Result of Turbo Seal Failure

[WERK I]

This is the result of driving about 6 city blocks. A huge blue cloud of smoke coming out the exhaust. Upon disassembly, there was about a 1/2 pint of oil in the headers....yet to find out how much accumulated in the IC and muffler. The pic below shows how carboned-up the cylinder heads are.
Any ideas on a painless (i.e. no cylinder head disassembly) way to clean all this crap off the combustion chambers?

[OldSpool87]

Maybe someone can recommend a solvent based solution. What about a walnut shell blast? My wagon is a twin turbo direct injected engine. The blow by funks up the intake over time as there is no fuel to wash it away. The walnut blasting cleaned it right up.

Good luck

[simonlongdill]

I have found this product really effective at removing burned on carbon from combustion chambers :

CRC Carb Clean

05379 -- Clean-R-Carb™ Carburetor Cleaner (50 State Formula), 12 Wt Oz

I am not sure if the USA formulation is different to my local version (NZ), but spray on, leave to soak for a little while and then will be quite loose to remove. Wear gloves, its pretty harsh stuff but fine for the aluminum and valves.

Second best might be some oven cleaner.

[boosted79]

Buy a gal. of Berryman's Chem Dip. Put the head in a big enough container then fill with the Berryman's up to the valve seals. leave overnite then scrub with a toothbrush and red scotchbrite in the am.

[RarlyL8]

Did the seals only fail on the intake side? Typically a blown turbo pukes out the exhaust, oil doesn't go inside the engine (not THAT much anyway).

[Rawknees'Turbo]

^^^

I use Berryman's Chem Dip all the time on ancient carburetors that have varnished beyond belief - always amazes me how when left to soak overnight, the parts come out looking almost new (little to no scrubbing involved) - can get it at most autoparts stores in the gallon can that boost mentioned (around $30 or so).

[WERK I]

Originally Posted by RarlyL8

Did the seals only fail on the intake side? Typically a blown turbo pukes out the exhaust, oil doesn't go inside the engine (not THAT much anyway).

Hi Brian,
The backside of the intake valves have no carbon buildup and appear to be very dry. Backside of the exhaust valves have some carbon buildup. One thing I did not mention is the plenum below the metering plate has probably a couple tablespoons of oil in it. All six combustion chambers appear exactly the same as the pic above. Likelihood of all valves seals going out exactly at the same time seems very remote.
The thing that surprised me the most is the amount of oil that poured out of the B&B headers when I pulled them off the engine. It literally poured out onto the garage floor.

Also, the pistons are out and there are no broken rings or cracked pistons. Cylinders show no signs of Nikasil breakdown.

Could a blocked engine breather port do something like this? I noticed the breather line going from the oil tank to the oil separation tank appears to have collapsed.

[WERK I]

Originally Posted by boosted79

Buy a gal. of Berryman's Chem Dip. Put the head in a big enough container then fill with the Berryman's up to the valve seals. leave overnite then scrub with a toothbrush and red scotchbrite in the am.

Originally Posted by Rawknees'Turbo

^^^

I use Berryman's Chem Dip all the time on ancient carburetors that have varnished beyond belief - always amazes me how when left to soak overnight, the parts come out looking almost new (little to no scrubbing involved) - can get it at most autoparts stores in the gallon can that boost mentioned (around $30 or so).

I wondered about that stuff. I did buy a container of it...but not a gallon. I'll go out and get some more. Is it safe to immerse including the valves guides or should I keep the solution just below them?

[boosted79]

It won't hurt the guides, not sure about the seals. It works.

[Rawknees'Turbo]

Dave, the Chem Dip is a lot different than the fuel additive (I think that is called Berryman's 12 - comes in standard type cans for pouring in gas tanks) - just wanted to make sure you were aware of that.

[WERK I]

Thanks. Fortunately, I guessed right and got the right stuff....just not enough.

I'll be dipping the whole assembly (3 heads and cam tower) into a plastic bin big enough to hold everything.

[infraredcalvin]

...

Please post pics of your results, I've always been skeptical of that stuff, so have never used...

Thanks, and Good Luck!

[smurfbus]

Maybe you should air gun the cam oil spray bars afterwords so there is no residue left.

[WERK I]

^^ Good idea. Will do.

[T77911S]

Originally Posted by RarlyL8

Did the seals only fail on the intake side? Typically a blown turbo pukes out the exhaust, oil doesn't go inside the engine (not THAT much anyway).

I had the same thing happen.
filled my muffler with oil.

man what a cloud of smoke. scared the crap out of me when I put the new turbo on.
I even tried to wash out the muffler but in the end just smoke screened the woods down from my house til it was gone.

[JFairman]

Remove the cams and then remove the heads from the cam tower. It's the only way to clean all that without problems afterwards. There's no gaskets or anything to replace, just need some Hondabond or 574 to reseal the cam tower to the heads..

[WERK I]

^^^
Jim,
I'm keeping the cam towers attached to the heads just during the cleanup process. After I clean up the combustion chambers, the valves & guides are going to be individually inspected after that. It's easier for me to work on the entire assembly with the valve spring compressor than the heads individually. I should have clarified this in earlier posts.
Once everything has been checked out, the heads will be separated from the towers and a thorough cleaning will follow.

Just so everyone knows, I originally thought the turbo sump pump broke the drive pin because there was zero oil being returned to the oil tank. After inspection found the sump pump to be working properly off the cam, it became apparent something far more serious had happened. I've looked at both the compressor and turbine and while the compressor looks intact, the turbine blades at the tips look ragged, very ragged. I'll try to get some pics and provide for your input. That would certainly explain the turbo seal being shaken to death from the imbalance.

[WERK I]

Originally Posted by T77911S

I had the same thing happen.
filled my muffler with oil.

man what a cloud of smoke. scared the crap out of me when I put the new turbo on.
I even tried to wash out the muffler but in the end just smoke screened the woods down from my house til it was gone.

I saw an episode of "Wheeler Dealers" where a Lotus Espirit had a turbo failure. Ed China took acetone and poured it into the IC, with one end plugged, sloshed it around and let it soak. Since acetone evaporates at room temp fairly quickly, he drained out the oil-contaminated acetone and let it air dry for a while.

[boosted79]

Sounds like turbine wheel touched off. How many miles on it?

[WERK I]

^^^^ 77K miles