09 With Oil Residue in Intercooler

[240se]

 

I pulled my intercooler to change the starter and there was some thick sticky oil residue in the intercooler.  No metal flakes or anything like that but it still concerned me so I pulled the downpipe to check the shaft play on the turbo and there was no sign that the blades were contacting the housing and shaft did not seem too loose although I'm not sure what is too loose.  No smoke when running, no measurable loss of oil.  It's an 09 auto that I bought from the original owner two years ago with just 55k miles then and 86k miles now.  All stock and good maintenance records, oil changes 3500 miles.

 

Should I be concerned that my turbo may be going?  Is some oil past the turbo oil seals normal?  

 

[BoozeRS05]

No worries if there’s a bit of residue inside the intercooler IMO. You just don’t want to see excess. Check inside the throttle body at the low point if there’s a tiny puddle, that should be cleaned up.

And you don’t want oil residue on the bottom left corner where the metal and plastic on the outside of the TMIC meet, that would be a seal issue.

Also consider changing the PCV assembly, if you’re seeing excess oil in there.

[240se]

It was mostly just outside the throttle body at the intercooler exit although there a trace amount at the turbo end of the intercooler.  I wiped it out and looked for any metal but saw none. 

The turbo failure posts have me paranoid.

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by 240se

[BoozeRS05]

I doubt you’re dealing with a turbo failure issue, and some oil on the turbo flange is fine too.

If you want to dig into it, read about crank case ventilation and oil blow-by. It’s above my pay grade, but Subaru’s crank case vents to the intake and oil blow-by is normal from my understanding. You do not want to see excess oil in the intake though.

[Infosecdad]

What you are describing is pretty normal. You will likely have a film or just a little oil in the TMIC.

If you have a puddle in the TMIC to TB hose, that's more likely to be a problem.

[240se]

Thanks for all the input.  It could be PCV system and I'll look into that.

I had a Mazdaspeed6 years ago and the turbo oil seals failed and it SMOKED pretty bad because it was leaking into the exhaust at idle.  Warranty covered that turbo fortunately. 

 

 

[Max Capacity]

NAPA has the PCV valve for about $14.00

[tdelker]

I have a 2010 (different gen - front mounted turbo) but I also have some oil residue, and a small amount of shaft play, but no visible contact. At first I thought there was no play, but some more jiggling reveled some.

I too am wondering if it is worth replacing the turbo before I get metal down the throat. $1200 for a new OEM turbo.

My final decision is to wait for either a sound (stop engine immediately, no matter where I am!) or seeing black smoke on hard acceleration.

My exhaust valve was just burnt, rebuild heads ($2k in heads and seals, did the work myself) and really don't want to loose my short block now. But I feel like it's not that risky. 

Do change those AVCS banjo bolt filters if you haven't though. That's the real problem. And if they are clogged, you might want to reconsider. Mine were very very clean.