Club 80-90 Forums

hi there all.have had new cylinder head genuine vw item and reconditioned my turbo at same time as it seemed full of oil
the recon. people said turbo was ok just needed new bearings and seals. as done about 1500 miles since have ad the head retightened.
then exhaust pipe fractured so I replaced it with new gaskets.run it a few miles and noticed black sooty mark from the gasket turbo end.
as I investigated it(touched the sooty deposit to see what it was ) I found it was oily . my question is . even though I had not tightened
the gasket enough should you get a bit of oil coming through as lubrication or have not fitted the seels properly. any help or advice
appriciated. thanks KOTSY. 1.6 td trooper camper.

There should be no oil coming through on the 'hot', or exhaust, side of the turbo. Oil on the intake side is more common and, within reason, can be acceptable. The JX exhaust manifolds are known for their tendency to warp - there's a lot of heat going on with a small displacement turbocharged motor.

thanks for that not sure why warped exhaust should let oil in to turbo though.

No, strictly speaking it wouldn't. But a manifold that's old and out of condition enough to have warped would point to a more general likelihood of problems further up and down the chain. Perished\holed turbo hoses, badly fitting or loose clips, turbo return and\or feed restricted by cooked oil\carbon, worn turbo seal .... etc and etc. These are great engines, they just seem to chug on forever without complaint - in fact, your post has put me in mind to do some kind of overhaul on mine, as it only ever really gets oil and filters

...hang on, though. I've just re-read your original post - and I do wonder what 'gasket' you mean. There shouldn't be a gasket at all between the turbo and the manifold. Do you mean between the turbo and downpipe?