I live in Louisiana and have an 09 turbo r55. It's almost entirely stock at the moment, but I'm trying to take care of it to be a 200+K miles car. In the next 6 months I'm planning to do some moderate modifications (bolt ons and tune). I have another baby on the way and need to buy a lot of stuff first.

I've learned a LOT about car care/maintenance while having this car and I consider myself a novice mechanic with an itch but a healthy dose of fear. I plan to drive the car to Way for future major maintenance. I consider major to mean jobs needing special cost prohibitive tools or knowledge I don't feel comfortable learning the hard way.

I just had the timing chain assembly replaced under the recall. I let the dealership do a carbon cleaning because they lowered their price enough to be palatable compared to my DIY headache.

I called Way and bought his recommended OCC. (from him of course. The man doesn't charge for his advice, but I think it deserves a purchase)

It's very humid weather here and I suspect that helps keep the carbon down, but I want to push the next carbon cleaning out as far as possible.

Should I take off the bumper, remove the intercooloer, and dump any residual oil crud? I've seen pictures of people getting several ounces of crud out of their intercooler and if that's normal I want to get it out. An OCC won't remove anything that's already b/w the turbo and the engine. Replacing the intercooler is not an option at this time because I can't justify fun money right now.

If no one has any personal advice one way or another, I'll take it off and see what's in it. I would have asked Way, but I forgot and I don't want to bother him unless I'm buying something. If you read this Way, please chime in. Thanks everyone!

 

Cleaning out any oil will be a good thing. A big deal? Not really but if you have the time, go for it. Can't hurt, can only help.

While I'm a big advocate of catch cans on turbocharged cars, it's not at all to do with carbon cleaning. Furthermore, anyone who seriously thinks the catch can fixes or reduces the carbon build up is blowing smoke. It's a band aid on a shotgun wound. If it helps, it's not in a measurable amount.

 

What's the purpose of the OCC than? Besides the cool factor of course. =)

 

to keep contaminants like condensation and oil vapor from coming back through the intake, more importantly to keep it from running through your turbo. Has nothing to do with the carbon build up on your valves.

 

Ideally the intake would have only clean air w/o contamination. I assumed the carbon buildup came from contaminated in the recirculated oil baking on the hot metal of the intake. Since the car is direct injection, no volatile (or non-volatile liquids for that matter) are passed through the intake 'cleaning' the valves. Taking any oil contaminates from the PCV recirculation system should help.

Right? There's a lot of misinformation, and I'm only a novice going by what others have said.

Oil & condensation contaminates passing over the turbo blades isn't advantageous, but I didn't realize it was harmful. It is?

 

The problem does not just come from a liquid such as oil building up. The problem is also caused by built up gasses that a catch can will not prevent at all. The amount of oil you will get in your catch can is quite nimimal.

and yes, anything passing through the turbine other than air is a problem.

 

How does gases and vapors passing through the turbo damage it? Rust? Reduced efficiency? It's a simple machine, but even simple things with high RPMs have to be within a certain spec to work properly.

Educate me! I want to learn! Thanks!

 

It's a tight tolerance set of fins spinning at a high RPM. Start introducing anything denser or more abrasive than air, it's going to wear things more quickly and possibly even cause build up inside there.

You need to figure, it's not just a gas, it's a vapor/gas filled with contaminants and debris from the EGR and PCV systems.

 

So an OCC is good insurance against premature wear of the turbo?

I know that PCV stands for positive crankcase ventilation and allows for release of pressure from the superior engine region without letting harmful gasses out to the environment, but I don't know what EGR stands for.

What's EGR?

 

Exhaust Gas Recirculation.

 

The only way to truly ensure that the PCV system does not re-introduce contaminants, oils, vapors, and gasses back into to engine is to run straight out draft tubes. The only reason cars don't have them any more is emissions regulations.

 

Right. I'm not going to run daft tubes though. If a few people do it, it's negligible, but if a lot of people do it, that's a bit rude to Mother Nature. I just don't need to. Haha. If I was racing a track competitively for a living, I would go for it!

A lot of what I've learned about the modern engine is about law compliance. It's really interesting to me how complex the PCV system is and how it would be very simple if not for emission concerns.

I've heard about people's turbos blowing early. What is the live expectancy on our turbos if properly maintained or mostly maintained?

 

These ones specifically? Not entirely sure what the average expectancy. Back a little time ago we used to kinda give a factory turbo charged car a 100K mile or less expectancy.

 

Only a 100K? I hope mine lasts longer than that! Of course I'd look at it as an opportunity to upgrade!

 

I too hope a modern car/turbo can last longer than 100K miles. Especially considering I'm at 93k+ lol.

 

Got my OCC yesterday from Way and installed it this morning before leaving for work.

The PCV pipe that the kit replaces was DRIPPING oil! I'm definitely going to get the bumper off and clean out the intercooler. I'll get the charge pipes off and wipe them out as well. I'm sure there is crud in there! Yuck!

 

Skip the bumper/intercooler job.
I've just replaced my stock intercooler on my '08 MCS at 50K miles with big-*** aftermarket one, and there was zero oil residue to be found anywhere in the tiny OEM FMIC. Nada.

Never had an OCC, not planning on one.
Enjoy yours.

a

 

On a turbocharged car, I'd honestly say get a catch can on the drivers side PCV if you can simply to keep the water, oil, and contaminants from being sucked back through the turbo. A catch can on a boosted vehicle is a very very very common thing, it has nothing to do with carbon build up.

 

There are multiple threads on NAM about the best way to install the OCC. The issue is that the PCV system uses the driver side port under certain conditions (boost, if I remember correctly), and the passenger side operates under vacuum driving conditions (I could have them backwards). There are products available to block off the passenger side port.

Some believe that the engine will use more oil if this port is blocked off. Others believe that the OCC will be more effective if the port is blocked. I don't want to start any arguments, because some people are very passionate about their experiences.

My mechanic also pointed out that the rear (passenger side) pcv port is routed such that it can trap oil, and this can drip into the intake in motion. I have the rear port on my car blocked. I recommend that you read some of the other threads on this topic.

Have fun,
Mike

 

After looking into this myself, I decided on the draft hoses. No issues other than a little crankcase odor during extended idle.

On a related note, I happened to leave my car idling for 15 minutes or so at night with the lights on. The crankcase vapors were coming out of the draft hoses so heavily that you could see it in the headlights like steam. My car only has 35k on it with no oil consumption and the level was correct. There's no way a catch can would filter out those kinds of vapors unless it is VTA. This is why I ended up staying with the draft hoses.

 

I replaced my FMIC with an aftermarket one and found no oil residue in my old one. Guess it's not a big deal. The charge pipes have a much thinner coat of oil now that I've had the OCC on for a while.

 

It looks like you have the BSH catch can. That's what I have for mine. I also have a BSH Dual Boost Tap to block the vacuum side and to activate my Forge BOV. Hope to get all this and my new AEM CAI installed this month, if the weather ever warms up.

 

I don't have the vacuum side blocked. I'll letting crankcase vapors get to my intake manifold most of the time, but I drive at highway speeds and when I had the intake walnut shell blasted they told me it was rather light on carbon.

My thinking is that if under normal conditions the crankcase vapors would only go to the drivers side under boost (and being SUCKED out that way), then forcing them that way only once enough pressure has built up for it to be the path of least resistance... maybe not a bright idea. Too many people report oil leaks after blocking that go away when they unblock.

I have JCW intake on mine.

I love my Forge BOV adapter! So much fun!

 

I just ordered a dual can unit. Just installed my Helix FMIC and there was quite a bit of oil in the stock unit.

 

^I'd be very interested to see if the cans have any effect on the oil in the intercooler, Donny. My hunch is that it won't. It would be cool if somebody did an informal before-and-after test. Volunteers?