SR20DET HAVING MAJOR OIL ISSUES

[240life]

About a week ago i was on a spirited ride to work enjoying my recently installed S13 blacktop, every thing was working great,....and then I hear a faint pop and see smoke EVERYWHERE! I don't hear any noises comming from the engine, and have a total lack of boost. I decided to limp it home I get home and notice oil everywhere and it is originating from my turbo and leaking out my air filter, my MAF was soaked with oil, and the car would not idle. Before this happened I had been driveing the car at 12psi for about a week shifting at about 5k, my oil always looking brand new, the car was idleing perfectly, but the oil was leaking out the seals in my turbo, I also noticed my oil catch can was run funny causing my crank case not to breath under boost I decided to pull the turbo out and re-route my oil catch can. Upon inspection of the turbo I noticed no shaft play, but my turbo to manifold gasket had blown out. I also did a compression test on the cylinders reading an almost 155 across all 4 cylinders, I did notice oil in a couple cylinders, and the oil on my dipstick was now all of a sudden black. I decided it best to replace the turbo and keep it for a rebuild, and replace all exhaust gaskets. Now the fun begins after re assembly of my car it idled fine no major noises, it did have a lifter tick that wasn't present before I drive it to work and an oil cloud is following my car, it was boosting, but real sluggishly I think I may need to do a leakdown test cause i think something in my head is facked Anybody got any ideas, I'm pretty sure my rings are good and something in my head is allowing oil to piss into my cylinders. My coolant is clean my oil had no evidence of water, so I'm almost 100% sure my head gasket is ok. I don't mind spending some cash to fix this considering the amount I spent to build this car in the last 6 months.
Modified by 240life at 6:59 PM 7/10/2008

[Koshin]

how many times did you let it turnover when you did the compression test?? When I comp test an SR, I learned that you only want to let it turn over 3 times. It should build max compression by then. This is an odd scenario....I'm sure someone will chime in, but I have never heard of a situation like this.....Did you have the catch can hooked up wrond at first?? Do you have the right dipstick?? I know that sounds stupid but make sure that it isnt a KA dipstick......I recieved my first SR motor with the wrong dipstick. IT is supposed to be 19 inches long from the bottom of the handle....just throwing it out there. I know there is a way to tell which rings are going bad if you have one going bad. Your comp. rings could be fine but the oil rings may be going bad??

[240life]

I let it turn over 3-4 times when doing the test, I am doing another one tomorrow. The dip stick is an SR dip stick 100% sure of that. And yes my oil catch can was installed wrong at first, up untill this happened, then I did some more research and fixed it immediately. This happened out of no where. I think I built up to much pressure under boost and caused the damage to my head some how because of the can. I'm going to try and do a leak down test this week.

[IanS]

You say there was oil on both the pressure and exhaust side of the turbo?

Oil on the intake side is usually caused by blowby pressure pushing oil out the breather tube. I dont think this is your problem because you have good compression.

Oil on the exhaust side is usually caused by one of three things, blown oil rings, blown valve seals, or blown turbo seals. None of these usually fail catastrophically. You think the turbo seals caused the oil loss, Im going to agree. Turbo oil seals dont just blow out, there is almost always a reason. If they blew as badly as you say they did, I would place money on the fact that the oil drain on your turbo is plugged. I would check and clean your oil drain, also, check to make sure you have the correct oil restrictor.

[240life]

On my old turbo there was oil on both sides, but i replaced the turbo with a newer unit and kept the other for parts. This new turbo has no leaks on the intake side, my return line is clear.The first time i did the compression test i got a weird reading of 60 psi in the first two cylinders, i checked the back two and got 150, i then rechecked the front two and got 150 so I got to do another test. I think I have to fear the worst case possible and take a real close look at my head...the tick is what is making me wonder if overpressureing the crank case under boost did something to my valve train. Any body in Maine got a leakdown tester?? maybe I will make one all as I know is my wife is more upset then me. I let her drive it right before this happened and now she wants me to build her one

[IanS]

On my old turbo there was oil on both sides, but i replaced the turbo with a newer unit and kept the other for parts. This new turbo has no leaks on the intake side, my return line is clear.The first time i did the compression test i got a weird reading of 60 psi in the first two cylinders, i checked the back two and got 150, i then rechecked the front two and got 150 so I got to do another test. I think I have to fear the worst case possible and take a real close look at my head...the tick is what is making me wonder if overpressureing the crank case under boost did something to my valve train. Any body in Maine got a leakdown tester?? maybe I will make one all as I know is my wife is more upset then me. I let her drive it right before this happened and now she wants me to build her one

Did you do the compression test with the engine at operating temperature? Did you do it with the throttle help wide open. I would re do it.

You should be able to rent a leakdown tester from your local auto parts store.

[240life]

So real bad news for my engine, the tick is comming from the lower end. My compression numbers were wrong and now read from front to back, 100, 125, 140, 155. These numbers were taken today using a better gauge, at operating temp with the throttle wide open. I now got to look forward to a rebuild. This sucks worse because this motor was running like brand new up untill this happened, so I can't blame anybody but me.
Modified by 240life at 4:45 PM 7/11/2008