It was 13F here in Iowa, and 30 seconds into my drive I started spewing oil smoke from behind the car. Luckily, I was able to limp it on a short 4 minute drive to the GM dealer I work at so I could find out what was up.
Coolant was a tad low, oil was 1.5 qts low, some moisture in the valve covers, but no oil or murkiness in the radiator.
I suspected a head gasket, which would have been a pain with a 2.2 big bore.

First thing I checked was the plugs, all looked brown and consistent.
We used a boroscope, no kibbles and bits or damage on the pistons.
Compression test yielded 150, 150, 149, and 150 psi. consistent with the 9.5 ratio the engine was built at.
Coolant pressure test held 1.1 bar no problem... so wtf?

At this point, I suspected the 5w-40 oil I used was simply too thick for the 30F temp the oil was at during the failure, and that something in the turbo was allowing it to pump into the exhaust. This was coincident with the DTC set for low activity on my O2 sensors, as they are probably coated in oil. AMS recommends 10w-40 for applications under 200 HP per cylinder.

I took off the intake pipe and found oil dripping from the compressor side of the turbo, there was also a nice pool inside.

A buddy of mine with an Evo9 suggested that it could have been a frozen catch can. I went to drain it and long behold, about 10oz of water came out, followed by an ounce of oil milkshake. It probably froze solid, and the pressure prevented oil in the turbo from getting back to the crankcase. I'm just hoping at this point I did not do any damage to any oil seals.

To prevent this from happening again, I've ordered a small 10w 12 volt pad heater. I'll wire it in place of the "always on" fan for the SST cooler in the left fender. Come spring I can swap the wiring back.
For good measure on the motor on cold starts, I've also ordered a 125w oil pan heater pad, and a 600w inline lower radiator hose warmer. Moving forward, I'll be sure to drain the can at least once a week, and even if it's far below freezing the warmer should keep things liquefied.



There is probably a lot of oil in the intercooler. I removed the pipe to the throttle body and luckily nothing got up from the intercooler (probably because after the event I never went over 2250.) Once I clean out the intercooler and get as much oil out of the turbo as possible, I'll burn the rest out of the exhaust and probably clean or replace the O2's after.

 

Good info! Glad it wasn't anything serious.

As far as the turbo goes it should be fine. The "seals" in the turbo are really more like metal piston rings. Once you get the crank case issue resolved it should be fine.

- Robert

 

That's good to know, I was unsure on the exact anatomy of the turbo oil system.