Play in turbo?

[damien4uuk]

Ive just taken my turbo off to give it a look over and there seems to be a very slight play on the blades, Also they have quite a thick coating of oil or some crap like that on them. Im going too clean the blades but is the play a prob?

 

[Fast Guy]

I don't know the exact tech spec, but a very small amount of play will be relatively OK, (a new turbo has none in my experience) If you can noticeably rock it side to side then I'd be tempted to start saving up for when it goes.
The oil will be from the factory breather system. Some oil mist will make it from the sump back through into the inlet system, if there is alot of it, it may be worth taking your intercooler off and cleaning it out with a degreaser.
It may be worth doing a compression check to see how your engines' health is looking.
Any smoke will be an indication of poor engine/turbo health.

 

[damien4uuk]

cheers fastguy. I do have one other question, The oil feed that goes to the turbo, Does it have its own oil tank or does it share the engines? May sound like a dumb question but im fairly new to this.

 

[Fast Guy]

Nope, it uses the engine oil and just drains it back into the sump I think. Hence the need to keep up with your oil changes.

 

[leeboy]

most turbos have play up and down, if it has play in and out then you have probs

 

[gtir350]

Yer, New Turbo's i've looked at had up and down play.