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azSkier · 11-29-2015, 03:20 PM

Drove 300 miles yesterday and noticed a few drops of oil on the ground this morning.

The leak is just above the oil filter and Appears to be coming from the turbo. This turbo was installed in March and has 3000 miles on it.

Here are some pictures. The 2nd picture shows the highest point of fresh oil and appears to be a linkage of some sort. It is away from the engine, so the leak must be here.

The leaking oil is engine oil.

All ideas and comments are welcome.

Thanks, Mike

jacwjames · 11-29-2015, 05:36 PM

There is a line that provides engine oil under pressure to the turbo and then a drain line back to the engine. The drain line has the flat flange with an O-ring type seal. The pressure line is (I believe) a flared flange/nut type connection. Possibly one of these became loose.

One thing you may try is to buy a can of engine degreaser, spray it on the area for ~15 minutes and then hose off with a light water hosing. Directions are on the can. Once you do this and get the area clean then start the engine and see if you can pinpoint the leak.

tom chelbana · 11-29-2015, 06:13 PM

We also have the 500 ISM and from the picture the gasket between the turbo and turbo return line is either needing to be tightened our gasket replaced.

DAJO · 11-30-2015, 05:51 PM

Also the entire area appears to be covered with exhaust residue. If it is exhaust could be from previous repair or not. Just saying it is a picture and hard to tell.

azSkier · 12-03-2015, 09:15 AM

Thanks for all the input. Here's an update.

I drove the coach another 400 miles and basically checked for leaks every 1 - 2 hours. I never saw any drips hit the ground, but the entire area is very wet with engine oil.

I got the coach into the Cummins shop and they stated the leak is from the Turbo waste gate seal. This seal is not repairable. They recommended that the entire Turbo be replaced.

I am having this 9 month old Turbo replaced right now.

FYI- The bad turbo was purchased from BuyAutoParts and is labeled "Cummins ISM Engine with OEM Number 2881992 TurboCharger". Surprisingly, this turbo costs only $30 dollars less that the one Cummins is installing.