Oil leaking from intercooler

[Doat]

Well as some of you know I replaced my head gasket and made a thread about it, the car was running beautifully until recently I noticed my oil level has been acting weird and very recently oil has been leaking out of my intercooler. From what I have gathered it could be the PCV system, turbo seals, or piston rings. I doubt it's my piston rings but leaning toward my turbo seals and hoping it's just my PCV system because if it's my turbo seals then I may as well just save up for a 1jz since a replacement turbo will cost a few hundred bucks then something else will pop up on this 7M and I plan on swapping a 1JZ anyway. So how can I check my PCV system to see if that is the cause of my oil leak issue? It seems to be losing a fairly large amount of oil but when I add a little bit of oil the dip stick goes from low to full quickly; for example, the other day I checked my oil and it was low on the dipstick really near the end of it so I added a little bit of oil like poured it in for 2 seconds and rechecked and it moved up quite a bit. I poured in more oil for about 3 or 4 seconds and it was up to the full line. Here is a picture of where the oil leak is on the intercooler

How can I check my PCV system and find out what the cause of this problem is?

 

[hvyman]

Check to make sure the port on the tb is clear and the lines as well. Can pull the accordion hose off and check the turbo for play as well.

Any smoke?

Also looks like you have a hole in the ic. As usually oil won't come out of the core. Just full it up or come out the hoses.

 

[Doat]

I do not have any smoke but I do have an oil burning smell. What port should I check is clear on the TB? the one that the hose from the intake connects to?

 

[hvyman]

The port where the pipe goes from valve covers to tb. Pull that off and spray some brake cleaner through. Those hoses usually get hard and break as well. Aaron at dm sells them for like 13$

 

[Doat]

Yea the two tiny hoses that connect the hard pipe to the valve covers on mine are very brittle I need to replace them as well. I will check out my throttle body but how will I know if that is my problem? Just spray some brake cleaner and drive it around or something? I think I need to get rid of the oil in my intercooler lol.

 

[hvyman]

Ya that would be a good idea.

A cylinder leak down test would be a good idea. Can tell you if you have an issue with rings valves or hg. If the rings are original and have well over 100k on them could likely be the colpret. As well as an old ct with shaft play.

 

[Doat]

The motor has about 83k miles on it all original I replaced the head gasket with ARP studs at 90ft lbs the CT has very minimal shaft play but it doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary.

 

[Doat]

Well this morning I jacked up the driver side of the car and removed the charge pipe on the passenger side of the intercooler and snapped a picture

No visible oil and it doesn't even look like there was oil in there unless I am mistaken and after this I raised the jack as high as I dared and still nothing.

I have a feeling it's the banjo bolt that sends oil from the turbo back into the block because I saw some fresh looking oil on the rubber cap of the oil sender on the block and the banjo bolt is right next to it.

 

[Backlash2032]

As I don't have a factory turbo setup, I don't know how the oil cooler lines are ran.. But could they be leaking onto the intercooler? That or the power steering cooler?

There is no banjo bolt on the turbo return, that's the feed. And that would not cause the oil on the intercooler lol

 

[Doat]

yea I was thinking of another oil spot I saw that was under the motor or the oil that was on the exhaust that is where the banjo bolt idea came from. There is nothing that runs over the middle of the intercooler from above I can clearly look down onto the oil spot on the intercooler only thing next to it is the radiator and nothing is leaking from there.

 

[Backlash2032]

Well with no oil in the charge piping, and nothing able to leak onto the intercooler.. Maybe you spilled

 

[Doat]

Unlikely, there is some oil in the intake pipes like the 3000 pipe and the elbow above the turbo.

 

[Doat]

Is it normal for there to be oil in those hoses and the 3000 pipe? It's not a large amount it's basically a coating.

 

[Backlash2032]

Normal? Not really. Usual for old 7Ms and CTs? You bet. If you really wanna see if its from the inside of outside boost leak the intercooler and piping while you're at it. No boost leak = no oil leak.

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[Doat]

I don't think there is a boost leak because wouldn't there be a noise and take longer to build boost? I did have a boost leak before and it made a loud whine but I found the problem, loose hose clamp on the charge pipe.

 

[Backlash2032]

If there's no boost leak then there's no oil leak. -_-

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[Doat]

Well after I drive there is a drop of oil on the ground lol

 

[Maple191]

Its probably a pin hole. It can still make boost, if its a pin hole it wouldnt make it hard for the turbo to over come that size of a leak.

 

[Doat]

One day when I have time I'll remove the turbo and look around and replace the charge pipe with the metal one I got from driftmotion.