Hi I`m not sure if I should start what isn`t really a new topic but as so many people seem to be speaking on the forum about this annoying problem I thought perhaps it would help other people to get their heads round this " standard fit problem " It seems that nearly every X-trail at one time or other is going to suffer from this drip. But do we worry too much this little oil leak ? as long as its not noticeably leaking enough to show on dip stick, is it a big problem ? give it a wipe once a week, you may get a little burning smell now and then live with it . There seems to be too much investigation into where the oil is leaking out of the intercooler why ? why try and stop it coming out when the problem is it shouldn`t be here in the first place . Even if your intercooler has a leak why pay a fortune to change it ? if there was no oil in there you wouldn`t change it , you wouldn`t even know it had a leak as nothing would leak out apart from a little slightly charged air.
surely if you can`t live with a little oil leak sort the oil leak first. Investigate where the oil is coming from ,its coming from the oil feed to the turbo charger , there is a turbo bearing lubcricated with engine oil and i think that you will find 90% of all the problems with the intercooler would be solved . But again you have to weight up whether the expense is worth it and of course if you can afford the cost of a new turbo !!!! look forward to hearing other peoples views on this ! cheers

Hi. I agree. After removing the intercooler a few times and cleaning it up with the pipe from the turbo to no avail I have found that if you fold a piece of cloth wipe over several times and wedge it under where the the inlet pipe goes into the intercooler (thats where my leak is coming from) it soaks up the oil before it has chance to run down the front of the engine and change it every week and it has solved the oily mess on the engine and stopped the occasional burning smell that you mentioned and do'snt cost anything.
Cheers. Martyn.

Cowboy lost his Turbo after oil leaks - This is the tell tale sign u need to start thinking to replace turbo people.

Oh no - poor Cowboy

Just wondering are the two usually linked? We need a new intercooler (see my other fred) but don't know of any problems with the turbo, but am a bit concerned reading this

T30 cooler is air cooled on air .. the oil you see dribbling out is from the sump - either blown up by a badly worn engine (there is an engine breather upstream) OR more probable on a 70 k vehicle the Turbo seals by passing oil and close to failure.

Its easy to tell when you need a new turbo or intercooler.

When your tyres get down to the where limit (2mm), its time to change them along with the turbo and intercoolder.
The fuel pump should be change when the fuel indicator shows empty.

Speaking as a newbie who's just acquired an X-Trail with the oily mess under the intercooler, I think the initial cause of the problem is being missed and we're just treating symptoms;

To my mind, the fault sequence goes like this;

- Intercooler develops air leak so boost pressure drops
- Drop in boost pressure means less back pressure resistance to turbo
- Less resistance means turbo spools up to too high a speed and over spins
- Over spinning trashes turbo bearings & seals
- Oil leaks into turbo and gets sprayed into intercooler
- Oil leaks out of the air leak in intercooler
- We spot oily mess

So, sadly, the damage is done long before we know anything about it.

Intercooler leaks on HGV's are known to cause turbo problems so they're pressure tested from time to time. Intercooler leaks also give fuel economy a kicking too.

Seems like a new intercooler ought to be fitted at the same time as a new turbo or the fault will just be repeated. The claw coupling along the intercoolers looks pretty poor so maybe the fully welded after-market one is the way to go to avoid future leaks.

Hi BBF and welcome to the forum

Thanks Vandy.

Great forum by the way guys, looking forward to contributing where I can.

We're loving the X-Trail despite the turbo / cooler issues, just moved into it from a BMW 525d touring and it's proving much the better vehicle for where we live in the Cotswolds. Roll on winter then I can see how much easier it is to get up our street in snow without run flats!!

Hi BBF
Having changed from a 325i touring myself, with really fat run flat tyres (nightmare) you'll definately notice the difference in wet/icy/snowy conditions. I changed mine for an X Trail last year just as the snow was starting, as the BMW drove like a skateboard in the ice and tramlined in the dry! It was a lovely, very powerful and enjoyable car with all the bells and whistles and as long as the road conditions were just as it like them - dry, smooth and flat it was great. Took a while to adjust to the Xtrail but now I would have to think long and hard before changing it - goes anywhere and ideal for the country lanes where I live.