Thread: TDI Oil Intake - How much is too much?

Went to tighten the Alternator Belt which required removal of the hose to intake manifold. Oil coating in the manifold, slightly abrasive between the fingers. Does this look excessive. It don't remember it being this dirty when I had these bits off 10,000km ago.

This a disco 200tdi with low slung turbo btw.



Turbo has a sweat on around the output hose and can clearly see oil in the input / air filter side of the turbo


Looks a bit **** but there is no play to be felt in the turbine shaft


So at this point I'm thinking oil from crankcase breather is suspect so I check the output of the air filter and its clean!

No oil in the hose either. On this set up the crankcase breather attaches before the filter. There is evidence of a few drops of oil in the base of the filter housing and the outside of the filter has been 'misted' BUT as you can see there is no evidence of oil on the clean side of the filter or the hose leading off to the turbo.

So could it be a leaking bearing seal making the mess at front of turbo? I was tempted to ignore it but the deposits feel abrasive, perhaps fine bits of rubber from old hoses?

Is it worth cleaning it all up and disconnecting the crankcase breather for a trial or does this look like classic oil seal failure?

Yeah I know my breather gives out a bit, it's an old motor but I can't see oil from the crankcase breather getting past the air filter. Can a Turbo oil leak make that kind of mess on the turbo inlet?

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