Car won't start, high oil consumption, oil in turbo, black smoke

[BobbyB]

Hi folks, looking for some advice...first a bit of history. About a year ago I done another 10,000 mile service on my partner's Avesis 07 D4D. About a week later on a long journey down south we got the engine oil warning light. Pulled into the services and had to shove 1 litre of oil in just to bring the level up to minimum. I had thought that I must have underfilled the oil when doing the service. Long story short, turns out the car had actually started consuming oil. Exact consumption I'm not sure but I estimate it's consumes 1 litre / 1500 miles. Also, we noticed that the car was throwing out black smoke when you put the foot down (above 2000 rpm). I got a mechanic friend to have a look and he discovered that it had a historical engine management fault with the EGR valve which I took off and cleaned. I discovered heavy oil deposits in an adjacent chamber, where both side ports were completely blocked (see attached pictures...picture taken AFTER cleaning) also in addition I changed the air and fuel filters. Whilst changing the air filter I had a quick check of the turbo and discovered that there was oil in it. (See attached pictures) I done all this about 6 months ago and it didn't make any difference to any of the signs and symptoms. A few days ago it now won't start, light grey smoke is coming out the exhaust whilst it turns over. My suspicion is that oil is entering the turbo and being drawn into the injectors...or something to that effect. Car has done 138,000 miles. Any thoughts, comments or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Duggerz]

If you've got oil in the turbo, it's likely the seal has failed. The only other way I can think of for oil to get into the turbo would be for it to be blown in there via the breather from the head as a result of excessive blowby. That could be confirmed if the engine ran by lifting the filler cap at idle, with a rag to catch any oil ejected. However, the most likely cause is turbo seal. The oil that's leaking is being sucked into the engine and, unburned to some extent, it passes of of the exhaust and into the EGR causing the blockage you saw. You can split the turbo without removing it and fit a replacement from Mellett, saving many hundreds of quid and agro. Ian

[BobbyB]

Hi Ian, thanks for the reply. I'm going to check other things that might be preventing it from starting, if that fails I'll get the RAC out to have a look as well and take it from there. Thanks for the turbo advice, I'll look into it all if I get the car started again and post some updates.

[Duggerz]

Hi Bobby, fair enough, the blown turbo wouldn't prevent starting but I think it is the root cause. Have you endured that the EGR pipe between the valve and the engine isn't blocked? That would cause poor starting. Ian

[BobbyB]

Hi Ian, I had a look at the EGR pipe and that was clear. Bit the bullet and got the RAC out to have a look, they got it started straight away by carefully adding a little brake cleaner through the air filter. The chap suggested that it was probably faulty glow plugs. At this point I started to inform him of the oil issues at which point he suggested that the starting issue might be realted to that. We removed the oil filler cap to get an idea of pressure and he said it was a lot higher than he expected. The filler cap once unscrewed was being lifted off and it did seem to be going like a steam train from the filler cap hole. Asking about servicing I told him it had been serviced by me every 10,000 miles and had one done recently. During the first two / three services starting at 110,000 miles I had used diesel engine flush which I had heard later on was probably a bad idea given the mileage (I had used it during all services to my cars). I told the RAC guy and he confirmed my fears, starting to use engine flush at 110,000 miles has probably removed the carbon build up. Everything thus seems to be pointing to oil getting past the piston rings and being burned (high oil consumption), not starting (low compression). The car is at the garage where they are gonna check the glow plugs and such and get back to me. I'm expecting the worst though.

Bobby

[Duggerz]

Thanks for the update Bobby, yes of course, the oil contamination has affected the glow plugs. When you managed to start it did it run on all 4 or was it misfiring? I'd be surprised if engine flush caused blowby. Yes I could see it removing deposits from the bearings, but there's not usually carbon buildup on the bores, or the ring lands, because they are heavily sprung. Still if you've got excessive blowby it will show as a dog out of the filler cap. Btw I bought mine at 100k and began flushing it every change and in still going at 225k. Either I was lucky or there's another cause for your issue. Ian

[BobbyB]

So the garage finally got round to looking at the car. Went out to start it and it started first time no problem. They ran various scenarios and everytime the car started. They hooked it up to the diagnostics which showed no faults. I'm really baffled 🤔 The only thing that has changed is the fuel filter. I fitted a new one, primed it and then tried to start the car with no success. It would appear that simply getting the car started by the RAC a few weeks ago has allowed it to sort itself out. The only other thing I can think is the ambient temperature. It was pretty cold when it wouldn't start but now that temperatures are higher it's got me wondering. There is also the mother in law factor, she was the last one to drive it before it died, she also killed it last time she drove it as well (in all fairness it was the alternator that went). 

I asked the garage to check the oil in the turbo and they reckon it's normal. Given the gunk I scraped out the EGR I'm not convinced. 

[m456an]

I would have used air intake cleaner instead of break cleaner, perhaps they are similar?

[frankie406]

I'd of said the oil in the turbo is coming from the pcv/breather as mine had the same.an oil catch can would help this I also cleaned the intake manifold,intercooler too.possible a dead cell,starter or plugs?

[BobbyB]

On 08/05/2018 at 5:03 AM, m456an said:

I would have used air intake cleaner instead of break cleaner, perhaps they are similar?

The chap from the AA said that there was a specific product for starting the car as he did but said it was ******* and brake cleaner was better.

 

[BobbyB]

On 08/05/2018 at 9:56 AM, frankie406 said:

I'd of said the oil in the turbo is coming from the pcv/breather as mine had the same.an oil catch can would help this I also cleaned the intake manifold,intercooler too.possible a dead cell,starter or plugs?

Hi Frankie, I've tried searching for the PCV valve but I'm scratching my head. No mention of it in the manual and I can't find anything on the internet. I've found the breather that feeds into the air intake between the air filter and the turbo. That's always spewing out a mist when the engine is going. Does this T25 model have a PCV valve and if so can you point it out?

[Duggerz]

The breather is at the back right of the cam cover. It's the pipe that joins the intake duct. Ian

[BobbyB]

28 minutes ago, Duggerz said:

The breather is at the back right of the cam cover. It's the pipe that joins the intake duct. Ian

Hi Ian, am I right in thinking this is the breather? This is throwing out a mist when the car is running. I'm looking for the PCV valve...is the valve on the end of this hose, screwed into the cam cover?

[Duggerz]

Yes that's the breather, if the is a pcv it will be on the cam cover end as you said. Ian

[frankie406]

As duggerz says yes that the breather/pcv. It' does give out a lot of oil mist and with the oil and soot mixing together because of both that breather and egr. A oil catch can should help. Liqi-moly (if my spelling is right) do an oil seal conditioner for the likes of blow-by.