Patrollife
Explorer
Enjoying watching the videos. Hope you keep them coming. My dog starting barking at the end 
My 1992 Chevrolet/Isuzu Trooper Build in Chile S.A.
- Thread starter EricMcGrew
- Start date
EricMcGrew
Adventurer
Enjoying watching the videos. Hope you keep them coming. My dog starting barking at the end
Thanks man! Yeah... I've got a few more that I'll be sharing soon. Tomorrow, if everything goes well, I'll be headed out to a rough stretch of trail that is the "public road" just passed a small town near me to get to the Pacific Coast. We'll see how it goes. I've heard that in the Winter, it's almost impassable. If I make out there tomorrow, I'll be recording the trip. If I don't make it tomorrow, I'll be trying to get out there in the next few weekends. I'll put up some pics and vid.
Glad your dogs like the vid too.
Btw, the other day, that Patrol that I had told you about came flying around me on the highway. I didn't have phone out to get a pic, but it's a maroon 99-04 (approx) factory exterior, slightly lifted, and probablly 33"s on it. Nice rig, but nothing to insane. If I can get a pic soon, I will.
Patrollife
Explorer
Thanks man! Yeah... I've got a few more that I'll be sharing soon. Tomorrow, if everything goes well, I'll be headed out to a rough stretch of trail that is the "public road" just passed a small town near me to get to the Pacific Coast. We'll see how it goes. I've heard that in the Winter, it's almost impassable. If I make out there tomorrow, I'll be recording the trip. If I don't make it tomorrow, I'll be trying to get out there in the next few weekends. I'll put up some pics and vid.
Glad your dogs like the vid too.
Btw, the other day, that Patrol that I had told you about came flying around me on the highway. I didn't have phone out to get a pic, but it's a maroon 99-04 (approx) factory exterior, slightly lifted, and probablly 33"s on it. Nice rig, but nothing to insane. If I can get a pic soon, I will.
That would be great if you can snap a picture. The Patrol sounds pretty sweet. I haven't seen the Isuzu UTE since that first day I spotted it. And, yea, keep the vids and pics coming. Hope you can make it out tomorrow. I'll be keeping tuned.
EricMcGrew
Adventurer
Believe me, I'll let you know thru the thread. Unfortunately, I've been having a bit of a problem with the Trooper as of late though. About 2-3 months ago, I noticed the turbo area covered in oil. There was a bad hose clamp on the hose from the turbo outlet that connects to the intercooler. I thought that was the problem, and changed the clamp. Today though, I found more fresh oil in that area. In fact, now the whole side of the block is covered. I did notice that the hose clamp was a bit loose again, but I've got to investigate a bit more about where all the oil is leaking. It also looks like the rear main seal may be leaking at the same time. It's just hard to tell.
There's always the possibility that the oil pan seal is bad and with the pressure, plus the wind at highway speeds could be blowing oil all over the bottom of the block. I've seen that before. THere is just a bit of research that needs to be done first. Unfortunately, my plan of getting the Daihatsu running so that I could park the Trooper, hasn't worked out like I had hoped. Oh well...
There's always the possibility that the oil pan seal is bad and with the pressure, plus the wind at highway speeds could be blowing oil all over the bottom of the block. I've seen that before. THere is just a bit of research that needs to be done first. Unfortunately, my plan of getting the Daihatsu running so that I could park the Trooper, hasn't worked out like I had hoped. Oh well...
EricMcGrew
Adventurer
I explain a bit more about what the sit. with my Trooper Diesel is in this Vlog post. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
EricMcGrew
Adventurer
I was hoping to be able to go out to the pacific coast today, but I didn't get done with what I was doing in time to get out there and back without it being a rush. So, I'll have to wait until another day.
I did get out a little earlier in the week though. I got out to the estuary near my house. While not awesome photos, here's a few pics for you to look at.
I did get out a little earlier in the week though. I got out to the estuary near my house. While not awesome photos, here's a few pics for you to look at.
Patrollife
Explorer
First of all, you live in a beautiful area. And Chile looks way cleaner than Guatemala. It always saddens me to see so much trash and neglect in the communities I drive through when I'm up in the mountains. But that's a different kind of discussion. And sorry to hear about all the oil spilling. Again, we seem to be experiencing the same or similar problems with our rigs simultaneously. The Patrol was spitting oil and driving up the engine heat wayyyy up. I had the mechanic fix it last weekend (I honestly can't remember what he told me) and now it's running fine. Anyway, don't mean to bring the Patrol into this thread but just wanted to point out our similarities. Hope the Troops gets fixed and figured out soon!
EricMcGrew
Adventurer
Man... Please... you can bring up your Patrol in my thread anytime you want. I do appreciate the respect intended though.
As for the photos and Chile... I guess I should have clarified my definition of awesome photos. I wasn't really referring to the scenery, as much as the quality of the photos themselves (Remember, I'm a photographer). I too agree that Chile is a beautiful country. I'm pretty sure that Guatamala is probably worse as far as littering and trash dumpage goes, still... that's also a HUGE problem here. As most city dwellers here in Chile, don't have cars, they walk and ride buses a lot. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a little kid try and give paper or a wrapper to their parents, just to see the parent take the trash out of the kids hand throw it on the ground. It frustrates me a lot! Still, culture takes time to change. Plus, I've learned that their perspective of what's clean and what ours is, is completely different.
I guess, if I can say that I've learned one thing here in Chile, it's been how to be even more patient. I'm still working on that one though...
As for the trooper, I've been talking to a few Big rig mechanics, friends that own domestic Diesels (U.S. Market), and a few blokes from OZ. It seems that there is quite the number of things that were done in typical 3rd world country style (I'm not dogging them, it's just what they can afford. Most of them anyway), and have caused me the recent troubles.
For one, I'm pretty sure that my oil leakage issue is mainly the turbo seals are gone. So, now I have to pull the unit and determine if it's rebuildable, or if I have to buy a new unit.
Talking to the Holden Jackaroo mechanic in Oz, we started to talk about all the hack work on this Trooper. (This was my main fear of buying an already swapped diesel.) One thing that we figured out, is that the airbox that they have in the Trooper is not the corrisponding airbox for the 4jb1-t 2.8 turbo intercooled motor. They have a Holden Rodeo/Isuzu KS/Chevrolet Luv air box in there that uses multi baffle, thick paper filters. From what the Holden mechanic was telling me, and what I've noticed on my other diesel motors, the typical air filter should be a cylindrical filter that is a metal mesh with a fiber material sandwich in between. Evidently, the thicker paper filters make the motor breath harder, and this reaks havoc on the turbo seals. So, it's no suprise that my turbo seems to be spewing oil all over the place.
In any case, I plan on cleaning out the intercooler today, and seeing how much oil is in it after a short drive tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. I've just got to get a bit more diesel for the clean out.
EricMcGrew
Adventurer
I'm on the turbo diagnostics mission. I had just gotten started when...
Patrollife
Explorer
I hear ya on the "third world" way of doing things. Even when I take the Patrol to a certified Toyota dealer (no Nissan dealers in Xela) they still find a creative way of doing things versus taking their time to get it right. But it just comes with the territory. It teaches us to be more creative back in negotiating price .... sorry about the bed! Hopefully there's no oil leakage!
.... sorry about the bed! Hopefully there's no oil leakage!
EricMcGrew
Adventurer
I hear ya on the "third world" way of doing things. Even when I take the Patrol to a certified Toyota dealer (no Nissan dealers in Xela) they still find a creative way of doing things versus taking their time to get it right. But it just comes with the territory. It teaches us to be more creative back in negotiating price
You're right about all of this. Unfortunately, sometimes, they just don't know how to do things right. Once again, not dogging, just saying. Problem being... Sometimes you need things right. For me at least, there are times, where money isn't the issue. I'd be willing to pay the price it cost to have it done the right way, and with the right material. Still, they just don't understand that importance. So, it makes me have to try and do it all. Which is part of the reason that my Trooper is having some issues right now.
Once again everyone, I'M NOT DOGGING CHILEANS OR 3RD WORLD COUNTRIES! Still this is a very real factor of living here.
As for the oil leaking... Yeah... I'm pretty sure that I have a number of issues going on here. I'm hopping that I can buy some time by doing a few maintenance oriented mods for the time being and give myself the time I need to get my Daihatsu running, and get the firewood out of my front yard. We'll just have to see.
I explain more of what I've found out about this Trooper setup in this vid.
[video=youtube;QjcOJyKsG7c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjcOJyKsG7c&google_comment_id=z12ns3gworb3hbz4t04cjli52ra3tdkg v2g&google_view_type[/video]
Tin, or anyone else, if you've had the experience of installing a oil catch can on your Breather return to intake line, I'd really like to see your setups. Since the Trooper is my only running vehicle, I can't afford to park it for the moment, I'm trying to do what I can to keep it going until I can pull the turbo, do a compression test (haven't found a store that sales the tester), and a few other things. So, any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks all!
Eric
EricMcGrew
Adventurer
I just seem to be in a vicious circle of not getting much done. It's fairly frustrating. I had planned to work hard on the Daihatsu so that I could hopefully have it running by the end of next week. Yesterday, though, I came down with a cold that has me in bed with a fever, and hacking up my lungs. Not fun!...
Anyway, I got out for a few hours on Tuesday. While the Trooper is still leaking oil, it's doing ok. I'm just keeping a close eye on it.
Here's a short vid. Nothing extreme. I REALLY can't afford to kill my trooper right now.
I had also planned on making a trip out to the Pacific coast near a small town called Fresia. Those who don't know off-road vehicles, have told me that they don't think the Trooper would make it. We'll see what happens. Either way, I'll let you guys know.
Anyway, I got out for a few hours on Tuesday. While the Trooper is still leaking oil, it's doing ok. I'm just keeping a close eye on it.
Here's a short vid. Nothing extreme. I REALLY can't afford to kill my trooper right now.
I had also planned on making a trip out to the Pacific coast near a small town called Fresia. Those who don't know off-road vehicles, have told me that they don't think the Trooper would make it. We'll see what happens. Either way, I'll let you guys know.
Wow! Eric you've made a lot of posts here! I've been really busy and haven't checked for a while. Just had a quick read through them, but don't have time to watch the vids since I'm at work.
Those views in the landscape photos are amazing! We have blizzard outside in Calgary, Canada, totally opposite seasons!
Sorry to hear you're having problems with leaking oil. Since I haven't watched the videos I feel like I might be a bit out of touch, but I can suggest some methods to diagnose the problem. Sorry if I'm redundant.
If the leak is coming from that oil feed line (on top of the turbo) you had to tighten the clamp on then there is a problem with evacuating the oil. By principal oil in a central housing assembly is fed in thorough a line at the top at normal engine oil pressure and drains with gravity through a tube at the bottom of the turbo into the sump. These two line must be in this orientation (feed on top, drain on bottom) and be free of obstructions or kinks. The drain line must also end up 1-1.5in above the oil level in the sump, otherwise the oil can't drain. A leak can develop is one of these requirement is not present. So if your leak is from that feed line, I would check that the oil has an unobstructed drain path, all the way from the leak to the sump. If you have some debris in one of the passages pressure will develop and leak. Also if the clamp is going loose, is it possible that the hose used is not made of rubber that is resistant to being dissolved by oil. You could have a easy fix then.
If the leak is at the turbine compressor wheel, then you have leaking seals. Keep in mind that seals will leak a little bit as they wear in normal operation, but this should not amount to more than 300ml between 5000km oil change intervals. To check pull the hose off the turbine housing inlet (between the filter and turbo) and take a look if there is a pool of oil in the housing right under the wheel and not how much (or take a photo and post up). If its just a film or a little bit pooling ei. not a puddle then the seals are ok. Also while you have the compressor wheel exposed, you can check for lateral play. The blades of the compressor wheel should not be able to touch the housing.
If there is oil in your intercooler then the cause is likely the crankcase breather. This is a normal phenomenon to a certain extent. Again you can gauge how serious the issue is by how much oil you are missing at every oil change interval. In my opinion up to 500ml is fine for this type of engine. The breather is really for venting blowby gasses from the crank case as well as oil vapour due to heat and other chemicals/water that appear during operation.
An oil catch can will not get rid of 100% of oil in the intake, there is no oil/air separator out there that is 100% efficient. However a catch can does filter a decent amount of "dirty" oil that contains various hydrocarbons and water. Which is why the sludge in the can usually looks more like chocolate syrup than engine oil. The main thing you want with a good catch can is to have the flow baffled and filtered inside while being as nonrestrictive to flow as possible (very important). I use a DIY catch can I made from PVC plastic, it has a vertical baffle and a bunch of stainless steel wool at the outlet acting as a filter. PVC is not the ideal material as it is an insulator and limits the oil from condensing in the same way aluminum would. I find it to be a satisfactory performer though. The thing you must always keep in mind that your catch can must not reduce flow from the stock setup so try to install something that is not internally restrictive and uses the same diameter hoses as stock. If you pressurise the crankcase, by installing a restrictive catch can oil leaks will appear in the weakest areas, such as those turbo seals.
That's all for now. Hope you get over the cold quick and easy!
Those views in the landscape photos are amazing! We have blizzard outside in Calgary, Canada, totally opposite seasons!
Sorry to hear you're having problems with leaking oil. Since I haven't watched the videos I feel like I might be a bit out of touch, but I can suggest some methods to diagnose the problem. Sorry if I'm redundant.
If the leak is coming from that oil feed line (on top of the turbo) you had to tighten the clamp on then there is a problem with evacuating the oil. By principal oil in a central housing assembly is fed in thorough a line at the top at normal engine oil pressure and drains with gravity through a tube at the bottom of the turbo into the sump. These two line must be in this orientation (feed on top, drain on bottom) and be free of obstructions or kinks. The drain line must also end up 1-1.5in above the oil level in the sump, otherwise the oil can't drain. A leak can develop is one of these requirement is not present. So if your leak is from that feed line, I would check that the oil has an unobstructed drain path, all the way from the leak to the sump. If you have some debris in one of the passages pressure will develop and leak. Also if the clamp is going loose, is it possible that the hose used is not made of rubber that is resistant to being dissolved by oil. You could have a easy fix then.
If the leak is at the turbine compressor wheel, then you have leaking seals. Keep in mind that seals will leak a little bit as they wear in normal operation, but this should not amount to more than 300ml between 5000km oil change intervals. To check pull the hose off the turbine housing inlet (between the filter and turbo) and take a look if there is a pool of oil in the housing right under the wheel and not how much (or take a photo and post up). If its just a film or a little bit pooling ei. not a puddle then the seals are ok. Also while you have the compressor wheel exposed, you can check for lateral play. The blades of the compressor wheel should not be able to touch the housing.
If there is oil in your intercooler then the cause is likely the crankcase breather. This is a normal phenomenon to a certain extent. Again you can gauge how serious the issue is by how much oil you are missing at every oil change interval. In my opinion up to 500ml is fine for this type of engine. The breather is really for venting blowby gasses from the crank case as well as oil vapour due to heat and other chemicals/water that appear during operation.
An oil catch can will not get rid of 100% of oil in the intake, there is no oil/air separator out there that is 100% efficient. However a catch can does filter a decent amount of "dirty" oil that contains various hydrocarbons and water. Which is why the sludge in the can usually looks more like chocolate syrup than engine oil. The main thing you want with a good catch can is to have the flow baffled and filtered inside while being as nonrestrictive to flow as possible (very important). I use a DIY catch can I made from PVC plastic, it has a vertical baffle and a bunch of stainless steel wool at the outlet acting as a filter. PVC is not the ideal material as it is an insulator and limits the oil from condensing in the same way aluminum would. I find it to be a satisfactory performer though. The thing you must always keep in mind that your catch can must not reduce flow from the stock setup so try to install something that is not internally restrictive and uses the same diameter hoses as stock. If you pressurise the crankcase, by installing a restrictive catch can oil leaks will appear in the weakest areas, such as those turbo seals.
That's all for now. Hope you get over the cold quick and easy!
EricMcGrew
Adventurer
Thanks Tin! Would it be possible for you to post up a pic of your oil catch can? That would help a lot. I've just seen so many different types. Also, I've heard a number of people talk about using the steel wool. However, I'm a bit afraid of some of the steel being sucked into the Turbo. Have you had any problems, or heard of any problems? Thanks for all your help. As soon as I get a chance, I'm gonna make a catch can. For now, my DIY one will probably have to be made of steel. That's only until which ever one I decide on online gets to me though.
I'll post a picture when I get home today. I read the internet for about a month trying to come up with a decent design. The steel wool doesn't break apart once its in there and if you've cut it then just make sure that there are no pieces flying about. I check it every oil change and make sure everything is in tact. I've had it on for about a year and the wool has stayed whole.
Were you able to determine the source/cause of that leak? I wouldn't be too hasty in rebuilding the turbo, if the seals don't leak (too much) and there is little shaft play then there's no need to rebuild. I'll watch the video when I get home for more of the story.
Were you able to determine the source/cause of that leak? I wouldn't be too hasty in rebuilding the turbo, if the seals don't leak (too much) and there is little shaft play then there's no need to rebuild. I'll watch the video when I get home for more of the story.