So I just did a routine oil change and for the 1st time decided to drain the turbos.

The turbo drain screws were very tight but they came out ok along with a small quantity of oil as expected.

Here's the interesting thing though - there were no crush washers to be seen anywhere so I just re-assembled without them.

Anyone else have this experience ?

I also suspect the drain plugs had never been out in their lives.

The engine is a 'crate engine' from Porsche which was installed at about 8000 miles after the original developed a porous casting - maybe the engine / turbos were built like this ??

 

I had one of mine that did not have one or I accidentally lost it when I did mine. It started to leak a little... I took it to my indy and he put a washer on it and dry as a bone now. So if you don't have any leaks - don't worry about it. Just keep an eye on them.

 

Is there any real benefit to draining these? Once running all the oil has intermixed- the very little you get draining these is just a fractionally 'better' oil change, right?

Anything I am missing?

 

Probably not much benefit, but just for the **** guys... I just do it while I am under there - takes extra 5-10 minutes. That is valuable time under the car I don't hear my wife nag...

 

+ 1

and be careful not to overtorque.

 

Sometimes the crush washer get stock on the turbo or the drain plug and you have to pull it out with a small sharp pick. It is very thin. If you did not add any, be careful and inspect the turbos often to see if they are leaking. Or better, add one a.s.a.p.


part# 900 123 140 30 only $0.25.... (item#10)

 

Hi Guys,

thanks for the responses - there was no crush washer on the drain plug, I took a real close look so I figure its either embedded in the turbo or just didn't have one !

Anyway I'll look out for leak / seepage in the coming weeks.

I have a couple of new washers ready to hand if I need them and I guess I wouldn't loose too much oil from the turbo tanks if I opted to install or change them. Certainly wouldn't want to drain the whole system to install the washers !

One thing I did find was that my torque wrench isn't working correctly at 22ft/lbs for the turbo drain plugs and the force required to extract them was well over 60ft/lbs so I guess they had seized or been over torqued from day one !

 

When I purchased my car used from a porsche dealer I had them do a oil change b4 I picked the car up. On the invoice for the service they charged me for the turbo washers so I am assuming they drained the turbos. I did the next oil change myself and discovered the turbo washers missing. Both of them. They were not stuck on the turbo or lost in the oil pan as I looked hard for them. So much for the thought a dealer serviced car is a good thing.