Seca Turbo: Leaking Some Oil

I have my 1983 somewhat torn apart for some winter maintenance. There has been a small leak under the bike for a while, nothing major, just enough to make the bike messy and my garage floor spotted. Now that I can see what's going on, I see that the turbo unit is pretty oily but I really can't tell where. Is there a common area that is prone to leaking? I see a braided oil hose that connects to a piece on the Turbo that looks like a vacuum type device (it has the Mitsubishi logo on it), perhaps the hose is leaking? Is it possible the oil check valve is leaking? Before I really tear into the unit I would like to learn from somebodies past experience.
Thank you
Tom

 

Picture please.

 

Spray everything down with simple green from an old Windex bottle (or similar), scrub all the oily areas with a stiff brush, and rinse off. Once dry and clean, run the bike for a bit and see if you can see the leaky areas. Oil leaks can be tough as it spreads everywhere.

 

Thank you, but I probably should have done that before everything was torn apart. Would a stuck check valve cause the oil to leak into the turbo unit?

 

I didnt realize that somewhat torn apart meant torn down. Can't help on the turbo part, zero experience there.

 

Oil around the Turbo is common problem that is directly caused by the turbo being located behind the engine, below the oil level in the engine.
There is a check valve in the oil line to the turbo, which prevents oil from flowing to the turbo when the secondary oil pump is not pushing oil through (i.e. engine is off). This can fail, and will result in lots of oil collecting in the Turbo.

However, even if the check valve works, oil in the line will seep through the bearings in the turbo over time. It's a plain bearing that sits on a bed of oil, and that oil will seep into the compressor and turbine side of the turbo, and pool at the bottom of each side. When you start up the bike, the oil in the compressor is going to get blown into the intake of the engine, and the oil on the turbine side is blown into the exhaust and cooked. My Turbo will smoke quite a bit for the first few miles if it sits for a few days to a week until all that oil is blown out. All that oil residue also mixes with moisture in the exhaust pipe, and will drip out of a weep hole in the bottom of the muffler as everything cools down.

So to answer your question, if you see lots of oil leaking, continuously, or the turbo is full of oil, then you might have issues with the turbo bearings and/or check valves. If you just see a little bit of spotting, and some smoking on startup after it's been sitting, then that's normal as far as my experience goes. It's actually one of the reasons I don't think I can live in a place with a parking garage...

 

Manbott
Would it be your recommendation to take the check valve apart to clean and inspect?
I imagine it is just a spring and a large ball bearing
Thanks

 

I'm not sure that the valve is "repairable." I do remember someone refreshing one, but it required some machining. You can definitely remove the assembly from the front of the engine and flush it out to see if that helps. Other than that you might need to keep an eye out for one on ebay.

 

Ok
Thanks. I might just let the sleeping dog lie