Oil in airbox t/d

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rutter123
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Oil in airbox t/d

Post by rutter123 »

Been getting more and more oil residue in the airbox and on top of the panel filter, seems more every service, cleaned every time, tzd turbo 270k, any ideas?.
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Re: Oil in airbox t/d

Post by Tinkley »

On petrols, it is the crankcase breather that is the problem ie oil filler tube/cap. When the engine wears you get a small increase in crankcase pressure, which then pushes any oil mist through to the air filter via the breather. I'd guess the diesel is identical, and the EU emmissions legislation effectively says that the engine should breathe it's own oil mist to reduce unburnt carbons.
My old Morini bike (1977)vented to atmosphere from the breather, so legal then. Strangely enough so did my 1988 1.4 petrol BX - but only after I altered the crankcase breather run..... :wink:

Funnily enough the air filter (foam type) stayed remarkably clean after that. So you can do that and maybe rehook it up at MOT time as 'they' are supposed to check that. Dead easy with a suitable cork and a bit more hose.
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Re: Oil in airbox t/d

Post by MULLEY »

Perhaps cleaning the intercooler & associated pipework may reduce the amount of oil which goes into the air filter, that's why i fitted a k&n, it's easy to clean & avoids having to buy a new filter every year, it's already paid for itself after a few services :) I'm unsure as to why oil does get blown in, maybe something to do with the crankcase breather, but why it spews more & more in as the mileage increases, no idea tbh, the more engine mechanical minded maybe able to explain?
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Re: Oil in airbox t/d

Post by Mothman »

Cleaned my K&N on my TZD Turbo at the w/end. It was very dirty but really noticed the difference in how the motor went. Is the crank case breather the same on a turbo as it is on an n/a diesel?

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Re: Oil in airbox t/d

Post by mds141 »

Never noticed any oil on the filters in either the XM or BX.
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Re: Oil in airbox t/d

Post by Thread Bear »

Its a sign of general wear. Diesel is great penetrating oil. It will get passed the rings. As wear occurs more gets passed the rings, without necessarily loosing much compression as you cannot compress a liquid. That is why long service intervals on diesels are bollox for long ownership. You change the oil regularly on an old boy so as to not have diesel in the oil. It thins it and is not a lubricant suitable for shell bearings and bushings. Suits the manufacturer if your old car bangs out at 200k but with regular oil changes they will double that.
I do oil as a half service and an air filter every other service. They are £3 at jumble etc. The additional MPG and smooth engine is worth the effort, though I would not go so far as to say I save money I should have a car that has an engine in better condition for longer. (being a bit of a pikey I have been known to filter the oil and use it as two stroke in the lawn mower and Messerschmitt hack. Trouble is my mower is now rather fine large Atco :D THROWN AWAY IN A SKIP #-o ! is a fourstroke. No Hack Schmitt running).
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Re: Oil in airbox t/d

Post by citsncycles »

The extra pressure in the combustion chamber on the TD compared to the NA diesel make them more prone to crank case pressurisation. With Citroens I generally use the service intervals first specified for whatever component I'm working on as they had a history of stretching the service intervals without changing the component design. This means XUD oil changed at about 5000m, cam belt changes at 36000m and 2cv kingpins getting greased every 500m! This last was stretched to 3k by Citroen, resulting in them wearing in 30k instead of over 100!
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Re: Oil in airbox t/d

Post by rutter123 »

Seems there is no cause for concern then, changed oil,filters, steam cleaned all airbox and associated turbo/intercooler pipework.
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Re: Oil in airbox t/d

Post by Thread Bear »

If its that bad then take the breather pipe off and make up a seperate washable filter box from the scrap yard OWHY. Then vent the gas element through the airfilter box to be burned off.

Mike clearly thinks on the same lines as myself. That will be one reason Timex is still going.
Miguel - 16 TRS Auto S, light blue, 43k miles - £450
Pluto - 14 E S, White, 105k Miles - in work
Egbert - 19 16v Gti, White, A/C & Leather, - Keeper
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Scraper- 17 TZD Turbo E, blue, 208k miles - parts
Homer - 19 TXD E, Red, 189k miles - £250
Gary - 17 TZD Turbo E, 118k miles - in work

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Re: Oil in airbox t/d

Post by Tinkley »

In terms of 'stretching' the service intervals, the gearbox oil change (BE3 box) at 60k was removed from the 'Service' schedule at some point. Personally I will still do it at that point. Tend to do main engine oil change at 5k (1.6 petrol) if a lot of short runs, maybe push to the official 6k if more long runs.
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Re: Oil in airbox t/d

Post by rutter123 »

Do my t/d every 6k or thereabouts, oil,filter and have had to change the air filter every time due to oil deposits on the element, have removed all the big pipework and intercooler and steam cleaned it all through, once dried will reassemble and check for oil after 1000 miles or so, otherwise the car runs fine with no oil top ups between services, maybe it is just signs of high mileage.
90 BX Tzd turbo 294k SORN undergoing major surgery
90 BX Tzd turbo estate 46k awaiting surgery
65 Peugeot Boxer Van the new workhorse
52 Toyota Rav4 180k Bulletproof Jap reliability
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