volvo turbo makes james-bond smoke screen: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Nov. 3, 2009 6:05 p.m. curtis73 HalfDork

2000 C70, 2.4T. Customer came in laying clouds of James-Bond smoke clouds. We pulled the charge tube off the compressor and it was full of oil. Easy, right? Replaced the turbo with a good used unit - same thing. Figuring that the used turbo had also gone bad, I had the original unit remanufactured; new compressor and turbine wheels, seals, bearings, the works.... same problem. Fired it up and the compressor almost instantly filled with oil. So, after speaking with Volvo, I replaced the PCV oil trap box, pulled the oil pan and cleaned out the passages for the drainback, and did it again. You guessed it... same thing.

I could understand if it was smoking from residual oil in the intake and intercooler, but the compressor is the source of the oil as evidenced by the fact that the compressor keeps filling with oil.

Compression is good, runs great, just lays massive blue clouds of smoke. No intake/air cleaner restrictions, PCV draining well, clueless

Any ideas?
Nov. 3, 2009 6:30 p.m. Grtechguy UltraDork

Gremlin repellant?
Nov. 3, 2009 6:33 p.m. Toyman01 HalfDork

How about overly high oil pressure? Not that I would know.
Nov. 3, 2009 6:44 p.m. curtis73 HalfDork

I thought about the oil pressure and maybe a restrictor or something came loose, but the volvo parts counter doesn't show any restrictors in those lines
Nov. 3, 2009 6:54 p.m. splitime Reader

Did the compressor fill with oil the last time around? If not... smoke could be IC but mostly oil still in the exhaust system.
Nov. 3, 2009 6:57 p.m. djsilver New Reader

In reply to curtis73:

Maybe you've checked this already but is the oil return path completely clear? (fittings, hoses, screens, etc) We had the same scenario with a Cat turbo-diesel fire pump. They went through 3 turbo's before the first mechanic gave up and called out Methusela the Mechanic, who found it in about 15 minutes.
Nov. 3, 2009 9:03 p.m. curtis73 HalfDork

djsilver... good call. Didn't think about that one. Excellent idea.

Normally I'm the one at the shop that thinks of the abstract stuff, but I'm not a turbo-savvy guy.
Nov. 4, 2009 9:08 a.m. iceracer HalfDork

djsilver beat me to it.
Nov. 4, 2009 9:53 a.m. amg_rx7 Reader

Could also be the turbo feed line. The feed line sometimes has a restrictor so that the turbo doesn't get flooded with oil and smoke.
Nov. 4, 2009 12:32 p.m. Tyler H Dork

Verify the oil pressure with a real gauge too. The pressure relief valve could be stuck closed. I think a clogged return line is most likely, as others have mentioned.
Nov. 4, 2009 3:23 p.m. dean1484 Dork

Off Topic just a tad but how do you bill the owner of said car for the work to date? The turbo rebuild must not have been pocket change or do you have a secret source for rebuilds?

I am now the owner of two used TD04 Volvo turbos for a project of mine and would be interested in where and how much the rebuild was. I am thinking it would be a good thing to get the ones I have gone through before they are installed. Just eliminates a possible trouble point while I am putting the system together.
Nov. 4, 2009 3:34 p.m. splitime Reader

G Pop shop sells decent rebuild kits. DIY it. Assuming they are not to far gone... how to figure that out? No clue ;p
Nov. 4, 2009 6:09 p.m. curtis73 HalfDork

dean1484 wrote:

Off Topic just a tad but how do you bill the owner of said car for the work to date? The turbo rebuild must not have been pocket change or do you have a secret source for rebuilds?

Regardless of the cause the turbo was fried. The bearing was totally coked, the turbine and compressor wheels were badly eroded, and there was a lot of endplay.

I won't say that "oops's" like that don't happen, but with my techs its very rare. In this case he was able to diagnose the endplay before removing it, so it wasn't just an oil issue. It was more like, "its gotta be the turbo, and the endplay is way out of whack so its gotta come off anyway."

But, rebuilds on most turbos run anywhere from $200-350. This one was a bit more since it needed both wheels