Like I said further up - just undo the oil drain line from the turbo and run the engine with that going into a bucket for a few seconds - it will quickly rule in/out the turbo as being the cause/victim of the issue. If necessary warm the engine up first, then disconnect the line.

If you do indeed see smoke coming out of the oil return, then what is probably happening is that the turbo is not getting enough oil and is burning some of what it does receive, this probably means that there is a blockage somewhere on the oil supply side of the turbo or within the turbo itself - again easy to prove by disconnecting this line from the turbo, holding the line over a bucket and turning the engine over a few times (disconnect the dizzy first so the engine can't start) to see if it is pumping out oil, if it does, then your issue is within the turbo, if not, the blockage is in the pipe or further back in the T piece or the case.

None of these tests will damage the engine in any way but will help diagnose the location of the issue.

I would suggest performing the oil feed test before the oil return one as you can do this on a cold engine and the turbo/engine will not be generating any heat anywhere.

Morning Chris, I mentioned Danny earlier as I have spoken to him on many occasions regarding turbo setups and didn't realise that Zeb knew him.

can this danny look at my set up?culprit is still number 4 cylinder compression test done 50 psi all others spot on could be head or rings still the old boy comeing back to sort......

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Chris, feeling your pain mate - wish I could help more too. But looks like you are getting lots of good advice from the boys. 


(Like the others, I do wonder if you somehow, need to get the engine sorted and run in first with a normal carb/exhaust and then get the turbo re-fitted and checked out. but fingers crossed will be sorted soon enough)

As Chris said, I went round there and did a compression test for him. 1 & 2 looked good. 3 was a little low, but 4 was down at 50psi.

The fumes coming out of the breather look like exhaust gas, so it looks like it could be an issue with cylinder 4's rings.

Potentially there is a head issue on the left bank as well.

It's got to be a case of getting the compression sorted and then getting a turbo expert to sort the settings.

Hold fast Chris it'll be sorted and sweet soon.

If you have exhaust gases coming out of the case, and 50psi compression on a cylinder, then it is most likely to be the rings on that cylinder - gasses passing the rings on the compression/power stroke and then coming out of your breather filter.

If it were the valves leaking then they would leak to the exhaust or intake, not the case.

Cracked head could possibly leak back to the case via the pushrod tubes, but I would suspect far worse symptoms than what you have currently and you would see smoke in the rocker area as well.

If it is the rings, then they may have broken when they were checked if they were not removed correctly or compressed compressed properly when re-assembled, or simply been tired and about to fail anyway (I have no idea how new the rings are).

Head off to check for a crack, barrel off as well to check the rings again I am afraid.

hi zeb ,brand new rings ,it wasn't checked properly as the valves weren't seated so he concentrated on them ,basically bad rings or maybe bad head,gonna change the head anyways because that was the cylinder with bad compression when I first bought it ,he put the rings back with a tool of his but obviously didn't check properly so the advice that some where giving of running it wasn't ever going to work ...I am presuming the head has a leek too as the other cylinder is down aswell on compression ...o well out she comes again...thanks chris

Here's the readings from earlier, picture says it all.

In the following order
1 2
3 4

Gord you are a truly spot on fella and tham you so much,cant believe gotta take that bleedin engine out again...i run pubs not a vw mechanic......pass me the stil saw lol

Just want to see you back on the road Chris, there's cruising to be done.

You'll be leaving us all standing once you've got it sorted.