About a year ago I upgraded boost hoses to BD blue hose and noticed some oil in boost hose on turbo side. Oil was very thick (almost tar like). Felt turbine and there was no for, aft play and compressor was clean. I just returned from long trip towing about 14k and noticed that there is oil leaking out of connection of metal tube to blue hose which connects to intercooler (hot side) and actually dripped onto frame. Again, oil is very thick. Truck has an exhaust brake as well as many mods, but, has had an easy life never seeing 1350* egt's. Is a little bit of seepage into boost hoses normal? Could the exhaust brake cause this? Or is this early sign of turbo failure and engine runaway? Any suggestions, help much appreciated.

 

I have done a search and have found everything from a little is normal to catastrophic engine failure (runaway). Any feedback from people truly knowledgeable about turbos would be greatly appreciated.

 

I believe I'm having the same problem. I have watery oil accumulating on the underside of the rubber corrugated boost hose that comes off the turbo boost outlet. Dealer says its normal, but I'd trust my 4-yr old son to diagnose it before I trust what the dealer says. My truck runs like a scalded ape and boost is normal with no funny noises or anything, but it still makes me feel uneasy.

 

Yes, sounds very similiar except that the oil on mine is very thick. Everything else is normal (ie boost, running normal etc.). I'm also very uneasy about it. As soon as weather lets up I am going to take intake and boost hoses off too see how much oil is in there. It's raining like crazy here in central valley right now. Last time I had it apart, there wasn't enough oil in there to even reach the intercooler, so I cleaned tubes, reinstalled, and chalked it up to normal seepage. As I stated before, truck has lots of go fast goodies, but I have never even done a wot run w/it. Over new years, I finally got a chance to really put truck to the test and towed my toyhauler to Pismo and back. It ran awesome and pulled like crazy, but, when I did my post trip inspection, I noticed the oil.

 

I need to take mine apart also, but based on the color of the sky that rain you speak of should be here in an hour or so. Looks like it's going to have to wait some more. I just got my truck back from the dealer yesterday for this problem and they claim its normal. If I get a runaway engine I'm going to go balistic on them.....

 

A "runaway engine" what do you mean?
I hope it don't take off and you cant stop it! that would suc*!

 

A diesel engine can run on motor oil (or paint booth fumes or whatever), and yeah, if it ran away using something else for fuel shutting off the key wouldn't stop it.

If you are lucky dumping the clutch might stall it, or it might launch the clutch out of the bell housing. Otherwise, typically valves float until they get bent by pistons and then the engine will stop.

Mine has a light film from time to time in the same area. I think a touch of seepage isn't anything to worry about? It seems to me it would have to spray major oil to get through the intercooler and cause a runaway?

 

mine actually seeped enough to work its way through metal boost tube and boost hose connection and dripped (single drip) on frame.

 

Huh.

I have a black spot (not sure what it is yet).

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/...d.php?t=179873

 

Anybody else. Is some seepage normal?

 

What type of air filter are your running?

If it's an oil type, perhaps it's sucking oil out of it, especially if the filter is overoiled and/or you have a really fast spooling turbo. I've had this happen before.

Alternatively, if the air filter is too small or really dirty, then oil can get sucked past the turbo seals. I've had this recently happen when I tried one of those Amsoil dry filters in place of the AFE because of the issue in the previous paragraph above as well as wanting to see what all the "hype" was about. The Amsoil was physically bigger, but it still didn't flow as much as an AFE.

 

a little bit of oilo blow-bye in the compressor side is acceptable.but it is a tell-tale sighn that the turbo seals are starting to fail.also a leaky turbo seal will not cause an engine to runaway.

 

I am running the AFE st2, it is clean, possibly a little over oiled, but I let oil soak in for quite a while before installing it after last cleaning.

A little blowby is acceptable, and a leaky seal will not cause engine runaway. That is good news. Thanks!!