paime Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 I have myself a TD5 with 120k miles on the clock and i think i need to do something about the Turbo. There's a slight bit of play in the main bearing but the bigger concern is the amount of oil that exists on it, around it and in the inlet pipework. My intercooler has sagged from the amount of oil that's currently sitting in it and most of the intake pipes have a heavy internal coating of oil. I'm going to brave the costs of a reconditioned turbo, new pipework and an intercooler soon but is there anything else i should be looking at? Am i in imminent danger of a catastrophe?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 You could end up ingesting the oil into the engine, which will do one of two things (or maybe more). A runaway condition where you can't stop the engine by turning the key off, as it is being fuelled by the oil. Unless you can stall it, this normally results in the engine destroying itself by over-revving. The engine ingests the oil in such a quantity that it hydrolocks the engine in a similar way to driving into water without a sealed, raised intake. This will bend rods and cause all sorts of other damage. Either way I would certainly NOT be driving it at the moment. A new cartridge is not that expensive: https://bearmach.com/turbo-cartridge-2-5-td5-pmf10046c You may want to service other items such as the oil feed and return lines. That is of course, it is the turbo, and the oil is not coming from anywhere else. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 Being 100% honest with myself (and you) the problem has been in existence for a couple of years now but adding up the cost of all the bits terrifies me. Turbo+intercooler+intake pipework will probably cost me nearly £500 and Mrs Paime will not like that.... Nevertheless, i think i'll have to bite the bullet and start with the cartridge then do the intercooler and pipes before finishing off with cleaning the intake manifold. Should there be any oil in the intake pipework after the cartridge has been replaced? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 There will be only a misting of oil in normal operation. Unless the intercooler is damaged, there's no reason to replace it just because it has oil in it, just wash out with petrol/some other solvent and allow to dry *THOROUGHLY* and refit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedLineMike Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 the intercooler wont have sagged due to oil they sag due to age & boost pressure oil quantity sounds normal for a td5 due to the plumbing of the crank case breather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 (edited) Here's a couple of pics showing the state of the intercooler: Seems like a quite a lot of oil but i guess it's been building up for a while now. Edited January 7, 2019 by paime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Oh, so it is leaking in some way as well then..... Time to pull things off to see what is actually wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 I reckon the intercooler is pretty much beyond economic repair but it's also the quantity of oil that has me worried. I'd rather replace the right bits and the right time than do it all, miss the underlying problem and then coat my new shiny bits in some more oil. Is there an oil drain on the TD5 turbos which goes back to the sump? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedLineMike Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 9 minutes ago, paime said: I reckon the intercooler is pretty much beyond economic repair but it's also the quantity of oil that has me worried. I'd rather replace the right bits and the right time than do it all, miss the underlying problem and then coat my new shiny bits in some more oil. Is there an oil drain on the TD5 turbos which goes back to the sump? the oil drain is out the bottom of the turbo & back into the sump the intercooler in your picture is the normal outcome of wear & tear, the oily residue around the corner is due to the plastic end tanks starting to separate from the core, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted January 7, 2019 Author Share Posted January 7, 2019 8 minutes ago, RedLineMike said: the oil drain is out the bottom of the turbo & back into the sump the intercooler in your picture is the normal outcome of wear & tear, the oily residue around the corner is due to the plastic end tanks starting to separate from the core, That's made me feel a bit better about the whole thing, cheers. Looks like i've got not option but to replace a few things and get myself a new cartridge. Better practice my best puppy dog eyes for the missus now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 As Mike said, if the intercooler truly isn't full of oil, then the residue in there may be normal, and you may not need to replace the turbo. A pic would help for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil110 Posted January 7, 2019 Share Posted January 7, 2019 Don't know if it is the case with the TD5 but Land Rover used to recommend flushing the 300 intercooler, with acetone, every 50,000 miles or so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted March 14, 2021 Author Share Posted March 14, 2021 After 2 years I still haven't replaced my turbo but after recently replacing the intercooler i should probably try to reduce the amount of oil going through it. Can I just replace the cartridge only? Will that cure the oil leaks and wobbly bearings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 Cartridge will have new bearings & seals & be balanced so, that will all help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted March 15, 2021 Author Share Posted March 15, 2021 Excellent! Is it a fairly straight forward swap or do I need specialist tooling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 I took mine to a engine place near me to have the cartridge replaced, I don't have a big set of circlip pliers to remove the alloy compressor housing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Hunter Posted March 17, 2021 Share Posted March 17, 2021 Paime, all you need is a large capacity set of circlip piers. You don't need any other special tools. I have the necessary pliers, and I removed my rotating assembly and cleaned the exhaust side very carefully with an old toothbrush and a mixture of acetone and xylene, both of which, fortunately, are readily available over here. The intake air side didn't really need any cleaning. I measured my radial axial play with a DRO instrument and decided that it was still within acceptable limits, and just reassembled it. Of course, I still haven't finished my rebuild, so I don't know if my cleaning was effective, efficient, or damaging! I'll post when I get my hobby back on the road. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted March 18, 2021 Author Share Posted March 18, 2021 I've seen a few YouTube videos but none of them show any circlips. It's a complete cartridge replacement I was considering. Is there a way to just replace the seals and bearings or would I then need to get it balanced? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 Would need to be rebalanced if the compressot & turbine wheels are seperate from the shaft, that would just add to the cost, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 18, 2021 Share Posted March 18, 2021 There’s a thread on here somewhere from when I changed the cartridge in a 200Tdi turbo, must be three years ago now. Sadly it still sat in my utility room waiting to be swapped for the turbo on the car, but it’ll get tested out eventually! Most of the oil in my intake is from the crankcase breather I reckon, rather than the turbo. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaklander Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 I've just had a turbo (VNT) re-balanced at a local company, as I went to them asking about the oil seals. The turbo place said that the seals are dynamic, a bit like piston rings in that they need pressure so that they seal correctly. I had already cleaned the vanes assembly so that the waste gate system was moving freely but they needed to clean the cartridge to a high standard before they put it on an air flow rig and measured the balance. After 262K miles it was out by a considerable amount (they provided before and after graphs) and shaved a little metal off somewhere to get it back to spec. With it balanced they said it would run better in the bearings and that in turn would improve the oil sealing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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