# blown turbo or head gasket?



## clifborder4fm (Jul 13, 2007)

I was driving home a few weeks ago and pushing it kind of hard and all when I got to my apartment, there was a ton of white smoke coming from the exhaust and some from the engine bay. The coolant was boiling also. 

Now I just changed my head gasket and threw on the C2 8.5:1 spacer on my mk4 vrt. There seemed to by nothing wrong with the stock head gasket.. I took my head to a machine shop and the guy said they wouldn't be able to make it look much better than it already does.. Also my oil looks fine.

Now the weird part is that if its a blown turbo, how come the coolant was boiling and also when I was driving from my apartment to my house (20 miles) I was able to boost... even though I only went up to 3 or 4 psi (didn't want to push it) and there was no whistle..

Can't start the car till tuesday when I get my ecu.


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## zwogti (Jan 11, 2004)

were you running more than 3-4PSI of boost before, is the car still smoking after a new gasket? did you have the right fuel tuning before when all happened?


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## clifborder4fm (Jul 13, 2007)

ya before this happened I turned the boost up to 11 psi on stock compression. I only boosted 3 or 4 psi because I was afraid to do more... Ya I have the C2 stage 1 fueling kit. I can't start the car till tuesday because my ecu is sitting in the post office.

Can the coolant boil if you blew the turbo or seals on the turbo?


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## zwogti (Jan 11, 2004)

if when you ran the 11PSI, you had the right fuel tuning, why can't you start your car untill you get your computer back 
a blown turbo doesn't make your coolant boil up, the car could be over heating because a bad thermostat, radiator fan or if head gasket is blown, some pressure could be going in to the coolant system. is you're getting white smoke from the exhaust something is not right. get your new computer, put it in, turn the car on, let it warm up for few minutes, if you still have smoke coming from the exhaust do a compresion test on the motor, if the test comes out ok and smoke still there, remove down pipe from turbo and check for oil leak on the turbine side( exhaust side on turbo)


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## clifborder4fm (Jul 13, 2007)

So I just started the car up after changing the head gasket. It started right away but now I have coolant in my evap system where the service check valve is... its was shooting through this line:









This is a huge coolant leak too under the car??


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## clifborder4fm (Jul 13, 2007)

So the coolant stopped leaking after turning the car on a few times. The same white smoke is coming out the back. It seems like some might be coming from where the turbo is. In idle the engine just chokes on itself.

Blown turbo seals?


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## clifborder4fm (Jul 13, 2007)

The smoke is actually coming from below the turbo on the exhaust... Do you guys think it could be a clogged cat? It seems like the car is dying on its own exhaust? The is smoke coming from the back and from the cat area...


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## clifborder4fm (Jul 13, 2007)

actually all of the smoke is coming out of the back. What do you guys think?


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## zwogti (Jan 11, 2004)

Assuming all your turbo system/coolant lines/vacuum lines/ emission lines are installed right, I don't see how would you be burning coolant other than a bad head gasket, maybe you have a coolant leak
(cracked coolant line/hose) some where. Do you have coolant line attached to your turbo? maybe it is just burning coolant/oil from when you lifted the head to replace the head gasket? I would think that if you had a bad Cat, the check eng light would come on.


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## zwogti (Jan 11, 2004)

clifborder4fm said:


> So I just started the car up after changing the head gasket. It started right away but now I have coolant in my evap system where the service check valve is... its was shooting through this line:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



maybe the person who did the head gasket, connected the coolant line to the wrong place before, than found out it was on the wrong place and changed it to the right place, but than you already had coolant going in the wrong place.... 

I don't see how would you get coolant on the emission system, it is not part of the coolant system.

it doesn't look like you have that much idea on what it's going on, you need to do a good inspection on the motor and all line/hoses to make sure everything are hooked up right, see if you find any leaks, if you aren't able to perform the job please take it to someone who is able to, this way you'll know for sure what is wrong. it looks like you have 2 different things going on there.


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## clifborder4fm (Jul 13, 2007)

I checked the oil level after starting my car multiple times with morning and it dropped quite a bit but there is no sign on oil leaking... So I am pretty sure I have bad seals on the turbo and the oil is going straight into the down pipe and burning giving off the smoke..


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## zwogti (Jan 11, 2004)

just separate the downpipe from the turbo, look inside the downpipe/turbine's house and you'll find out if oil is leaking.

*maybe when you checked the oil level, you didn't give time for all the oil to return to the oil pan after you ran the motor....if you're really burning oil that fast, to be noticed a lower oil level on the same day, I'll say you have a problem some where.


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## clifborder4fm (Jul 13, 2007)

ya will check tomorrow. I checked an hour after running the car and the level was still low.. Will see what happens tomorrow


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