Oil leaking into air system?

[Antho]

Over the weekend I replaced my A/C condenser and noticed an oil leak from my intercooler. Not supposed to be any oil in the intercooler! Anyway, got around to having a look around the engine today & the EGR was quite caked up but not clogged, cleaned it up. The was also oil weeping from the air duct near the EGR so took it off and it it had quite alot of residue insde, the valve was also covered in residue.

Anyway, any idea's on where this oil is coming from? Over the past few months the car has gone from high on the dipstick to just below half compared with no change over the previous time. The light blue cloud from the exhaust on cold starts has also gotten worse. I've attached some pics to explain better where the oil is.

[littlebasher]

There's only one way i can think of for oil to get in the intercooler, and that's via one of the turbo oil seals.

You mention an EGR which suggests it's a Diesel...It's not something you can leave either, could result in the engine 'running away' if the leak gets worse and it starts burning engine oil.

[dustydes]

As said oil in intercooler would point to turbo going.
Also said is that if the turbo goes completley it can draw oil from the sump and burn this.
The engine will burn this oil like diesel even after you have turned engine off as engine does not need spark or fuel pump for the diesel.
Result is engine running on its own, rev's going very high untill sump runs dry, you know the rest :-(
Only way to stop engine will be to stall it before any damage is done.
Dont want to scare you just be aware of the worst that can happen if it is turbo and it blows.

good luck

des

[Antho]

Appreciate the info, bills mounting tbese last few months, dmf, brakes, aircon and now a turbo to sort out. Can the seals be easily replaced? Anyone know a p/n for the turbo? No access to WIS or EPC at moment.

I suppose some car details would help  it's an '05 1.9TiD 150, found a few turbo's online but they specify '06 onwards

[littlebasher]

I don't think the Turbo is any different across that engine

Also, the Vectra and Astra will use the same one (which will widen your search!)

[Antho]

Have tracked a few turbo's down all around the £350 mark, also spoke to a Saab independant & he said to replace the Intercooler first (as it is leaking) and then see how it behaves over a few days. He hasn't replaced a turbo on a 1.9TiD yet and he works quite alot of them.

[sgould]

As far as I can see, there is always going to be a bit of oil in the inlet system, it comes through the inlet system from the crankcase breather and is normal.

But split intercoolers on the diesel seem to be quite common.  Are you seeing much black smoke when you accelerate?  That's a symptom of an air leak on the inlet/intercooler.

[Antho]

No black smoke under acceleration, the car is pretty well behaved overall. Flushed the intercooler yesterday and it wasn't excessively dirty. It did leak though! New intercooler tomorrow. Tried to inspect the turbo, but ran out of time as I was at work

[Antho]

Well, as a small update, I cleaned out the ducts removing any residue, replaced the intercooler & also had a software update carried out on the ECU by local Saab dealer. Over the last 3 days there has been a tiny puff of blue from the exhaust which is far easier to live with than the cloud which previously engulfed the car. Incidently the cloud reduced after the software update which was carried out a few days before changing the intercooler.