Oil drain problems

[Josh9386]

Hey everyone, been working all winter on turbocharging my brz. Fabricated all the piping from the intake to the rear bumper. It's a top mount setup with a journal bearing turbo. Everything works great except for the oil drain from the turbo the oil pan. Oil is backing up the line and leaking through the seals. I'm shooting big blue puffs of smoke out the back. I disconnected the drain hose from the turbo to check for oil in the line, pointed it down below the oil pan and oil started pouring out. It seems like the oil level is above the drain bung. When comparing my drain location one in a jdl kit they seem nearly identical. So I'm a little confused as to why it's happening. I'm hoping some of you guys would have some insight on this.

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

[Kiske]

Lets see pictures of your line and routing. Even the slightest kink will cause this issue. Also where are you feeding oil to the turbo from? The oil pressure sensor location?

[Josh9386]

I tried to route it as best as I could. I emptied oil out of the pan through the drain hose until it was barely dripping. Puts me at the bottom hole on the dipstick. Did a cold start and let it idle for 5 minutes then shut her off. No leaking so far. Before it would leak from the turbo for a good 10 minutes after shutting her down.

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

[Hags86]

The Coyoda kit is a bottom mount turbo. It has

- a small sump on the underside of the turbo
- an electric pump the enpties the turbo high on the engine (a fitting tapped into the camshaft cover on the right rear of the engine). Model is a Marco UP3/Oil.

It works a treat. I know as i had a pump disconnect and blew smoke everywhere.

[Josh9386]

Oh wow that one's a fair bit cheaper than the turbowerx one I was looking at. How did you wire it up, I'm assuming it wouldn't pump at full speed the whole time and would need to reference engine rpms somehow?

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

[Hags86]

Originally Posted by Josh9386

Oh wow that one's a fair bit cheaper than the turbowerx one I was looking at. How did you wire it up, I'm assuming it wouldn't pump at full speed the whole time and would need to reference engine rpms somehow?

Funny story. Coyoda normally supply the Marco pump but they couldn't get stock at the time I bought the kit so they supplied the much more expensive Turbowerx one. It failed after 6 months (which i why i feel you pain about blowing smoke everywhere). They replaced it with the Marco and all is good.

Lots of ways to wire it up but it is full speed whenever the ignition is on. Easiest way it to take a +12v line from the alternator hot post via a fuse to a relay. The relay is triggered by an ignition source (there one near the camshaft sensor - I can pull out the wiring diagram if you want to do it this way).

[Josh9386]

Originally Posted by Hags86

Lots of ways to wire it up but it is full speed whenever the ignition is on. Easiest way it to take a +12v line from the alternator hot post via a fuse to a relay. The relay is triggered by an ignition source (there one near the camshaft sensor - I can pull out the wiring diagram if you want to do it this way).

Actually yeah if you had a wiring diagram that would be great! If it runs at full speed all the time then it must have a pretty good duty cycle haha. Also wondering if full speed at idle would shove air into the engine pressurizing it.

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

[Hags86]

Where is the turbo mounted and where would you install the pump? I'll give you a few ideas as to where to get the relay trigger from.

My pump is mounted on a bracket attached to the left had side of the transmission bell housing ( I think there was a dust cover bracket it replaces). Being in Australia my car is RHD so not sure how much room you'll have after steering column clearance etc.

[Hags86]

There is a breather on top of the turbo sump that you can either put a breather/catch can or tap into the intake before the throttle body.

[Grady]

You also could do the mechanical scavenge pump on the back of engine if you are a Manual.
Look at the AVO kit. Also the breather on the tank needs to be the same pressure as the engine case. It will need to be plumed into the engine breathers somewhere.

[Josh9386]

I mounted it right up front. I've never seen other front mount setups in person but it seems like mine sits a bit lower than the others. I wanted to fab a little aluminum box underneath the turbo with an10 fittings for feed and drain. Was thinking of situating the pump underneath the air filter and running the line up to the oil fill cap. I'd get an aluminum cap and weld a bung onto it. Seems like the easiest way to me, but running it to the camshaft cover would be cleaner, it just sounds intimidating having to drill into the engine. Likely have to clean it out after to remove any metal shards?

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

[Hags86]

You remove the camshaft cover (three bolts) to drill and tap a tapered pipe fitting. A bit of thread sealant and it's pretty happy.

You're turbo might even be high enough to allow it to drain using gravity into the camshaft cover. Would be worth a try before buying and wiring the pump.

[Josh9386]

Sooo I think I found the source of my drain problem. Definitely put it too low. Looks like it would be fully submerged. Not sure how much the oil level goes down when the engine is running but clearly not enough for my location. I'll move it higher and make the pipe draining in more of an oval shape to maximize height.

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk

[Josh9386]

*Update*
I moved the drain as high as possible and my oil drain issues are gone now. No more puffs of blue smoke! The car feels a lot better now and the turbo actually wants to spool now. Thanks for your help everyone!

Sent from my SM-A520W using Tapatalk