# Turbo Leaking Coolant



## Tutti57 (Jun 20, 2011)

I put a used turbo on my car a month or two ago and was smelling coolant occasionally. I figured it was one of the lines with the washers on them. 

Yesterday I went out to fix it. Pressurized the cooling system to about 15lbs and cleaned the old coolant off the turbo area to see where it was coming from. No lines are leaking. It's coming from this edge where the two pieces meet.


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## big_c02 (Mar 7, 2013)

Ouch- pretty crappy luck with turbos!  sorry to hear 

At this point, you much be an expert in removal and install. How quickly can you do it in? 

I think I am starting to hear the dentist drill noise ... somewhat intermittent and not too loud yet. I believe a replacement is in my future.


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## Tutti57 (Jun 20, 2011)

I feel like with a friend we could do it in like 3 or 4 hours. 

It might be the other side of the turbo and not where the arrow is but it is definitely coming from where that water jacket section meets the other parts. 

Any way to fix this? Barely anything comes out when I had it pressurized but when I look under there there's quite a but if coolant like its being blasted out. Could boost be forcing more out?

I'm not familiar with the guts of the turbo so I'm just guessing by the way coolant is sprayed all over. 

I really don't want to have to take it out again.


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## Tutti57 (Jun 20, 2011)

And by fix, I mean a wad of jb weld or something. I'm a great hack and have fixed many leaking parts with that stuff.

Or, is it also leaking somewhere internally where coolant shouldn't be going, so the wad of weld will only stop the external leaking?


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## [email protected] (Jul 1, 2009)

Tutti57 said:


> Or, is it also leaking somewhere internally where coolant shouldn't be going, so the wad of weld will only stop the external leaking?


 I'm afraid it's going to be this. Although a rare occurrence, the casting can have a flaw which allows the pressurized coolant to escape through the oil galleries. The symptom will be coolant oozing past the compressor housing seals.


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## Tutti57 (Jun 20, 2011)

Super. What are the long term issues of running with it this way?


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## [email protected] (Jul 1, 2009)

If I'm right, then it's a bad thing to have happening. But I do believe this is a pretty rare thing. I've seen it only once with my own product. I'd like to say that perhaps it's something harmless, but coolant weeping from a place it's not supposed to be spells trouble. You don't want coolant intermingling with your oil. 

Any sign of contamination in your oil?


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## Tutti57 (Jun 20, 2011)

Good point. I'll have to check that. 

I'd like to think that the person I bought it from was not aware of this problem.


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## Pure.Dope (Mar 26, 2009)

When I took my k03 off I found what looked like a long ass crack in the turbine housing.


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## Tutti57 (Jun 20, 2011)

I can easily check the oil for contamination but how can I tell If its being burned in the mixture? I'm not seeing any white smoke. Would the plugs show? I don't want to ruin any sensors or my new cat if its burning the coolant.


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## big_c02 (Mar 7, 2013)

Maybe a sweet smell from the exhaust?


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## Tutti57 (Jun 20, 2011)

In really don't see any way of fixing this besides replacing the GD thing again. 😪


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## big_c02 (Mar 7, 2013)

K04 or F23t time?


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## Tutti57 (Jun 20, 2011)

If it gets donated or someone buys one for me I'll do it! We are very poor right now.


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## Tutti57 (Jun 20, 2011)

Has anyone had any luck using those cheap uv leak detection kits? I want to be 100% of where this leak is coming from before I move ahead to replace it.


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## Tutti57 (Jun 20, 2011)

Spent some time looking again and I think it my be one of the coolant lines. It's really hard to tell but I'm thinking one has a tiny leak than is appearing to come from somewhere else. 

I'm going to change out the washer and find out.


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