Turbo Air Inlet Tube Contamination.
 

2008 HHR SS 16 months old/ 9,600 miles.

I removed the air tube that goes from the air cleaner to the turbo inlet to check the turbo. With the tube removed, you can look in and see the turbo compressor and reach in and twirl it to see if there are any irregularities.

I was surprised to find that the air tube was contaminated with a dark thick oil sludge leading down and almost ready to be sucked into the turbo. The PCV valve comes in to this air tube, so the oil is probably a result of that.

I changed oil & filter at 3,000 miles, and the oil life monitor now says 40%. I use regular Mobil-1 oil.

Question : Does anyone with an HHR SS use Mobil-1 Extended Performance ? I wondered if this might have any effect on the air inlet tube oil contamination. I think the Mobil-1 EP is basically the same as regular Mobil-1, but with a more extensive additive package.

As far as i know it just uses regular Mobil 1.

your inlet tube contamination is normal, the engine produces a fine mist of oil that goes into that tube, resulting in oil in your intake, but im suprised to see that you have a sludge buildup, that soulds a little excess with less than 10k on the car.

Mobil 1 EP doesn't meet the same specs as the regular Mobil 1, I think it's the GM 4718 number that we are looking for- for the turbo engine the EP didn't have it on the bottle

I previously owned a VW direct injection turbodiesel with intercooler. At 70,000 miles, this same type of contamination had crudded up the intercooler and the intake manifold.

Can we expect this same process to attack our LNF engines ?

why not just put a catch can on?

How does the catch can work ?

I got to thinking about the sooty exhaust that the HHR SS produces, and I remember that the oil started looking dirty soon after oil change. I am told that the direct injection results in the sooty exhaust (which seems strange to me - with fine metering injectors, precisely controlled, you would expect the opposite). Anyway, this all may be contributing to the PCV system producing more crud than might normally be expected.

I did this to my '95 Eclipse. Just buy a fuel filter and splice in to the breather line that leads out of the engine intake to your intercooler intake pipe, point the fuel filter flow arrow away from the engine. Get a clear one, so you can see when it's time to empty it.

This is a common practice for all tuners of turbo engines. Keeps the intercooler clean of oil.


If you have a lot of miles on, time to clean the intercooler. Remove the intercooler from the vehicle, Use some brake-cleaner and water, heavily clean it.

The easiest/simplest is a water separator used in air systems. Go to Home Depot / Lowes and get one. Used one on my 94 Impala SS & Cadillac STS to stop the same problem. Looks like I will need to do the same thing with the HHR.

Dennis -

Please elaborate. Is this like a sediment bowl like would be used in a compressed air line ?