3116 Turbo Oil Leak - Help?

[Hal]

I've got an oil leak on the turbo of my 3116 on the starboard side. My maintenance guy says its the bearing seals and that usually this would occur as a result of an emergency shut down where the unit was shut off without allowing it to return to normal tems.

Certainly, this isn't what happened. Any suggestions as to what may have caused this on a 2000hr motor and what to do about it. The mechanic ballparked the rebuild at $2k. Is this accurate and is it the proper choice or should I consider a rebuilt or new unit?

Any suggestions from you guys will certainly be appreciated.

UV, the darn CX didn't work in this case. Should I have tried the aviation? :wink:

[Hal]

BTT, Bruce?

[In Memory of Vicroy]

Hal - call some of the turbo places that advertise in B&H - price seems very high just for a rebuild kit. Some of the B&H places have a trade-out deal for short money.

UV

[Bruce]

Depending on the make and model of turbo and geographic location, 2k may be correct.

I've seen turbo's dump below 2000 hours. Seals could have been installed wrong or a bearing wore and killed the seal. It does happen.

Check to see what a new turbo goes for and compare the price.

[Brewster Minton]

Get a new one. Two grand to rebuild; it cant be that much more for new, and new is new. You dont want it to come apart offshore or tear something up thats worse. Just my two cents.

[Bruce]

it cant be that much more for new

Oh yes it can.

[Brewster Minton]

Yes it could be a lot more $. That said, I have rebuilt mine before and they worked, but 100 miles offshore as the wind picked up it would torment me thinking I should have got new ones. This was on my mind when I made my prev post.

[Bruce]

The cartridge that is the shaft, bearings and turbine blades and seals is replaceable thus making the turbo as new.


The housing itself very rarely cracks and the weak point is the exhaust housing and salt water decay leading to excess rust which when cleaned will changed blade clearance. This can affect performance, but in most all cases you'll never know.

Even if the turbo locks up, you'll still be able to run to about 1400 to 1600 rpms before the black smoke hits heavy. It won't leave you stranded.

Just replaced a turbo on a 4500 hour Yanmar 420hp that blew the bearings bad enough to ruin the cartridge housing. It had a crack in the exhaust housing that would leak a pint of coolant for every 8 hours of run time out the exahust for the last 800 hours that the owner didn't want to fix.

New was $2300.00 making repairing the old one not cost effective.