I have tried asking this on the lexus forum, but not had very helpful replies, so can we just pretend I'm asking about a zed not a Soarer. I do have a zed though (honest), and I am a subscribed member, and because I know you lot are more technically savvy, I will trust the responses I get from here.

 

I found an oil leak in the turbo oil outlet on my soarer, and had lost about a litre of oil through the outlet pipe. The engine started buzzing (I think from the turbo) more than usual and boost was lost. I had driven it for about 20 miles or so by this time.

 

Will there have been any oil getting to the turbo? If oil pressure is reduced would that starve the turbo of oil all together?

 

Is the presence of the buzzing an indication that the bearings are knackered? Would it not take a little bit more to *!?* up the turbos?

 

Would the fact that the leak is in the OUTLET suggest that oil IS actually passing through the turbos? If there is a funny noise, is that bad bad bad?

 

You can tell by my questions I am pretty desperate here. Is it possible that when the hose is fixed the buzzing will go and the turbos will work correctly, or is the fact that it's making that noise proof that it's had it?

 

Will a lack of oil in the turbos even for a few seconds mean bye bye turbos, or can they survive a little wear? I was driving pretty slowly, and only pushed the turbos into working a couple of times. Will that have any effect? Or am I just clutching at straws. Do the turbos spin all the time, or only spin up when the revs go high enough?

 

I would really really appreciate any advice on this at all. I know it's kind of 'off-topic' but I have to wait a week for the part to arrive and not knowing the damage that has been caused is doing my head in. I really do trust the tech-heads on here. Please reply!!

Its a bad sign all boost going - suggests the turbo was about to seize. Turbos depend on the film of oil on the shaft to "float" so if it goes even for a second it can spin dry. Ball bearing turbos might fare better. Even more important is your main and big end bearings - did you loose all oil pressure?

 

Sound like you have no choice but to get the leak fixed and run it again with normal oil pressure. Is the Soarer a Vee engine like the zed? If so its the getting the turbos off the engine that is the big cost. A straight 6 usually has a turbo(s) that come off dead easy. Getting them rebuilt with new bearings usually is not that hard since the amount of turbo diesels on the road means a big increase in the number of companies who can rebuild turbos.

And engine with no oil at idle will last about 10-15 seconds before seizing up. Turbos get a lot hotter and can spin upto 100,000rpm a minute. Any starvation of oil is not good.

 

Firstly do not drive your car anywhere until you get it fixed. Hopefully you may have caught it in time and done little damage, but as Willie said, losing turbo pressure either means a major turbo leak or the turbos are starting to stuggle.

 

Im not to up on how the oil flow works but if oil is pouring out of the outlet it may mean that the oil doesnt get chance to build up and fill the whole area of the turbo.

 

How much is a turbo replacement on Soara errr, NA Z I mean ;)

 

 

I would also suggest you do an oil change ASAP and then dont drive it. If the turbos have worn because of the oil starvation, there may be small metal fragments in the oil which could cause very expensive problems later on.

 

Stuart

Straight six. The turbos are at the side of the block.

 

I wouldn't say ALL boost went. It just needed more acceleration to bring on the boost (and obviously, when I realised I didn't do it again). All oil pressure did not go. Also when they checked out the leak oil was coming out of the outlet pipe, suggesting to me (wrongly?) that oil was getting to the turbos.

>>Will there have been any oil getting to the turbo? If oil pressure is reduced would that starve the turbo of oil all together?

 

How long did it take after you find out you lost 1 liter of oil ?

Not sure how much oil these engines hold, but I think 1 liter is probably around 20-25% of it's total capacity... and that's a lot.

I can't imagine it didn't have an influence on the overal oilpressure (also to the turbos)

...maybe you didn't notice it or the stock toyota oilpressure gauges are as crap as ours ;)

 

>>Is the presence of the buzzing an indication that the bearings are knackered? Would it not take a little bit more to *!?* up the turbos?

 

Can be anything really, but usually knackered bearings have more like a rattling sound.

I presume you topped off the oil level again ?

Is it still buzzing ?

Can you locate where the buzzing sound is coming from ?

 

>>Would the fact that the leak is in the OUTLET suggest that oil IS actually passing through the turbos? If there is a funny noise, is that bad bad bad?

 

Yes, but oil pressure is more important to the engine/turbos.

Losing lots of oil is never good.

 

Does the car still have trouble building boost ?

 

-Eric