How much oil in turbo intake hose & filter housing is normal?

Tbaumer

Technical Excellence Contributor
Noticed a lack of power the last couple times driving (particularly uphill) & no turbo sound. I was prepared to remove the turbo, thinking that was the culprit. Checked the blades - no wiggle, free spinning, no nicks... seemed okay, with a bit of oil inside. Found the accelerator cable had become loose (probably when I recently removed the throttle/pedal mount, but the cable adjustment doesn't snap in secure & will likely loosen again), so I ordered a new cable assembly. Pics show the oil in the turbo, hose & filter housing - Is this normal?
Also, pics of the loose accelerator cable before & after adjustment. It ran like a champ & I could hear the turbo whine again when powering uphills.

IMG_3061 2.JPGIMG_3063.JPGIMG_3065.JPGIMG_3066.JPGIMG_3067.JPGIMG_3062.JPGIMG_3069.JPG
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
It's normal, and why I run my hose to the atmosphere from the cyclone breather. It dumps all that oil vapor into the inake path and causes this mess.
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
that being said...on the new engine im building ill be routing the cyclone breather to a catch can and then to the intake path. Blowing this crap all over the bottom of a newly built engine will also annoy me lol
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
@Tbaumer I just noticed something in your pics. the reason your accel cable popped loose is because its the original 2.5TD or earlier cable. They had a thinner cable holder if that makes sense. you need to get a big pair of clipper or a dremel and remove the thick washer in front of the knurled plastic adjuster. This will allow the plastic adjuster to fully seat in the cable holder and provide the proper tension for adjustment.

I run a RHD 2.5 NA cable on my 200tdi because its shorter for this reason and had to remove this washer. The 200tdi cable has a massive service loop in it that i didnt like.
 

Tbaumer

Technical Excellence Contributor
Thanks for all the info. I need to educate myself on what the cyclone breather actually does. For some reason I thought the oil was somehow getting out of the turbo, but that didn't make sense since the hose is on the intake side.

@Tbaumer the reason your accel cable popped loose is because its the original 2.5TD or earlier cable.

I ordered a 200tdi accelerator cable. I'll look at removing the washer until the new one gets here & I have time to change it.
 

Napalm00

Technical Excellence Contributor
The breather is just a oil vapor seperator. It's supposed to take the oil saturated air , remove the oil via a mesh screen and send that oil down the verticle hose to the oil pan. The "clean" air is the routed to the intake path.

As you can see it does not work well.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
fwiw have seen tdi installs that have limited travel on the throttle lever on the pump, makes them dogs to drive.
Thanks for all the info. I need to educate myself on what the cyclone breather actually does. For some reason I thought the oil was somehow getting out of the turbo, but that didn't make sense since the hose is on the intake side.



I ordered a 200tdi accelerator cable. I'll look at removing the washer until the new one gets here & I have time to change it.
It's meant to separate oil vapor from crankcase fumes and return the oil to the sump. Some work better than others, not the greatest design.
 

rocky

NAS-ROW Addict
Wife's last Turbo Volvo filled up its intake system so completely with oil (she does short trips only) that several intake parts couldn't be cleaned and had to be replaced.
 

MountainD

Technical Excellence Contributor
do some research on the Mann Provent 200. It may be what your after. Allisport also makes one— totally different design and method, but sits in stock location and sold everywhere. Mixed reviews on it but has good attributes.
 
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RBBailey

NAS-ROW Addict
Callsign: KF7KFZ
It's normal, and why I run my hose to the atmosphere from the cyclone breather. It dumps all that oil vapor into the inake path and causes this mess.

That reminds me... I had looked into some of these earlier, and I can't remember why I just didn't go through with it. Especially since I have so few long trips compared to short.
 
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