Problem? Trace oil on the inside of my turbo intake sleeves?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by J.S., Feb 18, 2026.

  1. J.S.

    J.S. Medium Load Member

    482
    214
    Jun 27, 2015
    Texas
    0
    I repaired a fan clutch and removed my turbo intake sleeves only to find trace oil on the inside of em. It seems like it might be common in that the truck has 600k and the sleeves may have never been removed or cleaned. I added pics below. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
     

    Attached Files:

    Concorde Thanks this.
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. Spyro2112

    Spyro2112 Medium Load Member

    623
    433
    Mar 17, 2018
    0
  4. Judge

    Judge Road Train Member

    13,790
    91,676
    Mar 19, 2014
    Arkansas
    0
    Yep. Turbo. When one goes completely out it’ll fill the air to air. Be sure to clean all that out or you’ll get a runaway.
     
    Albertaflatbed and Concorde Thank this.
  5. J.S.

    J.S. Medium Load Member

    482
    214
    Jun 27, 2015
    Texas
    0
    I had a leaky oil return that I’d replaced prior to the clutch. Would that have been the cause being a backup of oil in the turbo due to not return properly?
     
    Tug Toy and Concorde Thank this.
  6. Big Road Skateboard

    Big Road Skateboard Road Train Member

    7,068
    40,044
    May 2, 2021
    0
    No. If the return was blocked you'd have issues, but not a leak.

    Is that oil sticky?
     
    J.S. and Concorde Thank this.
  7. J.S.

    J.S. Medium Load Member

    482
    214
    Jun 27, 2015
    Texas
    0
  8. Big Road Skateboard

    Big Road Skateboard Road Train Member

    7,068
    40,044
    May 2, 2021
    0
    I'm not one to take any chances. If it were mine, I would change it.

    But, I've seen several like this where the oil residue had turned sticky, and I couldn't convince the customer to change turbos.

    I PM'ed those trucks, and would pull the CAC hoses to check for worsening symptoms every PM. I never saw any of those turbos fail. FWIW.
     
  9. J.S.

    J.S. Medium Load Member

    482
    214
    Jun 27, 2015
    Texas
    0
    Hmmgh, thx! I think I may try replacing them. But on the intake side the oil presence is from an upstream leak from the turbo and not being introduced through the CAC?
     
  10. Big Road Skateboard

    Big Road Skateboard Road Train Member

    7,068
    40,044
    May 2, 2021
    0
    That's an assumption. I've wondered if these were caused by air filters that were extremely dirty causing issues like these.

    Only because the engines I've seen it on were not well maintained before we started working on them.

    If you have a turbo that starts leaking oil through the seals, it's easy to see.

    Like I said, I'd change it either way along with a new air filter.
     
    Rideandrepair, J.S. and D.Tibbitt Thank this.
  11. Tug Toy

    Tug Toy Road Train Member

    7,059
    73,864
    Jul 4, 2015
    Corn field
    0
    What kinda engine. Why was the return line replaced? I wouldn’t replace the turbo or boots, clean the boots a bit and check it in a few thousand miles… it it continues or starts to get worse then do a turbo… a turbo replacement can be $10k on some trucks….
     
    Rideandrepair, Feedman, J.S. and 2 others Thank this.
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.