Bought a used IX turbo off a member w/ about 17kmi on it, and i havent yet installed it. the seller advertised that he had the turbo rebulit with a larger comp wheel by a local shop, sort of an alternative to FP or bbk. here is a thread started by the original owner, this is the exact turbo i bought. https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...come-pics.html

Anyhow, the turbo has been sitting for months now..i periodically unplug the oil drain port and pour a bit of oil in and spin the wheels just to try to keep it moist in there. So a few weeks ago i take the turbine housing off to send it to MAP for porting. As i remove the clamp and start to pry the housing from the turbo, i notice some oil dripping out of the turbine housing...a small amount. Got the housing back the other day and i go to put it back on last night...and as i carefully put the housing back on and clamp it, i get a few more drops of oil coming thru the turbine blades, and i noticed some on the comp blades also.

So im hoping that my oil seals are not bad, and its just because i was removing the turb housing that the seal integrity was momentarily interrupted. the amt of oil that came out was very small...not nearly the amt that i have poured in over the past months. also, now that the entire assembly is tightly back together, no oil comes out, although if i shine a light thru the blades on either side, i can see some residue. the guy i bought this from was running it on his car up to the day he got his red, where he took it off and sent it to me. if anyone whos had experience fiddling with stock turbos reads this, your input would be appreciated. thanks

 

So far it doesn't sound like much of an issue but there is really no way to tell aside from bolting it on or tearing it apart. Oil seals on a turbo are hardly seals at all, more like a piston ring.

There are gaps in the seals (either split or staggered gaps) and chances are that some of the of the oil you put inside just made it through the gap in the oil seals.

Oh, and removing the turbine housing has nothing to do with the seal integrity so you are fine there.

 

thanks for the input...that at least gives me a shred of optimism. We'll just have to see what happens when i install it once weather gets a little warmer up here.

 

turbos don't have oil seals