1994 320I BUDGET TURBO BUILD

[DEFKON99]

I didn't get the turbo from ebay. Oil drains into plug on side of oil pan.I have a restrictor in the inlet and the drain is basically level with the inlet. Do turbos not really seal at all or something cuz that seems a bit weird that you cant have it level? like usually the point of a seal is to stop the oil from flowing (haha gulf of mexico) or are they just there to politely suggest the oil go elsewhere? I was gonna lift the car today but I worked all day so I'm going to try to get pictures tomorrow.

honestly dude its looks like the seals in that turbo arent keeping the oil in the chra there leaking into the hot side of your turbo. How to you have the turbo fed with oil? how is it plumbed?

[lambert_077]

'Turbo is fed oil from a tee in the line just before the banjo bolt at the front of the engine

Ive turned the turbo so the drain is directly at the bottom but now I need a shorter line. I Have ordered a new flange with a larger outlet size so I will be replacing the works with 1/2" line

[MikeE36]

Where was the drain positioned before? The CHRA needs to be vertical, with the feed on top, and the drain at the bottom. If you had it significantly tilted one way or the other from that, no wonder you have smoking issues. The oil drain is not draining properly, and the oil is just blowing into the exhaust housing and out the exhaust. Shorten that line a ton and make sure there are no kinks, and give it another shot.

-Mike

[lambert_077]

So I'm really not sure what i was thinking installing the CHRA upside-down and draining off the top. I guess since I deal with a lot higher pressure equipment at work I thought it would be fine. Maybe I was trying to keep the drain flange above the oil level in the pan??? I dunno I was drunk.
Anyways I got my shit together and installed a new 1/2" flange and hose. Bigger hole good



I wanted to use a nice shiny 45 degree fitting out of the bottom of the now rotated CHRA but it wouldn't fit so $2 90 it is


There we go hose is stiff as fuck so I couldn't get it 100% straight but there is a lot less restriction. Its on about 10 degree down slope.


success!!!!! she is only smoking a tiny bit now I am guessing that is the residual oil.
(turns out its leaking slightly at the oil inlet now... fack)

[lambert_077]

Took it for a quick test drive and it stalled on me what the hell. Definitely missing on a cylinder spark plug burned out because of all the oil its ingested?

[MikeE36]

It shouldn't have ingested any oil from the turbo smoking. That was just oil blowing past the turbo seals and out the exhaust, but not into the engine necessarily, unless you had it leaking from the compressor side also, into the intercooler pipes. Check your intercooler pipes for oil. Glad you got the drain figured out, that looks about how mine is and I have no smoking issues.

-Mike

[lambert_077]

oh no it was most definitely going both ways intercooler full of oil as well as fresh/ burnt stuff out my tailpipe... yuck. I have cleaned all the piping on the pressure side of the turbo to the intake twice now. I should probably clean my MAF too I suppose. Yeah this drain is awesome, its huge. Also it goes right into my drain plug which is nice no tap needed.

PS using 50w40 synthetic mike what weight of oil do you use?

[MikeE36]

oh no it was most definitely going both ways intercooler full of oil as well as fresh/ burnt stuff out my tailpipe... yuck. I have cleaned all the piping on the pressure side of the turbo to the intake twice now. I should probably clean my MAF too I suppose. Yeah this drain is awesome, its huge. Also it goes right into my drain plug which is nice no tap needed.

PS using 50w40 synthetic mike what weight of oil do you use?

Definitely use some MAF cleaner on your MAF as well. An oil soaked MAF can be 10-25+% off of correct readings, depending on how much oil. I use Mobil 1 15w50 oil.

Good luck!

-Mike

[Caligula]

People helping people, thats what i like seeing here.

[lambert_077]

Yeah I appreciate the help and having somewhere to post this so maybe someone else can learn from my mistakes haha




I cleaned the maf but still starts rough when cold




Also got my new wastegate, but its too big doesnt fit where the other one did
so off to get it welded/ relocated hopefully tomorrow

Ps pretty sure this is a knockoff it says tial in tiny stamp on the lower (cast) part of the housing but its not even straight and it was only 180$ but this is a budget build so whateva

[MikeE36]

You really need to buy MAF specific cleaner to clean the MAF. I'm not sure if alcohol is safe for the MAF element. That is definitely a knock-off tial also. They are all stamped Tial on the top. You can get a legit one for ~$230, surprised you didn't just do that!

Also, who tuned your car? How is it tuned? The roughness could be in the cold start maps.

-Mike

[lambert_077]

But at todays exchange rate thats 244.86 play money (Canadian dollars)
Secrets out I'm Canadian!

However if I can get this thing finished without blowing it up and I sell it to get an m3... Ill keep that in mind for next time
Untuned as of now... some mechanic named Renier from Munich might be doing it.

[MikeE36]

What injectors?