I have just finished the install of the Banks Sidewinder turbo system on my 83 Chevy k20 4X4 and upon startup it blew white/blueish smoke. When I took it for a test drive it got worse and looked like a crop duster. I then took the air cleaner top off and no oil coming in through the PCV hose (or whatever they call it). Upon taking the pluming off from the turbo to the air horn I have oil dripping all over the pace, to include down inside the turbo housing. I also have oil dripping out the muffler connection under the truck and the dipstick is now below the add mark. The engine never used any oil to mention before this install, can anyone tell me what is going on here as all the parts to include the turbo were new or rebuilt to new on the Banks System.

Thx, Brad

There should be absolutely no oil in the air intake or exhaust sides of your turbo- if there is, the turbo's shaft seal is leaking; return it.

Thanks, kind of what I figured as I didn't think it could pull that much oil from the engine and dump it into the exhaust like it is doing. In fact, its so much I have it running out the exhaust pipe in the rear by the muffler. Thx again..

Thanks, kind of what I figured as I didn't think it could pull that much oil from the engine and dump it into the exhaust like it is doing. In fact, its so much I have it running out the exhaust pipe in the rear by the muffler. Thx again..
lol,ouch, 1st off, RE-check everything like your oil return line fist and foremost to be SURE it's not kinked/piched, if it is, the oil has to go somewhere, and that kinda sounds like what might be going on, if everything there checks out, then it could very well be a bad turbo, also it's been known that if you run synthetic oil on a fresh turbo, they tend to leak, but generaly not quite as bad as you described. please post up what you find. good luck ~jeff

just get a new cartridge will be much cheaper but yea check your return

OK folks, just took the drain tube off and no problem there as it clear and air blows through real easy and same for flange on the fuel pump housing on the block. Took the turbo off and found exhaust side of the turbo extremely wet with oil, but intake fins look clean and not wet from outside view. I guess I must have seals leaking some place and then being sucked back through the system and into the intake and into the exhaust going out to the mufflers. Any ideas now or do I just need to replace the cartridge as goodtunes1978 suggested above? Also need help on finding a good spot to either have this one rebuilt (by the way this was a new cartridge assembly) or buy one, but not going through Banks on this one again as they don't have very good rep with me anymore.

You can send your turbo to

Turbochargers.com
5410 Burr Oak Drive
Houston, Texas 77092
(800)749-7111

They offer a free repair quote, and have recieved excellent reviews over on DSMTalk.com (a website devoted to turbocharged sport-compact cars)

Standard rebuild price is about $250 plus shipping.

Give them a call and have them quote you a rebuild for your application.

OK, had the turbo rebuilt and reinstalled. :D Checked oil return line and not plugged, working great. Upon startup and idle seemed fixed no excess smoke. :D When out for drive as RPMs built up, smoke from exhaust got worse the faster I went. From what I can now figure, engine must be shot as I must be building up excessive blow-by in the lower end that prevents the oil from draining back into the crankcase as it should and its going past the seals and into the intake and through the motor into the exhaust.

Any ideas or should I tear the motor out and statrt the rebuild precess...:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Check for blow by. Remove the oil filler cap after it's been running for a bit and look for mist coming out.

Bad fuel pump or very old injectors could also be causing excess smoke.

OK, had the turbo rebuilt and reinstalled. :D Checked oil return line and not plugged, working great. Upon startup and idle seemed fixed no excess smoke. :D When out for drive as RPMs built up, smoke from exhaust got worse the faster I went. From what I can now figure, engine must be shot as I must be building up excessive blow-by in the lower end that prevents the oil from draining back into the crankcase as it should and its going past the seals and into the intake and through the motor into the exhaust.

Any ideas or should I tear the motor out and statrt the rebuild precess...:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:


I'm not too sure how long you have run it after the repair, but it takes a long time to burn out oil that may be in the exhaust system. As mentioned above, you can pull the oil cap to check for blow-by. You might even try running it without the oil cap in place. If you have a CDR valve in place, make sure it is functioning.

Smitty

I did start the motor with the oil cap off and it does have some smoke coming out the cap on idle. I guess its time to rebuild or replace as rings must be shot. Just can't understand why now it wants to use oil after the turbo installation and and it didn't use any prior to, but I guess all that compression getting paste the rings could be the cause. Now the BIG question is can I put a 6.5 reman in place of this 6.2 with the Banks Stinger unit in the truck as I thought I have read somewhere that it won't work due to the angle of the injectors on the 6.5 heads?

Maybe it time to call Crewcab and just get the engine mounts and such to put the 5.9 Cummins under the hood (If I only had the time)???

Is there someone out there that make the brackets for a 5.9 cummins to install it in these older chevys

Is there someone out there that make the brackets for a 5.9 cummins to install it in these older chevys

Sure is, check with CrewCab59 who pops in and out on this site as I have heard he sells all that you will need.

Blow by probably isn't your cause of oil consumption. Make sure CDR valve is working properly, better yet, clean it in clean solvent and air dry. Make sure no oil is coming out the exhaust. Oil return can't have any restrictions or kinks, or oil will be forced out the exhuast side of turbo. If engine didn't use oil before turbo, adding the turbo won't make it use oil right off the bat. Smoke out the exhaust could mean that the engine is starving for fuel and burning the oil in the top part of the cylinders. Defective injection pumps and lack of fueling can cause this. The only smoke you want to see is BLACK and not too much.

A restricted intake can cause oil to be sucked through the turbo seals. If the engine can't get enough air through the intake it will try to suck it from somewhere else. When this happens the oil will track on the back side of the compresser wheel. This will cause the turbo to continue consuming oil even after the intake restriction is repaired. To stop it from consuming oil the compresser wheel needs to be removed and cleaned on the back side of it.

Blow by probably isn't your cause of oil consumption. Make sure CDR valve is working properly, better yet, clean it in clean solvent and air dry. Make sure no oil is coming out the exhaust. Oil return can't have any restrictions or kinks, or oil will be forced out the exhuast side of turbo. If engine didn't use oil before turbo, adding the turbo won't make it use oil right off the bat. Smoke out the exhaust could mean that the engine is starving for fuel and burning the oil in the top part of the cylinders. Defective injection pumps and lack of fueling can cause this. The only smoke you want to see is BLACK and not too much.

OK, I did clean the CDR valve out with cleaner and blew it dry with air. I also took the cap off the oil tube and it does seem I have a little smoke coming out which I relate to blow-by. The oil drain tube and assembly is clear and does not contain any kinks and I can blow through it no problem. It still seems to have oil coming out the exhuast even after this last turbo rebuild, but haven't run it longer than 5 minutes since I installed this new turbo so I'm hoping this was what was left in the sytem before the new turbo rebuild. Now the smoke is beyond the normal startup smoke norammmly found on an older sdiesel, it kind of like a criop duster and the faster the rpm, the heavier the cloud (grey not black) of smoke. Now the only adjustment I did to the fuel system during this install was to turn the pump up almost 1/4 of a turn as per the instructions in the Banks manual.

A restricted intake can cause oil to be sucked through the turbo seals. If the engine can't get enough air through the intake it will try to suck it from somewhere else. When this happens the oil will track on the back side of the compresser wheel. This will cause the turbo to continue consuming oil even after the intake restriction is repaired. To stop it from consuming oil the compresser wheel needs to be removed and cleaned on the back side of it.

When you say restricted intake, what would this mean as I have the "J" code intake on this engine that should be more than adequate enough to handle all this turbo flow, shouldn't it especially since I haven't done anything but itdle it since the new turbo install???

Grey smoke does indicate burning oil, but it could be fuel related. If the engine is starving for fuel, it will try and burn the oil on the cylinder walls, this is how RUN AWAYS occur in a diesel. Change your fuel filter and check your fuel pump output.

Grey smoke does indicate burning oil, but it could be fuel related. If the engine is starving for fuel, it will try and burn the oil on the cylinder walls, this is how RUN AWAYS occur in a diesel. Change your fuel filter and check your fuel pump output.

Roger, will try that if I can find out where all the oil is going first. Started it up last night and let it warm up and then tested the blow-by by using a clear tube on the dipstick shaft and a bucket of water which at idle went about 3/4" up the hose. As I accelerated the water was pulled up the hose further which idicates I do have vacumn in the pan which rules out exessive blow-by. So with that said I must have seals out in the turbo (can't belive this as I cartridge was new first time around and now this turbo has just been returned from shop after having been rebuilt) and now I am now stumped as it is actually blowing oil out the exhust.

When I say restricted intake I mean the air filter or some part of the intake tubes pre-turbo causing a very excessive amount of vacuum on turbo inlet. I would have a hard time imagining this happening at idle.

When I say restricted intake I mean the air filter or some part of the intake tubes pre-turbo causing a very excessive amount of vacuum on turbo inlet. I would have a hard time imagining this happening at idle.

Roger, in the 15 minutes I had it idling and then did a little up and down with the throttle and the darn thing sucked two quarts of oil out of the pan. I know if has to be something with the Turbo, just can't understand why the oil isn't draining out down through the drain tube as it should be and back into the motor instead of going through the seals and out the exhaust?:mad::mad::mad::mad: