Car has been pretty good to me, but last Friday it decided to start smoking tons of white smoke that I only noticed after filling up.

So white smoke, antifreeze right? Apparently not, started taking apart things gearing up to do the head gasket. Well upon taking off the turbo (HX35), I noticed a film on the steel gasket, tasted it, not antifreeze it's oil. Well dug deeper and all my exhaust v-bands (turbo to o2 and o2 to dp) were oiled, o2 housing was coated in oil, exhaust turbine was oiled as well. Last detail is - when I got the turbo off, I pulled the exhaust housing and the cup behind the exhaust turbine started oozing oil.

The simple question: is there any way that this is NOT the oil seal on the turbo?

The only thing I cannot explain is, if it is the oil seal, how did oil get up the throat of the inlet and get oil into the gasket between the exhaust manifold and the turbo?

Could be a bad Exhaust Valve Seal.

Pull the Exhaust Manifold and have a look.

Ghislain

Could also be the center exhaust manifold stud, it goes into an oil passage and can leak and seep into the manifold between the layers of the gasket. Pull the stud out, put some RTV or teflon on the threads and re-install.

Does it only apply to 6 bolt head? Or is also on 7 bolt?

Both

How can you ensure the oil valley or whatever lines up to ensure flow and no leak

the same question for when applying Teflon tape or rtv?

It's one of the drain passages for the head, so the only pressure is the crank case pressure and it's fairly large.

With both teflon an RTV, less is more.

I'll be pulling the manifold Monday. I looked in the runners and didn't any film.

The center stud I put a sealant on when i did the studs. But I'll see when I take the manifold off.

When I took the exhaust housing off, there was about a 1/8 cup of oil behind the heatshield on the turbine shaft.

Dropped the manifold. Nothing in the exhaust ports.

So somehow a blown turbo can result in oil between the exhaust inlet and the manifold.

Now to find a new HX35 or a rebuild kit.

Anybody know of a reputable place to buy a rebuild kit?

While we are on the subject.
I may need to do the same shortly.
So do I just pull the hx35 apart, replace all the pieces provided in the kit and then go get it balanced?

Only Holsets with a 6-point compressor nut require balancing. If your Holset has a 12-point compressor nut, no rebalancing needed!

Thanks Kevin that was the answer I was looking for!

Sorry to highjack, but why is that?

The newer stuff each component is individually balanced, while the older stuff was balanced as a complete unit.

To add onto Kevin's info, the 6point nut is indication that the assembly was balanced as a whole. The 12point nut is indication that each item was balanced individually.

Salomon, do you know of anybody that has installed his kit and has logged some miles? Only reason I ask is because it is not genuine kit.

It looks like genuine kits are $150 in Canada and $100 from the US. Anybody have a good source of genuine kits? Ziggy?

Trader Greg is very highly recommended on Link, Tuners and I believe his stuff has been mentioned here as well. I have not personally used his stuff (but will be soon, probably) and can't recall if anyone I know personally has but after hearing many positive reviews/suggestions of his stuff I figured it's a safe bet. He seems to be the go-to for rebuild parts for the MHI and Holset turbos DSM'ers like to use.

For the price it's not that bad to just go with genuine if you're genuinely (hah) worried.

I just contacted Trader Greg and am bringing in his kits for Holset. We have wanted a decent Holset kit for a while, so based on this recommendation I ordered a few. They are going to be $59.89 plus shipping (if needed) and tax, of course.

A note on the Trader Greg kits. For those buying MHI kits (this does not apply to Holset stuff AFAIK), he has a standard, non-upgraded thrust bearing included with the kit. This is fine for a 14B but for high-boost 16Gs or 20Gs you'll want to upgrade the thrust bearing to the dual-hole version for better oiling.

Eg: http://shopping.kinugawaturbo.com/turbothrustbearingkitperformancetd050618g20g.aspx