Burning oil in boost (maybe?)

[pennsylvaniadweller]

Hello, I own a 2005 5mt Subaru Legacy GT with a different motor swapped in (I believe its an EJ205?) w/around 180k miles on the odo. This is also my first car.

I bought this car in January of 2023, and hasn't given me many issues besides power steering fluid disappearing and oil burning and leaking in some spots. Runs good, goes fast, DAM is steady at 1 always, no overheating problems, just burns oil like hell.

I noticed the oil burning recently (about 2 months ago) and have been topping up my oil weekly with Royal Purple 5w30. I see temperatures in the mid 70s to low 80s right now in PA. Now, the oil doesn't go by so fast that its always on empty when I check it, and there are no oil stains where I park that I've seen. 

When I start the car, and start actually driving it, its either no blue smoke or a fair amount of it comes out the other end along with the regular condensation and burning of carbon I'd see. I ONLY notice it when I build boost, but for some reason its very inconsistent. There will be a noticeable amount of blue smoke behind me where I'd do a pull, but sometimes it doesn't. When I'm at idle, and rev in neutral, blue smoke also comes out the exhaust but only when I go into boost. So I'm thinking it may be a turbo issue, but I'm not entirely sure. 

Something else that is concerning, is that under the turbo there is oil leaking from the bottom of it, and there's what I believe is a return line for oil or something that's kinked where its coming out of as well. I can upload pictures if need be, it's just a pain in the ass to get a good photo of it. After doing a pull and coming to a stop, a small bit of smoke will come out of the hood as well, not enough to be super noticeable but you can see it reflect in the sunlight. 

I've been using my accessport to log data for TPG Tuning, they said they'd be able to help me out, I just wanna get a few opinions from here first. 

Also I'm fairly certain it's not the stock turbo. I attached an image of the engine bay. I've literally just been dailying it to school and work and haven't had time to run through the car with a fine tooth comb. Any help would be appreciated. Also before someone asks me, "why did you buy the car without a build sheet" or alike, I needed a car and in my price range in pennsylvania this is as good as it was probably gonna get, car is completely rust free.

 

[KZJonny]

53 minutes ago, pennsylvaniadweller said:

Something else that is concerning, is that under the turbo there is oil leaking from the bottom of it, and there's what I believe is a return line for oil or something that's kinked where its coming out of as well.

There is likely a long list of stuff that needs checking out with that list of problems, but this would be a good place to start. If you aren't draining oil out of the turbo, it's probably overpressurizing it, and getting by the seals.

From the symptoms you are describing about the amount of blue smoke and weekly top ups, I would be seriously concerned about the seals in turbo being compromised or in need of replacement.

More photos will help with things like turbo ID, but it is at least a OE-flange type turbo which narrows it down to a lot fewer turbos. Although the type of turbo isn't super-relevant to diagnosing the problem.

Cone filters are also good for letting a much higher volume of fine particulate into the engine, so there is always the possibility of compression being down and you're getting tons of blowby causing smoke. The fact that it is under boost in somewhat telling, but if your PCV is blocked up, it could be making that worse.

Start with a thorough nut, bolt and clamp check (fix the turbo oil drain!!). I would definitely want to get compression and leakdown numbers on the engine with the problems you are describing before throwing more money at it. It *looks* like it as pretty well done, but that is from one photo and doesn't mean anything. If you have get less than good results from compression and leakdown test, your probably at a point where you need a new shortblock, so you'll have other decisions to make...

Welcome and good luck!

[pennsylvaniadweller]

On 5/25/2023 at 1:19 PM, KZJonny said:

There is likely a long list of stuff that needs checking out with that list of problems, but this would be a good place to start. If you aren't draining oil out of the turbo, it's probably overpressurizing it, and getting by the seals.

From the symptoms you are describing about the amount of blue smoke and weekly top ups, I would be seriously concerned about the seals in turbo being compromised or in need of replacement.

More photos will help with things like turbo ID, but it is at least a OE-flange type turbo which narrows it down to a lot fewer turbos. Although the type of turbo isn't super-relevant to diagnosing the problem.

Cone filters are also good for letting a much higher volume of fine particulate into the engine, so there is always the possibility of compression being down and you're getting tons of blowby causing smoke. The fact that it is under boost in somewhat telling, but if your PCV is blocked up, it could be making that worse.

Start with a thorough nut, bolt and clamp check (fix the turbo oil drain!!). I would definitely want to get compression and leakdown numbers on the engine with the problems you are describing before throwing more money at it. It *looks* like it as pretty well done, but that is from one photo and doesn't mean anything. If you have get less than good results from compression and leakdown test, your probably at a point where you need a new shortblock, so you'll have other decisions to make...

Welcome and good luck!

I do believe there is some blowby, probably too much than what I'm comfortable with because there was a silicone coupler that was cut in half that I had to replace that goes down from the turbo to the FMIC, and there was oil actually coming out of that cut. I'll try fixing that kink I mentioned today and see what happens.

[pennsylvaniadweller]

On 5/25/2023 at 1:19 PM, KZJonny said:

There is likely a long list of stuff that needs checking out with that list of problems, but this would be a good place to start. If you aren't draining oil out of the turbo, it's probably overpressurizing it, and getting by the seals.

From the symptoms you are describing about the amount of blue smoke and weekly top ups, I would be seriously concerned about the seals in turbo being compromised or in need of replacement.

More photos will help with things like turbo ID, but it is at least a OE-flange type turbo which narrows it down to a lot fewer turbos. Although the type of turbo isn't super-relevant to diagnosing the problem.

Cone filters are also good for letting a much higher volume of fine particulate into the engine, so there is always the possibility of compression being down and you're getting tons of blowby causing smoke. The fact that it is under boost in somewhat telling, but if your PCV is blocked up, it could be making that worse.

Start with a thorough nut, bolt and clamp check (fix the turbo oil drain!!). I would definitely want to get compression and leakdown numbers on the engine with the problems you are describing before throwing more money at it. It *looks* like it as pretty well done, but that is from one photo and doesn't mean anything. If you have get less than good results from compression and leakdown test, your probably at a point where you need a new shortblock, so you'll have other decisions to make...

Welcome and good luck!

[blackobxt]

Oofffff. Fix that drain for starters. If oil can’t drain out of the turbo it’ll push past the seals

[blackobxt]

What turbo is that and why rotated I wonder 

[KZJonny]

There may be stamping on that little flat spot beneath the paint which would identify the turbo.

if it’s blank, then maybe either something aftermarket build on an IHI frame? That can be good or bad, I suppose.

If you’re pooling oil in the IC charge pipe (dripping!?) you definitely want to clean that up and see if freeing up the turbo drain helps. PCV valve and system would be next in my list. I’d probably put cleaning up the throttle body high on the list as well/