Well one turbo actually.
Quick question, suppose you own a turbo vehicle with a bad oil seal. You have ordered a replacement turbo but need to drive the smoking like a mofo bastard until the turbo arrives and gets installed (one week). Would instlling a restrictor in the oil line be a bad thing to help reduce the oil loss and smoke?
Vehicle 2001 VW Pieceofssat 1.8T with a KKK K03 turbo.
It would be a good thing for the guys in parts looking to make a good month. 
Not cutting oil off but reducing it to a smaller diameter orifice
Yeah, I got that. Remember that a turbo uses oil to both cool and lube. ignorant's more up on this than me, but IIRC KKK's use a plain bearings (I seem to recall only Garrett uses ball bearings but I could be wrong) and plain bearings need lots of oil, unlike a ball bearing.
well, assuming that the seal is the only thing wrong with the turbo, you could just drive on it for the week. the amount of oil you're losing through the turbo in a week isn't that significant that keeping a quart of oil in the car wouldn't be able to remedy. if you're replacing the whole turbo anyways, what do you care?
put a K&N cone filter on the tailpipe....
If it's super oily, you could damage the catalytic converter(s) if you keep driving it. Installing a restrictor in the oil line sounds dubious at best. If the turbine shaft/bearing isn't getting enough oil and starts to eat itself, it seems to me that you run the risk of the blades rubbing on the housing and making other problems (more than the failed turbo, which you're planning on replacing anyway). Plus, you'll still be smoking bad, just not quite as bad. WTF do I know, though?
Bryce
Strizzo wrote: well, assuming that the seal is the only thing wrong with the turbo, you could just drive on it for the week. the amount of oil you're losing through the turbo in a week isn't that significant that keeping a quart of oil in the car wouldn't be able to remedy. if you're replacing the whole turbo anyways, what do you care?
The cops are on a "ticket for everything" kick around here and they will remove the vehicle from the road if I do not have it repaired. I already got pulled over for it once and paid the $175.00 fine.
Nashco wrote: If it's super oily, you could damage the catalytic converter(s) if you keep driving it. Installing a restrictor in the oil line sounds dubious at best. If the turbine shaft/bearing isn't getting enough oil and starts to eat itself, it seems to me that you run the risk of the blades rubbing on the housing and making other problems (more than the failed turbo, which you're planning on replacing anyway). Plus, you'll still be smoking bad, just not quite as bad. WTF do I know, though? Bryce
That's what I R afraid of. Oh well I can carpool for another week and make grandpa pick up the kids from daycare.
I wonder if it is really a return line blocked off...
I will have to check that out tomorrow.
I wouldn't do the restrictor at all. I've handled too many oil starvation failure turbos in my day.
An oil starvation failure can happen two ways. Slow, where the bearings start to run out and your shaft motion goes all to hell(like 3rd mode) and then it impacts the compressor cover sending small aluminum chips into your engine. The alternative is to have the shaft instantaneously stop moving and lock solid in the bearings(this is rare but does happen). When the shaft locks solid in the bearings either the impeller or turbine will pop off of the main shaft, sometimes both. It usually is the impeller due to the stress concentration of the shaft necking down. Large diesels like to break off the turbine as well due continued gas flow over the wheel vanes.....
So what does this all mean.. turbo fail.. metal goes into engine. Metal is bad for engines.. but good for listening too.
John Brown wrote: I wonder if it is really a return line blocked off... I will have to check that out tomorrow.
Unblocking will help. In my experience, dynamic seals, once starting to leak, will not reseal. A dynamic seal is not really a seal just a oil confusion and delay device.
If I could take it down from "Attempting to block out the sun" to "mass mosquito eradication" I would be happier.
Rent a Wreck?
Dumb question, is the oil overfull or PCV system working correctly?
I have seen a 1.8t that was overfull by 1 quart smoke like a freight train.
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