Update: 2.2Dti inlet manifold

Well, further investigation followed the thought "where is the oil
coming from? there shouldn't be any oil in there".
There is oil inside the turbo piping. Eeek! turbo bearings/seals?
When I removed the air inlet pipe to the turbo these was oil in there.
The breather pipe from the cam cover is connected to the air inlet pipe
just in front of the turbo. The amount of oil around that pipe suggests
that it's coming out of the breather. Is that why these engines have a
reputation for using more oil then expected?
In other words is the turbo sucking oil out of the engine at times when
it's delivering a high boost?

I removed the air mass sensor to check for contamination, oil dirt etc.
The design is completely different to the pictures of the cossy one
(thanks UnoWhoo). There is no obvious wire in the air flow that could be
cleaned up. There's a diode stuck out in the air flow, thats probably
being used to check the inlet air temperature.

Changing the inlet manifold gasket doesn't look to bad. Initial
investigations suggest that only the upper gasket is leaking.

Dave

 

Hmmm..... I've had first hand experience of a turbo sucking oil from the
engine...
resulted in total destruction.

The car started throwing out a LOT of whiteish smoke, the revs went sky
high, I pull over,
turn off the ignition, pull out the key get out thinking it's gonna catch
fire and it's still
revving to extreme !! The key is in my HAND ! It's still running....

The more I talk to people about what happened, the MORE I hear about people
they
know who have had the same experiences on other Vauxhalls, Astras and
Vectras...
exactly the same thing happening, ie...oil seal gone in the turbocharger and
then it starts
to suck oil from the engine and burn it throwing the revs off the scale
(even with the key out!)
until it destroys the engine.

I've read of a mechanical shut off on marine diesel engines that totally cut
off the air to
starve the turbo, shame nothing like this has been developed for cars yet!
This happens across
all the manufacturers I believe.

Keep an eye on it !

 

You always get oil in the turbo intake pipes - if there wasn't I would be
amazed.

 

Yes you are right, I expect to find some.
The way the breather is set up there will be.
No bearing or seal is totally oil tight so some will leak out.
It's just a matter of how much. There is *NO* white smoke. The oil
consumption is not excessive (yet).
Dave

 

<snip>
Yes I am aware that this can and does happen.
There was an excellent example on Scrapheap Challenge during the last
series. One team (Barley Boys?) had a whoops with a truck engine. A most
spectacular blow up.
All I can do is keep an eye on it and hope that I can stall the engine
out if it does happen.
Dave

 

Yeah, saw that....

I didn't know what was happening at the time, I got told I could have tried
to stall it but i was in the outside lane of a motorway at the time so I was
just wanting to get off the road with the car really, safely rather than try
and stall it not knowing what was gonna happen.

I find it absolutely bizzare that with all the sensors and the ecu on these
cars these days, nothing could prevent it.. The ecu never even showed any
errors, it was working fine only the engine was.... well, "dead".

Keep something handy to block the air intake!

 

Bit tricky to block that quickly enough, it disaperas under the offside
headlamp. I think you would need 2 people, one desperately trying to
stall it the other desperately ripping off the air filter in order to
jam a towel in the air intake to the turbo.
Don't fancy my chances with either method.
I think one has to be aware that it could happen and awake enough when
it does to stall the engine quickly.
Dave

PS Got my Cx500 out of the garage, started first time (after draining
the carburettor bowls). Needs an MOT, tax disc and insurance.
At least I'll have a "spare" if the car goes bang!

 

Hi Dave and all
Sorry the MAF sensor cleaning didn't work out, but thanks for the report.
If anybody feels "handy" you could always make an adapter for a fire
extinguisher type of system. Used to use it into the 2x 45DCOE Webbers on a
Mk1 Esc Cosworth BDA when rallying - pipe to the engine compartment / carbs
and one to the fuel tank in the boot and a BIG button on the dash and one
outside too. On big industrial engines, after fuel pump and governor
rebuilds we used to have a CO2 extinguisher on standby by the air intake -
"man with one in hand". ;<))
Neither quite the mods for a family saloon, but you'd have thought that the
manufacturers would have had a safety system of some sort?
Regards to all
U W.