Help, I Think My Turbo Died

[wookster]

So just went to get in my car and found a nice little trickle of dried water that had run behind left front wheel. Looked a little closer and it was seemingly rusty water. Looked for some indicator of where it came from but pretty hard in the dark.

Turned on the car and started getting some more drips slowly. Now after it warmed up there seemed to be a quicker succession of drips, saw a very small, fine spray hit the 45 degree part of the left hand chassis rail. Ran and turned it off real quick.

Turbo has had a whine for a while and was planning to take to the mechanics soon. Anyway, the liquid seems a it greasy and I assume the turbo's actually dead now. Is the RB25DET Neo 6 in 1999 Stagea RS 4 water and oil turbo? The reason I ask is that the liquid started to seem oily... can the water jacket crack or am I misinformed here?

I have a spare turbo that apparently has been off a RB25 that had blow-by but was allegedly fine (saw some oil drops in the in side when I picked it up). Can I swap this in? How hard is just swapping the turbo over?

Thanks for any help

[PN-Mad]

Sounds more like a coolant leak from something, and probably a neglected cooling system.

Pin point the exact place the water is coming out, a leak does not mean the turbo is gone, but it probably means you'll be taking it out to replace gaskets or lines.

As for the difficulty it's hard to say without knowing what your capable of, and your tool selection. Plenty of people DIY.

[wookster]

Sounds more like a coolant leak from something, and probably a neglected cooling system.

Pin point the exact place the water is coming out, a leak does not mean the turbo is gone, but it probably means you'll be taking it out to replace gaskets or lines.

As for the difficulty it's hard to say without knowing what your capable of, and your tool selection. Plenty of people DIY.

I'm currently jacking the car so I can try to see from underneath exactly where it's leaking. I am reasonably mechanically adept and have most tools needed for general work.

Thanks for the reply

[Ben C34]

Stop freaking out. Your turbo isn't cracked. Just find the leak and fix it

[wookster]

Stop freaking out. Your turbo isn't cracked. Just find the leak and fix it

Not freaking, just trying to provide information and thought process... it happened late last night and was sort of a brain dump. Anyways some new information:

Looks to be coming from the block. There is a constant drip every few seconds from just under the exhaust manifold. Sort of like a circular indent 20mm in diameter that indents 10mm. The greasy part I'm pretty sure is from a f**ked rubber sleeve on the CV joint that's greased everything under there.

[PN-Mad]

Is it a welsh plug?

Google it if your unsure for images.

If that's the case, you'll be replacing it.

[Daleo]

I don't mean to treat you like an idiot, but are you sure it isn't water from the air con?

Mine drops a little pool of water that dries slightly rusty on the garage floor from the condensate drain.

Are you running coolant? It is very easy to trace coolant leaks from the telltale red stain after the water has evaporated.

[wookster]

Is it a welsh plug?

Google it if your unsure for images.

If that's the case, you'll be replacing it.

Certainly looks like a welsh plug, thanks for that avenue of thought. Never had to do one before...

[wookster]

I don't mean to treat you like an idiot, but are you sure it isn't water from the air con?

Mine drops a little pool of water that dries slightly rusty on the garage floor from the condensate drain.

Are you running coolant? It is very easy to trace coolant leaks from the telltale red stain after the water has evaporated.

I had thought this was originally what was the issue but after jacking it up and taking all the plastic covers off it seems to be leaking from a welsh plug (mentioned above).

I've drained the water previously when I bought the car over a year ago and replaced with some tetlacoy (or however it's spelt) green coolant.

[wookster]

This is the main drip I can find

[PN-Mad]

yup, don't want to be in your shoes- Sorry to say

It'll be exhaust manifold off - which you will break the studs, and have to replace them all, then it'll be fairly easy to knock it out and replace it.

Unless the RB experts here have a better way of doing it?

[wookster]

yup, don't want to be in your shoes- Sorry to say

 

It'll be exhaust manifold off - which you will break the studs, and have to replace them all, then it'll be fairly easy to knock it out and replace it. 

 

Unless the RB experts here have a better way of doing it?

Oh, the studs are that bad?

[Daleo]

Can you get up there with a tiny mirror (I steal the missus powder compact) and have a look at the hidden edge of the welch plug; ti certainly looks like the culprit.

When replacing; I'd do all the ones you can get at; otherwise you will be back there.

The studs are not terrible; if the manifold is coming off; it doesn't matter how many you break IMO.

I had a mobile thread repairer do all of mine on an RB30 (originally 2 broken, 5 more broke during removal); cost $240 including new studs/nuts/washers; I wouldn't even bother with it myself for that kind of coin.

The studs have an incredibly hard life due to the heat cycling the deal with.

[PN-Mad]

Yeah, broken exhaust studs is a RB trait. Its pretty well documented. Save yourself the hassle/heartache and do what Dale said - get a thread guy.

[wookster]

Can you get up there with a tiny mirror (I steal the missus powder compact) and have a look at the hidden edge of the welch plug; ti certainly looks like the culprit.

When replacing; I'd do all the ones you can get at; otherwise you will be back there.

The studs are not terrible; if the manifold is coming off; it doesn't matter how many you break IMO.

I had a mobile thread repairer do all of mine on an RB30 (originally 2 broken, 5 more broke during removal); cost $240 including new studs/nuts/washers; I wouldn't even bother with it myself for that kind of coin.

The studs have an incredibly hard life due to the heat cycling the deal with.

No missus to steal mirror off hahahaha.

Yeah that makes sense to get someone else to do the threads if they snap. I was waiting for my mechanics to get back from WTAC to get the stag in as there's also some oil leak (and now the cv rubber) that I wanted to get looked over. Might just get them to do it all...

[Ben C34]

Spray some rp7 or penetr8 on the nuts on the studs before removing. Makes a huge difference. I have taken mainifold off mine , and on old vl turbo and not broken a stud.

[GoldZilla]

The studs break due to the constant heat cycling, as Dale said, and then fairly often the exhaust manifold itself will warp and crack because it's not secured properly and goes through that same constant heat cycling process.

My car is being worked on right now, and I knew there were broken studs, but it turns out that the manifold was cracked too, which you usually only find out about when you have to remove it , like you'll have to do, unfortunately...

You've gotta remember that the C34 is, at a minimum, 13 years old now.

[533 RYC]

By the look of the picture, those nuts haven't moved in a long time. Expect to break afew. I was lucky enough to find mine had previously been replaced with stainless studs & nuts. While that welshy looks to be the culprit, pressure test the cooling system anyway.

A tip for anyone loosening exhaust studs/nuts/bolts, use a decent amount of penetrene, leave for a few hours, lube again & then nip the nuts/bolts up before attempting to loosen. If they move, then you have apretty good chance of loosening without breaking. If it breaks, well it would have broken if you tried to loosen first.

[DaveB]

From personal experience, I was lucky enough to get all my studs out by using penetrating oil and patience and was lucky enough not to break them. The biggest pain for me is removing the turbo itself - gotta drain all coolant and oil, and difficult to position 3 x hard lines all in one go without over-stressing anything... plus everything has to have 2 x copper washers (new ones) when it all goes back together... argh.

[wookster]

After reading all your tips and taking them into consideration I decided yesterday to send it over to the mechanics.

Over Sunday night it seems to have dropped a massive puddle of water and the fact that I'm not tooled up properly to get the job done and there are other things to fix were the deciding factors.

Waiting for them to call me back when they have the time to fix it.