Turbo Problem?

I bought my LGT back in September 2007 with 54000 miles on it. Between 57k and 60k, I've noticed it started burning some oil... Alot of it. There has been on a couple of occasions, I've checked it after 1000 miles just for the heck of it and noticed the oil wasn't even hitting the dipstick. An oil light never came up or anything. I topped off the oil and began checking it every 500 miles and noticed I am filling it a quart to a quart and a half almost every time. WTF, there are no puddles I can see anywhere, the only oil I can see is near the intercooler and I don't think I'm burning it. Under boost, I can smell something like burning oil which I'm thinking maybe the turbo is on its way out? I don't really notice a loss of power though and everything sounds fine except for a rattling exhaust shield so now I'm lost. My car is bone stock (Except for the hogzaust lol) and I'm using Mobil 5000 5w30 conventional oil with a fram filter. No leaks from that either. Any ideas? :confused:Don't think it's a head gasket either

Either turbo or piston/oil rings. Another option is valve stem seals, but they generally aren't that bad.

 

One test you can do is to start with a cold engine and on a clear street accelerate to about 4000rpm in second gear lift the throttle to retard with the engine and then press the throttle again. Best done with a cold engine. Have a friend driving behind you. If you get oil smoke you have a problem with oil coming into the aspiration somewhere. Also check around and in the exhaust if you have oil there that's also a sure sign.

 

Another thing you can do is to pull the spark plugs and see if they are contaminated in some way. If only one of them is contaminated it's a sign of piston/oil ring failure if none or all are contaminated you have a turbo problem (depending on which side of the turbo that has given up).

 

Since you are burning oil at that rate you may even have toasted your cat by now.

There is a 5yr/60,000 mile powertrain warranty. Hopefully you have not exceed 60k as the repair for this will likely be covered. If your around 60k or less see your dealer and forget this diagonosing over the internet.

I'm at 65

My turbo has a bad seal in it and under boost I used to be able to smell oil burn from it dripping out of the banjo bolt and burning off on the turbo. I realized I had a bad seal because of a slight oil leak between my tmic and turbo connection, I pulled the top mount intercooler off and saw that the turbo is blowing some oil into the TMIC. See this thread.... http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75986 Good luck... I'm getting an upgraded turbo.

I'll have to check that out because it looks like the previous owner did a turbo and intercooler swap also... Piece by piece I pull off on this car and it looks more and more like a hack job. I just got done doing a HID install a couple of months ago also and there were already HID's in it at one point - the wires to the headlights were cut and put back together with electrical tape WTF

:EDIT: I just looked at the pics from the thread you posted in the previous comment and I noticed the same exact thing. I have to look in on it closer. In the mean time I'll just keep feeding it oil.. Thank you

I'll have to check that out because it looks like the previous owner did a turbo and intercooler swap also... Piece by piece I pull off on this car and it looks more and more like a hack job. I just got done doing a HID install a couple of months ago also and there were already HID's in it at one point - the wires to the headlights were cut and put back together with electrical tape WTF

:EDIT: I just looked at the pics from the thread you posted in the previous comment and I noticed the same exact thing. I have to look in on it closer. In the mean time I'll just keep feeding it oil.. Thank you

 

Not sure how you made out with yours, but I just had my turbo replaced under warranty for a similar issue. I know of another 05 that had the same problem. Here is the kicker, my car is still burning at a rate of 1Q/1k miles. So we'll see what the dealer comes up with next.

 

-mike

I'm still burning the same as you are now... The turbo made a BIG difference though.. I think I'm getting rid of it now though and going with another Rex. This time a bugeye with alot of JDM goodies

What I found to be crazy is that I just installed my fp green and when I got the stock turbo off even though it had a bad seal, I kept it full of oil at all times and miraculously after 53k on the stocker and being modded the turbo has absolutely zero shaft play. I couldn't believe it, the shaft on my turbo is as solid as can be at 53k.

Mine had zero shaft play also and the turbo was still bad... That was around 63k... I started to notice a problem around 57k... By 63k, I had no boost at all and it sounded like something was rattling inside of it