After noticing that my oil pressue was abnormaly low I checked my oil and low and behold...Nothing on the dipstick!!! Thinking that I may have not pushed the dipstick all the way down I did it again and ....still dry as the Sahara? So I grab 4 quarts and pour it in and it registers on the dipstick. WTF happened to my oil? I do have a very tiny leak..( Thinking its the rear main seal ) but i repeat very small. It doesn't even leave a puddle on the driveway. Just a few drip marks. Could it be that the seals on my turbo are going bad already? The turbo only has about 4,000 miles on it and I bought it brand new from a dealership. What type of oil are the rest of you guys using? 5-30? 10-30? 15-30? anyone using anything thicker? Anyone else experience this? Oh yeah I was using Mobile 1 synthetic. 10-30 if
I remember correctly. Thanks guys!

Running 5-30 here. Hmm.... Well, if your turbo seals are bad then you'd be making quite a bit of white smoke. I guess have someone follow you and see if you're putting out any smoke under heavy boost.

Khiem

I had my buddy drive my car once to hear what my car sounded like on a power run...I did see white smoke come out of the tailight once but on that run a intercooler pipe popped off. Also even after adding the oil, my oil pressure still won't go any higher than 40...It used to read 50 on my oil pressure gauge but it won't go that high cruising anymore. Now at WOT in boost it does register a little bit higher than 50. Im hoping that my sender is just bad...there is no additional noise coming from the engine bay and driveability seems normal. Any other suggestions?

Check all of your oil fittings and lines. I had a adapter bushing crack in two from the block to the oil pressure sending unit for my gauge. This has happened to others as well. Check it all out.
John

Originally posted by NismoDriver
Check all of your oil fittings and lines. I had a adapter bushing crack in two from the block to the oil pressure sending unit for my gauge. This has happened to others as well. Check it all out.
John

I checked the sender, tee, and all the oil lines last night without finding any leaks. I'll be checking the oil again later on today once I get out to of class. Hopefully the oil is still there.

Good luck on finding the problem , keep us all posted. Also, have you been visiting redline alot recently? Keep in mind the SR20 consumes alot of oil when at redline. If you Rev your car alot its a good thing to keep an eye on oil level.

John

Did you notice any type of excessive oil residue on the underside of the car? When was the last ime you checked your oil prior to finding no oil on dipstick?

also, your crankcase ventilator, if routed incorrectly, may cause you to ingest oil into the intake tract.

i routed mine so that it goes like this:

tube from the bottom of the crankcase goes to the tee in the valvecover pointed at the front of the car.

tube from tee in VC pointed at driver's side goes to BOTTOM of catchcan.

tube from TOP of catch can goes into intake tract before turbo.

when taking right turns fast, and high revs, oil tends to pool in the left side of the VC, making easy ingestion into the intake.

i had this same problem on my car until i did this.

also, high revs turn lighter oil into mist. i run 10w-30, and my oil comsumption went down dramatically. when i did this mod, consumption went to zero. as in not a drop missing, despite "enthusiastic" driving.

After changing my oil yesterday and tighting down the nut holding on the wire to my Oil Pressure gauge everything seems A OK! Then after a 30 minute commute to school, ( Seeing redline on a couple of on-ramps ) oil pressure reads a little low again. On the drive home oil pressure won't read above 30psi while cruising on the freeway until I hit a bump and then the needle jumps to about 40. Stays that way until I get off the freeway and when driving through the city the gauge reads about 25psi cruising. I get into the garage pop the hood and check the dipstick. After getting a reading right around the H ( B14 ) yesterday..I check it in the driveway and the oil level is at the L. Thats gotta be at least 2 quarts. Im not seeing any crazy puddles anywhere but the oil is going somewhere. The crankcase ventilator has a small filter/breather. The breather is not black in color so I don't believe the oil is spewing out of the breather. Also there is no oil in the vicinity. I know the sender for the Oil Pressure gauge is probably the culprit for the wierd readings..but Im still concerned about the missing oil. One of my Northern Alliance brothers suggested I check the outlet pipe from the turbo before the intercooler to make sure that there isn't any oil in the pipes..if so...does that mean my 4,000 mile old turbo has needs to be replaced? Remember it was bought brand new. Any other suggestions??

I doubt that it is you turbo after 4,000 miles, to new but you never know. Anyways I share something with you engine oil under pressure enters the bearing housing from the oil inlet line. This oil passes between the bearing and journal surfaces where, as a result of tubulence, air is mixed with the oil. This oil then flows weather by gravity (SR20DET) or scavenger (OTHER SYSTEMS) pump through the oil drain line and into the engine sump. Anything which prevents this draining will cause the oil to build up in the bearing housing to a height above the oil seals. Under this condition, the oil will leak out into the compressor and/or turbine housing past the piston ring seals. Making you think you turbo is bad. Remember the drain return system for our turbos (SR20DET) is a gravity system there really isn't pressure for it to blow out a blockage so you must clean the return line out also could be a few other things making you burn oil.

Hope this helps.

Originally posted by charlie2020
I doubt that it is you turbo after 4,000 miles, to new but you never know. Anyways I share something with you engine oil under pressure enters the bearing housing from the oil inlet line. This oil passes between the bearing and journal surfaces where, as a result of tubulence, air is mixed with the oil. This oil then flows weather by gravity (SR20DET) or scavenger (OTHER SYSTEMS) pump through the oil drain line and into the engine sump. Anything which prevents this draining will cause the oil to build up in the bearing housing to a height above the oil seals. Under this condition, the oil will leak out into the compressor and/or turbine housing past the piston ring seals. Making you think you turbo is bad.

Hope this helps.

Wow..makes a lot of sense..my oil drain line isn't the best...could definitley be redone. Has a small kink in it. I'll definitely look into that. One thing though..the oil drain line has been the way it has since day 1. Never really was a issue till now. About a week after the turbo install was done I drove the car pretty much 10 hours straight to WA and had no missing oil. Could it have gotten worse over time?

Another possible problem I can see after reading your post you guys that put those crankcase ventalaters on should not, dress it up if you like but keep everything routed just like OEM.

Engine Breathers
Oil leaks in the turbocharger may also be the result of problems in the crankcase ventilation system. The vent or line will sometimes become partially clogged through use. These conditions allow positive pressure to build up in the crankcase. If this occurs it will restrict the oil from flowing down the drain hose and into the crankcase, causing it to back up into the bearing housing. I know you thing well there a filter on it so it shouldn't hurt but it actually needs that hose to connect to the intake track for vacumm to help aide in pulling negative pressure out the crankcase that get by the piston rings.

Originally posted by Soopastank


Wow..makes a lot of sense..my oil drain line isn't the best...could definitley be redone. Has a small kink in it. I'll definitely look into that. One thing though..the oil drain line has been the way it has since day 1. Never really was a issue till now. About a week after the turbo install was done I drove the car pretty much 10 hours straight to WA and had no missing oil. Could it have gotten worse over time?

Well of course it takes a little while to show it face and it has. Make sure that the turbo drain port is pointing down at not more than a 35 degree swing on either side of a vertical centerline. Also make sure that the oil drain line slopes downward its entire length, so that there is no place for the oil to collect in the line.

yeah, the reason why the crankcase vetilator is plugged into the intake is for a few reasons:

1. smog, this keeps everything in a closed loop and is required to go through all the emissions control systems.

2. vacuum. the vacuum created by the intaking engine (engine is an air pump, remember) sucks the air out from under the pistons and keeps the oil system in vacuum, helping with drainage, etc. by putting an oil breather filter on there, you no longer introduce the vacuum underneath of the pistons in the crankcase.

Originally posted by HotshtSR20
yeah, the reason why the crankcase vetilator is plugged into the intake is for a few reasons:

1. smog, this keeps everything in a closed loop and is required to go through all the emissions control systems.

2. vacuum. the vacuum created by the intaking engine (engine is an air pump, remember) sucks the air out from under the pistons and keeps the oil system in vacuum, helping with drainage, etc. by putting an oil breather filter on there, you no longer introduce the vacuum underneath of the pistons in the crankcase. and fuck things up don't mess with the Nissan engineers design although we do modify shit sometimes you aren't suppost to eliminate it function while doing so, just try to improve it.

Right on HotshtSR20

Unfortunately my IC pipe that leads to the throttle body doesn't have a bung on it for the Crankcase Ventilation hose....I'll definitely look into getting one welded on and see if that makes a difference. Other than that any other suggestions?

Originally posted by charlie2020
and fuck things up don't mess with the Nissan engineers design

I thought thats what modding your car is all about?;) Thanks again!

BTW: I've been told to toss/modify so much stuff that Nissan Engineers designed im sure that statement won't apply to anyone on this forum.:D

Originally posted by Soopastank
Unfortunately my IC pipe that leads to the throttle body doesn't have a bung on it for the Crankcase Ventilation hose....I'll definitely look into getting one welded on and see if that makes a difference. Other than that any other suggestions?

You'll probably be best off mounting it just like OEM between the turbo and MAF I believe this is how it works on a stock DET if you have ever looked at the stock black intake hose, the one the air filter is attached to.

i just had the same problem, my oil disapired and i didnt have any drips on the driveway that i could see, turns out my fittings on at the sending unit and gage came loose and must have bin driping out when i was driving while under higher preshers, i hope i cought this in time still had presher on the gage, and i dont hear ticking. (knocks on wood) but i guess the weight, vibrations and the heating and cooling of the tapping worked the fittings loose, so to solve this im going to a hydraulic hose shop and geting a braded steal hose and fitings made up to mount it on the fire wall to take some weight off the tapping to stop this happening again.

Originally posted by charlie2020


You'll probably be best off mounting it just like OEM between the turbo and MAF I believe this is how it works on a stock DET if you have ever looked at the stock black intake hose, the one the air filter is attached to.

exactly, this is the way it is supposed to be. if you mount it on the pressurized side, you are going to pressurize the crankcase instead of introducing vacuum