After a longer drive I noticed my Ford 2.3 (the old Lima, not the new Ecoboost) developed a boost leak. I could see some oil coming from it, and eventually started to misfire, as I imagine the plugs started to foul. I pulled the piping on the compressor side and found oil. I haven't seen any noticeable amounts on the turbine side.

Now I'm more than familiar with all the possible failures due to design/installation and installed everything to OEM specs. It's a got a big 5/8" drain line to the pan above the oil level, downward slope, no kinks or bends. I forget if the supply line is -3 or -4, but it matches the OEM one. No high volume pump or anything, all stock. Housing is vertical. Intake pipe is short and bigger than the inducer. Air filter is overkill for my power levels and like new- 3" outlet to fit the VAM. Very short 3" downpipe with a glasspack so very little backpressure. Engine is always idled for a minute or two before shutdown.

Now for things it could be-
Crankcase pressure. It's got the stock 2.3 NA PCV setup on it. Inlet just before the throttle body, into the valve cover, out the bottom of the block, into a separator, PCV valve, and into the intake manifold. Not a good design for boost- and I'm considering deleting the PCV and running a catch can to see if that helps. I'm not sure if that is remedied it will stop, or if the seal will still need to be replaced.

Turbo shaft seal. It's a used turbo I bought off ebay- no idea the mileage (or hours) on it. It seemed to run fine for the last year or so. There's no play to speak of. But I did notice that in the compressor discharge I can see not only oil but some carbon specks. Could that be indicative of a seal failure? The problem with this one is that finding seals or even a rebuild kit for a Holset HE200 series appears to be incredibly difficult. Any suggestions as to sources would be welcome.

Any other ideas?

 

I vote turbo shaft seal. Get it rebuilt and you will sleep easier knowing that it's done and ready for a long life.

ks

 

What changed then? Have you looked in the cold side piping in the last year or so and found oil or just now?

I just changed the turbo on my 2.3 and the original T3 wasn't putting oil into the intake tract. I, like you, put an unknown history ebay used diesel turbo on it and again, no oil. The stock PCV setup will oil-down the intake side simply by how it works, but it takes a long time and only really leaves a greasy film.