Oil in compressor outlet?

[metroplex]

Has anyone pulled their charge pipes or intercoolers on their EcoBoost? If so, did you notice a film of oil on the inside of the charge pipe or oil in the compressor outlets of your turbochargers? Some report their outlets to be completely dry, but I see just as many reports of oil seepage on the charge pipe clamps or oil inside their intercoolers. The PCV and cleanside ports on the valvecover wouldn't cause this oil buildup, there's not enough oil leaving the cleanside port even under boost, and the PCV contents get sent directly to the intake manifold for combustion.

[Nissmotion]

I had an SHO with only 12k miles on it, after a bunch of boltons and tuning one of the turbo seals let go. Pumped smoke everywhere. That was the single turbo one I did because the customer was mad about the turbos failing with such low miles (even though we turned them up ALOT.)

There are alot of folks installing catch can setups on the ecoboost to remedy the problem of excess oil vapor getting in the combustion chamber.

[Trent_Petersen]

From the reading I've done on various forums, it seems pretty common, modded/tuned or stock.

[metroplex]

That also got me thinking about catch cans and separators not really resolving anything since if the turbos are spitting oil into the intercooler, it defeats any gains from the catch cans removing the fuel/oil vapors from the intake manifold. The cleanside separators would be worthless since there's not a whole lot of oil coming from the crankcase compared to the charge pipe and intercooler system.

[Cali]

I am currently installing a catchcan/ seperator. After the exhaust was done i noticed that I would have blue smoke on decel. My intercooler was full of oil . So I can only assume I am burning off residue from higher airflow being available. I also did a full GDI injector cleaning and Intake Manifold clean. .. loads of oil in the plenum.
I have been checking the oil , and its full, and the turbos on the turbine side are dry.
The car pulls massive vacuum on the PCV side... take off your oil cap when its running and put your hand over it. its crazy.. also there is no PCV check valve in the car... the valve covers dump directly into the Intake / Pressure side. So under boost any Crank case pressure / oil vapor is piled directly into the intake side. Ive installed a Boomba Oil Seperator , and made the lines , installed a check valve on the clean air side.
Ive only got 16,000 miles on the car. So I hope the turbos are OK ! Should be. As this ONLY happened after the new exhaust was installed and I have not hammered on the car whatsoever. Only have like 500 miles on it since the exhaust work was completed 3 weeks ago.

[metroplex]

We do have a PCV check valve. It is the orange brown thing on the rear valve cover. 2015s made after Nov 2014 or so, had the factory oil separator deleted and they used composite valve covers onward. Prior to this, we all have a factory vapor separator that drains the oil back to the crankcase along with cast aluminum valve covers.

I had a JLT 3.0 for about a month and all it caught was water and gas vapors and a light oil mixture (which burned very easily using a match), nothing resembling engine oil. That being said, how would the PCV blow by make it to the compressor inlet and outlet? Before you say that it is due to the cleanside system... I ran an open breather filter on the cleanside for over 2 months and it got at best a light misting of oil that wouldn't even rub off on a paper towel. The PCV blow by either gets sucked into the Intake manifold under vacuum, or blown back into the crankcase under boost albeit restricted by the PCV check valve but shouldn't find its way into the compressor outlets.

The way they are marketing the catch cans implies the PCV system is pumping oil blow by into the fresh air tract, compressed by the turbos, and then collected in the intercooler. I just couldn't find the plumbing or pathway to support this. If you know of something different, please share.

[Cali]

[QUOTE=metroplex;473595]We do have a PCV check valve. It is the orange brown thing on the rear valve cover. 2015s made after Nov 2014 or so, had the factory oil separator deleted and they used composite valve covers onward. Prior to this, we all have a factory vapor separator that drains the oil back to the crankcase along with cast aluminum valve covers.

Ill have to look ! Didnt know this , but thank you , good info.

Ill have to take a peak at the inlet side from the Air cleaner to the turbos . I know exactly what your getting at and am curious as well. Having worked on many DI engines , from VAG , GM , BMW etc , I have seen the horrible results of the DI issue with oil build up many times over. But rarely on compressor side of turbos , unless the PCV system unloads in the intake .

[metroplex]

The only connection that I can find for the PCV/crankcase to unload oil into the intake is the cleanside vent breather tube that goes to the fresh air ducts. If you remove the engine cover and look at the front valve cover, there's a tube connecting the valve cover to the fresh air piping.

Even if enough oil went there (which it isn't, at least not on mine) it would mainly pool in the front turbo and not the rear turbo. Instead, I find more oil at the rear turbo than the front, but both outlets have a film of oil as does the intercooler. I had cleaned both outlets about 2 times already and there's always a bit more oil coming out.

[Cali]

Yep , I just looked at it . So yea I see what your saying.
Only other thing I could think of would be if the diverter valves operate open in vacuum, causing some feedback air flow . But it makes sense in my head. not in reality i believe.

[metroplex]

We have electronic blow off valves, and I have them vented to atmosphere. There's oil in the charge pipes, but it comes from the compressor outlets. Even vented to atmosphere, nothing is soaking my filters attached to the BoV's.

[metroplex]

Here's a 2016 SHO's valve cover and PCV valve. Notice the brown "fitting" on the composite valve cover... that would be your PCV valve. I bought a spare and examined it in detail - it's basically your old school PCV valve that rattles when you shake it, except it secures straight into the valve cover.

[Cali]

Yea I took mine out and gave her a shake lol