Power Steering Lubing the Turbo? - BMW Forum

iMagnusX · 05-15-2006, 09:32 PM

Aright so a friend of mine was installing a turbo kit and he needed to tap an oil line in order to lubricate the turbo. He tapped a power steering line. He then drove the car for about a mile, noticed there was no power steering, didn't get on boost, and here we are. Does the turbo cooling system run into the engine oil system too? Will a simple drain of the motor and a swap of the lines fix the problem? Please assess the situation.

gotKRAUT · 05-15-2006, 09:39 PM

umm, why was he running it off the power steering?, he should have been running off the engine oil not power steering...wow...i have heard of a lot of wacky things but this takes the cake...

saltshaker185 · 05-15-2006, 09:45 PM

LMAO hahaha sorry dude motor oil and power steering fluid are 2 different things... tap an oil line, i dont really know where the best place is to do that but im sure someone on here would know like triggerhappi maybe... but yeah fix that power steering pump... and let that poor thing let it do its own thing!

gotKRAUT · 05-15-2006, 10:13 PM

the ideal place is the oil cooler line and the return should run to the engine oil pan, that is the way most turbo cars are setup, at least the ones i played with...just about anywhere coming off the block just but a Y fitting on it and conect in for the pressure side and a put a bung near the top of the oil pan and have that as the return, makes the most sense to me...not powersteering...jesus lol

now, where is the oil return currently running? if you say into the engine, a full system flush is in order, and fix the lines now!!!!!!!!!!

boostinsixtwintturbo · 05-15-2006, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iMagnusX

Aright so a friend of mine was installing a turbo kit and he needed to tap an oil line in order to lubricate the turbo. He tapped a power steering line. He then drove the car for about a mile, noticed there was no power steering, didn't get on boost, and here we are. Does the turbo cooling system run into the engine oil system too? Will a simple drain of the motor and a swap of the lines fix the problem? Please assess the situation.

WOW! Your friend is lucky no further damage was done to the car. Flush the engine, and the turbo.

This is just as bad as one person came up to me and said if his intercooler has to be flushed with water every couple thousand miles to clean it.

///M Power · 05-15-2006, 11:21 PM

I've heard worse. About 2 years ago someone linked me to a civic forum where a guy basically said

"Ok well I got a new Zex wet nitrous kit. And I know how to install the kit and everythign but I just wanted some input. Where in the gas lien do you think I hsould inject the introus?"

At first i thought he just mixed up directions but later posts proved he actually said he wanted to inject the nitrous intot he gas tank.

nukeduster · 05-15-2006, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boostinsixtwintturbo

WOW! Your friend is lucky no further damage was done to the car. Flush the engine, and the turbo.

This is just as bad as one person came up to me and said if his intercooler has to be flushed with water every couple thousand miles to clean it.

Actually, intercoolers on turbo systems that dont have good oil catch cans (and even then) WILL accumulate junk inside them, requiring at least some sort of internal cleaning.

iMagnusX · 05-16-2006, 12:21 AM

Huh, well, I'll tell him. Thanks guys. I am actually not a BMW owner but rather've got a Nissan Sentra (aahh! Well, uh, there's some interesting turbo options with the SR20, not like I'm doing them though). I see that ///M Power is from St. Louis and I'd like to give a local what's up. I'm thinking about doing the BMWCCA track day at GIR if I can convince my mom.
Well, not to hijack my own thread or anything...

I'll try to keep it updated.

///M Power · 05-16-2006, 02:19 AM

StL is pretty cool. What part do you live in? Im in the loop right now and go to SLU. But in 2 months ill be livign next to SLU

Let us know how your friend does. By the way does this friend live in StL? Turbo BMW? Id liek to see his car sometime. Also let him know about a BMW meet on July 22nd thats gonna be pretty big. Link in my signature.

triggrhaapi · 05-16-2006, 02:32 PM

Wow. I know I'm the last in a long line of people to reply "wow" to this but that's the only reaction I can muster. See it's not so much that he would think to connect the turbo oil lines to the power steering pump, it's more or less that he thought to do that and then had the technical ablility to actually do it. If you had asked me 10 minutes ago if I thought that was possible, I would have laughed and said "no way, that guy is clearly far too stupid to turn a wrench in the right direction, let alone attatch lines to things."

I would have been wrong. GotKraut is 100% right. Oil lines from the outlet of the oil cooler are ideal for the turbo oil inlet (you know since it's the absolute coldest the oil's going to get and that's good for the turbo's cooling) and then the return line should dump to the oil pan, away from the oil pump pickup if at all possible. Don't forget that some turbos also have water lines for cooling in addition to the oil lines and those need to be connected or your turbo will cook.

iMagnusX · 05-16-2006, 04:28 PM

My friend had some help with some more technically proficient (but I guess pretty dumb) guys, so he may or may not be fully at blame. Yeah, he lives in the StL. I'm in Olivette and he lives a bit further out in Creve Couer.

Thanks for telling me the right setup.

boostinsixtwintturbo · 05-16-2006, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nukeduster

Actually, intercoolers on turbo systems that dont have good oil catch cans (and even then) WILL accumulate junk inside them, requiring at least some sort of internal cleaning.

Yes i know, but i dont think you HAVE to take the intercooler apart, flush it and then do it again 3000 miles later Plus this is comming from the same guy that wanted to spray 150 shot , on a T-25 turbo on a dsm.

.
IF you have serious blow by then yea clean it. But then you have other problems that are causing it. I know becuase i have a huge front mount and i seldom see any heavy deposits. Maybe a very very light coat of film , but not something alarming where i would have to take it off. Mind you that ive had this car boosting 22psi well over 50,000 miles.
A oil catch can is the way to go, but im fine the way my pcv is working.

I dont think ive seen one person i know go though all that trouble.

saltshaker185 · 05-16-2006, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boostinsixtwintturbo

Yes i know, but i dont think you HAVE to take the intercooler apart, flush it and then do it again 3000 miles later Plus this is comming from the same guy that wanted to spray 150 shot , on a T-25 turbo on a dsm.

.
IF you have serious blow by then yea clean it. But then you have other problems that are causing it. I know becuase i have a huge front mount and i seldom see any heavy deposits. Maybe a very very light coat of film , but not something alarming where i would have to take it off. Mind you that ive had this car boosting 22psi well over 50,000 miles.
A oil catch can is the way to go, but im fine the way my pcv is working.

I dont think ive seen one person i know go though all that trouble.

this isnt your m3 boosting at 22psi is it??? how much power is that thing making?!?!

gotKRAUT · 05-16-2006, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltshaker185

this isnt your m3 boosting at 22psi is it??? how much power is that thing making?!?!

im pretty sure, judging by his user name its a reference to his supra..that and his mod list in his VBgarage

boostinsixtwintturbo · 05-16-2006, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saltshaker185

this isnt your m3 boosting at 22psi is it??? how much power is that thing making?!?!

no its not the bimmer. And i dont wish either.:lol: