blown turbo?

[dieselnutjob]

mates Saab with Vauxhall 2.2 diesel has been smoking for a while

first he found a split intercooler pipe and wrapping gaffer tape around it helped, but still a bit smoky

the smoke is grey/black and not blue

I suspected stuck EGR valve as this is a common fault on these engines and does cause these symptoms

 

today the oil warning light came on and a trail of oil was seen coming out of the exhaust pipe, along with "funny noises", he suspects that the turbo has blown

 

The thing is that when a turbo blows I would expect the oil to be sucked into the inlet side and get burned causing blue smoke, or is it possible for a turbo oil seal to only blow on the exhaust side?

[Fat_Pirate]

If the turbo is now dead, perhaps it's over-fuelling? That might explain the black smoke.

[e287yba]

Failing/failed Turbos that are leaking oil into the inlet side of the engine can cause the thing to 'runaway' if the oil leak is in the form of 'fairly' fine droplets (which is what usually happens )...

 

But if he has oil coming from the exhaust then I suspect he is a lucky chappie indeed because it is leaking oil on the exhaust side of the engine?

 

I'd start by checking all hoses, both for the air feed to the engine as well as the vacuum ones, and fixing any leaks there. The EGR could also be stuck, causing an issue.

 

Having said this as a self-confessed luddite , on a car of this age I'd expect there to be OBD, and would suggest that he ask someone to check for stored fault codes, then clear them, drive the car and see what codes reappear.