years, and the only service it had was oil, filter and fuel filter every 5000.
Is your oil leakage from the feed to or return from the turbo? I believe it runs at normal engine pressure so about 60 psi?
Just had a look at eLearn but nothing very clear, apart from on the 2.4 turbo repair work is an engine out job.
 
I've looked at ePER and eLearn. Always a fun way to spend some time.

Actually called into my local fiat dealer to order something for another car an got the opportunity to talk to two technicians. They just about confirmed most Fiat turbo diesels have this oil problem. Small amounts of oil get past the turbine spindle seals and then 1) blow oil mist into the air plumbing and 2) weep out of the lower side of the turbo casing.

Not a problem at all unless leaks are excessive or turbo is making a noise.

This seems to support what Hellcat has observed on cars.

I have about another year to investigate and keep an eye on this now (before the warranty runs out) so I guess that is what I'll be doing.

Guess first steps will be a good clean-up and establish a reference point on which to guage everything buy.

Failing that "close the bonnet and forget" until something, if ever, breaks, which is what most motorists do and seem to get away with. Mugs like me spot something and then worry themselves to death instead of just getting in the car and enjoy driving a great vehicle.

Nick /////
 
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///// said:
Failing that "close the bonnet and forget" until something, if ever, breaks, which is what most motorists do and seem to get away with. Mugs like me spot something and then worry themselves to death instead of just getting in the car and enjoy driving a great vehicle.

Nick /////
Click to expand...

Chartered Engineers do not think like that, we work on practical solutions and analyse the problem ( Hate that word ISSUE )
 
Cannot get the kids and camping gear into a Barchetta. If I was single and no kids, would consider a barchetta, but would probably have a Alfa Spider with a 3.0 Litre V6.:D
 
FiatFleetFamily said:
Cannot get the kids and camping gear into a Barchetta. If I was single and no kids, would consider a barchetta, but would probably have a Alfa Spider with a 3.0 Litre V6.:D
Click to expand...
Aha. You need a Fiat Tempra. We have a Fiat Parts/Spares listing where the offical roof rack is described as "Aircraft Carrier". That should give you enough load space (y)

Still makes me smile to this day. I need to go back sometime through my archives and dig out soem of these gems. Even the current Fiat online to factory parts ordering system has the Barchetta boot rack described as a "roof rack".

Just ordered one so will find out if it fits this week.

Nick /////
 
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