Hey everyone!

So, my Focus is blowing a bit of smoke. Not too much, but a little. MPG has dropped considerably too.

There's a sort of "wooo, dooo, doooooo, dooooooo, dooooooo" sound coming from the turbo area when I release the accelerator.

The turbo gets hot, very hot, untouchably hot after even a 5 minute drive.

The turbo oil intake hose is live and well. I took it off before and on starting the car, oil was shooting out on the bolt.

The return though, the turbo sort of just leaks oil out of the return. Nowhere near the same volume as the inlet hose.

What's up with it? 

Antony

Lubrication of the turbocharger relies on oil pressure.

The oil is pressed through small oil channels directly into the bearings.

The small oil channels only allow a limited amount of oil to flow through the turbocharger. Only a small amount of oil at the oil outlet of the turbocharger is quite normal but the only way to verify is by measuring the actual amount of oil and comparing with the manufacturer specifications (if available).

On a 16-Valve 1.6 TDCI the amount of oil from the oil outlet of the turbocharger must be measured on a cold engine at idle. The amount of oil must be at least 300 ml in 1 minute. Less oil coming from the return line usually indicates that the engine suffers from severe internal wear. This is unfortunately a well known problem of the 16-Valve 1.6 TDCI.

 

A turbocharger being hot even after a short trip is completely normal. The turbocharger is powered by hot exhaust gases. Exhaust gas temperature can easily be 600 degrees Celsius on a diesel engine and 1000 degrees Celsius on a petrol engine. The turbocharger can be well over 100 degrees Celsius after a short period and red hot after a longer period of sporty driving.

 

Thanks for this very good reply!

So, I tested the car again today. I took it to my friend's garage, took hoses off, etc, started the engine, and a lot of oil came out of the return this time. I don't know why it didn't last time, but whatever the problem was seems to have gone now.

What I also found out is that injector 2 had become loose and was blowing badly! I've taken it out, de-coked it, cleaned the cylinder thing, and bolted it down tight! Maybe this is why the car was smokey?! 😕

Antony