Turbo with oil in it?

[Pabllh]

Hi all,
Doing a head gasket job 2002 2.3t and took off the inlet pipe to the turbo and found about a half of teaspoon of what I believed was oil.
Is this normal or is there a problem with the turbo, o rings, seals or gaskets. Maybe not opening up the turbo enough. I'd be happy to open her up and clean it out after the successfull head gasket job.
Could it have anything to do with the blown head gasket or maybe the non updated pcv?
Any thoughts are appreciated.

[planosaab]

a little oil gets blown in due to positive crank pressure, I've never popped a turbo intercooler hose and not found a little oil inside, with that said a little is normal a lot could be signs of a problem. YOU NEED to install the PCV update! that can help. Secondly depending on the headgasket failure yes you can get excessive blow by back into the intake leading to this because the cylinder is pressurizing the crank, usually you blow the gasket at a point where it pressurizes the cooling system causing the coolant to blow out of the filler resv.

Thirdly though is that is a GT17 Garrett turbo, which are pretty commonly problematic as far as the shaft seal giving out, check the turbo fins for damage and grab both ends moving them back and forth...does the shaft move back and forth? if so this is called shaft play and is a sign of wear a little shaft play is okay and as long as your car doesn't puff out a cloud of blueish white smoke every time you crank it up it's probably fine, but if it does you may need to start saving for a turbo, I always suggest swapping to the TD04-15ht which is the Mitsubishi turbo that comes factory on the Aero model, that turbo is a lot more reliable and it is a bit more efficient so with a retune it'll give the car some nice power with no real lose of mpg. But the car will run fine with your stock tune and the reliability of the TD04.

Oh and when you crank her up it'll tick in the top end and you will smoke a bit, let it warm up then let it sit and cool down preferably overnight so the aluminium can expand and retract and setup the head gasket. Just FYI if it's your first time lol.

The fact the oil is on the inlet edge would imply to me that its coming in from the intake side of the air cleaner so it's probably being pulled in or blown in by positive crank pressure via the metal hose mounted on top of the cobra pipe.

I would also suggest dropping your oil pan to clean the sump pickup screen right away.

[firehawk618]

Perfectly normal. All turbo cars do this.

[2002BlackViggen]

I would definitely recommend a PCV update - inexpensive and easy to do for some extra peace of mind. As for the turbo, planosaab already mentioned it, the GT17 are known for seals being problematic - that looks like a little bit too much oil to me.

[firehawk618]

I've yet to work on a turbo car that didn't have oil in the intake tract.

One example that jumps to mind, 1984 volvo 760 turbo, on the bottom of the intercooler tank there's a drain plug to remove the oil accumilation.

[Pabllh]

Can't thank all of you enough for your thoughts and posts!

I'll check the fins for damage and play.
Never had any smoke when stepping on the turbo though we are not hard/fast drivers at all. If anything quite the opposite. Carbon build up on the pistons proved that. I will from now on take her out and open it up to clear things out , at least once and a while. Need a road with no speed traps as our Chili Red wagon is quite visible!

I purchased the PCV kit #6 along with the head gasket kit and will install it as I put the motor back together.
I do wonder, with all the sludge stories i've read here, why I didn't have any at all when I removed the head. In fact, I was astounded how clean the head was, inside and out, top & bottom.
Mobile 1 Full Synthetic from day 1 and religously at every 3K?
I'll let you know how the turbo is after I get her put back together and I'll be starting a "turbo fund" .
Thanks again!