Oil in Turbo Air Hose: Causes & Fixes

Audi 80 Avant, 1.9 TDI (1Z), manufactured in March 1994, 140,000 km.

Hello everyone.
"I had some tuning instruments installed about six months ago, including a boost pressure gauge. Unfortunately, it's no longer working, and when I removed it, I was horrified to find oil in the boost pressure hose... that can't be normal, right?"

Is my turbocharger broken? How much would a new one cost? And is it possible to install a better one without "overloading" the rest of the engine? I'm thinking about the new technology with the variable vanes, for example.

Tino Kossmann wrote:

Audi 80 Avant, 1.9 TDI (1Z), year of manufacture 03/1994, 140,000 km. Hello everyone. I had some tuning instruments installed about six months ago, including a boost pressure gauge. Unfortunately, it's no longer working, and when I removed it, I was horrified to find oil in the boost pressure hose... this probably isn't normal, is it?

Hi Tino,

A certain amount of oil in the intake manifold area is normal; it comes from the crankcase ventilation (and mixes with the soot from the EGR system to form the infamous sludge in the intake manifold ).

As long as you can mostly get your refill needs from the intake manifold, it's okay .

Quote:

Is my turbocharger broken? What would a new one cost, and is it possible to install a better one without "overloading" the rest of the engine? I'm thinking, for example, of the new technology with the variable vanes

.

That wouldn't work because the VTG turbocharger requires completely different control software in the engine control unit compared to a wastegate turbocharger.

Unless you were to mechanically convert a VTG loader to use pressure control... but I have no idea if that would even be possible.

Hi,

I can fully confirm what Ulf said.

When I installed an LDA in my golf engine, I could clearly see, through the transparent pressure hose, how a small amount of oil gradually seeped into it.
Approximately the first 30 centimeters of the tube had turned black.

In my case, the oil travels through a 4-meter-long hose to the turbo pressure gauge (weird word) and is then stopped by a so-called sintered filter (a small filter), which blocks the airflow to the measuring device.

Hi,

Hmm, that seems like quite a lot to me.
Or what? What do the others think?
My old Golf had 150,000 km on the odometer and barely consumed any oil.
What is the oil consumption like in your Audi?

And how/where did you connect the hose? The way it's connected can also make a difference in how well the oil flows into the hose.

The hose is connected near the turbo to the thick rubber hose (approximately 7-8 cm in diameter). There was a small outlet on the top of it, which was sealed with a plug from the factory. I attached a pressure hose there and secured it with a clamp. If anyone has a photo of a TDI engine bay, I can mark the location (I unfortunately don't have a photo of my own engine bay).

The oil consumption is low. I only need to add a maximum of 2 liters per interval (15,000 km) (Mobil 1 0W40).

Hi,

For 0W40 oil, 2 liters per 15,000 km is still acceptable, but I use much less, although I use 10W or 15W oil.

Furthermore, you're measuring the boost pressure at a completely different location than I am, specifically shortly after the turbocharger.
I installed it at the end of the exhaust path, just before the intake manifold, because on the Golf 1Z, there's a thin fabric hose that runs from the manifold to the control unit to report the pressure.

If you actually have that much oil right after the charger, it could really cause the system to blow oil.
I'm not sure if it might be acceptable even in small amounts.

@Tino: Could it be that either your hose is leaking directly at the pressure gauge, or the gauge itself is leaking?
Eventually, the airflow will force the oil into the indicator.
If everything is sealed properly, no oil should get in there, unless you've mounted your boost gauge lower than the rest of the hose...

Everything is sealed, but the sensor is located lower than the hose that runs in the engine compartment. That's also a good idea... I'm going to "lower" the hose in the engine compartment.