ugently need expert / experienced opinion

[sunsetR33]

Hi all.
First off, thanks for reading my post.

So end of last season I put the car away knowing I was leaking at least two fluids. One of them being rear turbo's oil.
I went to my car recently that is waiting in a garage to take a peek with my boroscope to try and see if I can narrow down the souce of oil before taking it out of storage.
What I found is not so great I think. The rear turbo is (probably) leaking from the oil drain. The hose and it's clamps are probably the original ones, so most likely just worn out or loose.

However I spotted a line of rust going straight down from the turbo oil feed, as if water leaked out of there at some point. Also explains the red liquid that was dripping from my front subframe, which I initially thought was power steering. I can even see coolant drops hanging off the side of the oil pan as well. After a quick hit on the web I found a select few discussions about porous engine blocks.
My question is if the pics of the turbo oil feed and the left hand side of the block (imgur link below) looks like it could be exactly that to you. Maybe someone in the community has seen it before and knows what it looks like.
If it actually is a porously leaking block, has anyone attempted at fixing it with simple methods like putting a sealer in the cooling system and using something like jb weld on the block surface, or will it just leak in 2 weeks again?

I could not find any detailed info or pictures on this topic.

If I need a new engine, tell me softly.

https://imgur.com/a/knVvmZ8

[GTSBoy]

51 minutes ago, sunsetR33 said:

I found a select few discussions about porous engine blocks.

Which are almost all nonsense. Ignore.

52 minutes ago, sunsetR33 said:

has anyone attempted at fixing it with simple methods like putting a sealer in the cooling system

Obviously enough, if it is not a porous block, then any such thing is a waste of time.

52 minutes ago, sunsetR33 said:

using something like jb weld on the block surface

External block surface? Would be a waste of time, if the block was actually porous. It would need to go on the inside, which is inaccessible, and even if the block was open deck so that that area was acessible, it would be unlikely to work.

But seeing as this is all nonsense, stop worrying about it.

 

If the coolant is coming from the side of the block it is 10:1 odds that it is either a welch plug, or it is coming from the head gasket. Maybe from one of the coolant lines feeding the turbo, or even the heater. Liquids that leak from up high can travel sideways along casting surfaces or pipes, etc on the engine before finding a spot from which to drop.

[sunsetR33]

2 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

If the coolant is coming from the side of the block it is 10:1 odds that it is either a welch plug, or it is coming from the head gasket. Maybe from one of the coolant lines feeding the turbo, or even the heater. Liquids that leak from up high can travel sideways along casting surfaces or pipes, etc on the engine before finding a spot from which to drop.


But if it was the head gasket, which the previous owner changed (cometic one) along with ARP head studs, wouldn't I notice that in the oil/coolant?
I suppose I just have to do a pressure test once I take it out of storage then.

There also is coolant lines right beside the cam covers if I remember that right. But those didn't look leaky to be honest. From what I could see so far I don't think there was any coolant residue on the top half of the block. But I will probably take off the intake piping anyway once I need to check for leaks.

 

[GTSBoy]

9 minutes ago, sunsetR33 said:

But if it was the head gasket, which the previous owner changed (cometic one) along with ARP head studs, wouldn't I notice that in the oil/coolant?

A changed head gasket is an opportunity for whoever the butt-monkey was that did the job to mess it up. And there is far more than one way for a head gasket failure to manifest. Besides which, I did not say "head gasket failure". I just said that the coolant could be coming from there. If the gasket was not installed properly there might be a leak path from a coolant gallery to the outside and no mixing of fluids inside.

11 minutes ago, sunsetR33 said:

There also is coolant lines right beside the cam covers if I remember that right. But those didn't look leaky to be honest.

Anywhere that a hose joins a hard pipe is a big opportunity for a leak. If the rubber is old then it will be brittle and it is only a matter of time before that will leak, and the same with every other bit of rubber on the car. Paranoia will eventually drive you to take the whole thing apart so you can find and replace all such. It's not easy with the plenum in place.

[sunsetR33]

Quote

A changed head gasket is an opportunity for whoever the butt-monkey was that did the job to mess it up.

Well I don't know if it was a professional or not. I did a head gasket before so doing it on the RB wouldn't be too much of a challenge.
 

Quote

Anywhere that a hose joins a hard pipe is a big opportunity for a leak

Already have a slight drip on the bottom radiator (almost new -_-) hose and the lower of the two heater connector hoses behind the head. Will have to fix those too.

[GTSBoy]

7 minutes ago, sunsetR33 said:

Well I don't know if it was a professional or not. I did a head gasket before so doing it on the RB wouldn't be too much of a challenge.

There are professional butt-monkeys too.

Just from lack of familiarity in Europe and the US there are plenty of mechanics who do things the wrong way on RBs. Even here in Oz, where we've been playing with RBs since 1986, there are still examples of the not-quite-bright-enough mechanic doing the wrong thing and causing simple jobs to go wrong.

[joshuaho96]

11 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

There are professional butt-monkeys too.

Just from lack of familiarity in Europe and the US there are plenty of mechanics who do things the wrong way on RBs. Even here in Oz, where we've been playing with RBs since 1986, there are still examples of the not-quite-bright-enough mechanic doing the wrong thing and causing simple jobs to go wrong.

A local that insisted he learned from the best in Australia for RB builds managed to machine a head past the point of saving according to another shop and it dropped a valve too. Ghosted the customer and as far as I know nothing really happened to him. A coworker also recently told a story about owning a Porsche in Germany and running into issues with a dealer tech leaving scratches, oil stains, and missing parts all over his car. I'm not a master tech by any means but at this point I've seen enough expensive mistakes that I'd rather make them myself.

[sunsetR33]

1 hour ago, GTSBoy said:

There are professional butt-monkeys too.

Just from lack of familiarity in Europe and the US there are plenty of mechanics who do things the wrong way on RBs. Even here in Oz, where we've been playing with RBs since 1986, there are still examples of the not-quite-bright-enough mechanic doing the wrong thing and causing simple jobs to go wrong.

Well if I end up having to do the head gasket I will certainly find the necessary tools and instructions before beginning... Let's hope it won't come around.

 

57 minutes ago, joshuaho96 said:

I'm not a master tech by any means but at this point I've seen enough expensive mistakes that I'd rather make them myself.

Definitely. Depends on the job but I think "if you want it done right, do it yourself" applies almost every time

[GTSBoy]

2 minutes ago, sunsetR33 said:

Definitely. Depends on the job but I think "if you want it done right, do it yourself" applies almost every time

There are certain tasks, like replacing head gaskets, where it is very much best to already know what you are doing, and if you are not already an expert, then the next best thing is to have an expert around to help it get done. Little annoying checks and steps that are easy to forget or not interpret the results of properly, etc etc. It is hard to convey that to someone as a lesson prior to taking on a job, because there can be a whole list of "if you see this then it means that", or "if this is what you find then you will need to do these other 4 steps first".

All the little bits of knowledge around sealant choice (ie, sealant at all? or no sealant? sealant only in certain parts of the gasket? sealant for this type of gasket but not that type of gasket? etc etc) cleanliness checks and methods, surface straightness and finish checks and methods, etc etc, all combine to mean that people who have done many of the same type of job will struggle less to get a good result than someone who hasn't done it before.

I've been around this stuff since forever. But I will still consult with my expert(s) before taking on the big stuff with higher risk profile.

[sunsetR33]

13 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

I've been around this stuff since forever. But I will still consult with my expert(s) before taking on the big stuff with higher risk profile.

There is some shops in Germany that have quite a bit of experience with JDM performance 4-wheelers. I think if it actually comes down to it I'd let one of them do the head gasket. Killing an RB26 is too expensive a risk just to save some money by doing it yourself.

[joshuaho96]

15 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

There are certain tasks, like replacing head gaskets, where it is very much best to already know what you are doing, and if you are not already an expert, then the next best thing is to have an expert around to help it get done. Little annoying checks and steps that are easy to forget or not interpret the results of properly, etc etc. It is hard to convey that to someone as a lesson prior to taking on a job, because there can be a whole list of "if you see this then it means that", or "if this is what you find then you will need to do these other 4 steps first".

All the little bits of knowledge around sealant choice (ie, sealant at all? or no sealant? sealant only in certain parts of the gasket? sealant for this type of gasket but not that type of gasket? etc etc) cleanliness checks and methods, surface straightness and finish checks and methods, etc etc, all combine to mean that people who have done many of the same type of job will struggle less to get a good result than someone who hasn't done it before.

I've been around this stuff since forever. But I will still consult with my expert(s) before taking on the big stuff with higher risk profile.

Yeah, this is more stuff like transmission/clutch R&R. Intake manifold R&R. It's not super complicated, but each step matters and you need to be careful and patient. I have heard stories for example of people not figuring out the super coppermix twin plate orientation and getting it wrong on assembly. Removing a cylinder head and putting it back in once it's machined isn't that hard, following torque sequence to install some cams isn't that hard either, but somehow I've seen a lot go wrong between here and there. Scraping off all gasket material isn't that hard either, but I've seen shops ruin heads by using a roloc disk that was too aggressive.

[GTSBoy]

11 minutes ago, sunsetR33 said:

Killing an RB26 is too expensive a risk just to save some money by doing it yourself.

Well, if it wasn't a GTR I'd say that killing an RB is a perfect opportunity to put in a proper engine. In your case, proximity to Brabus and AMG V12s would be a no brainer for any RWD Skyline engine death event.

In my case, because my car is my daily, anything that I do wrong that means I have to do it again is both an absolute pain in the arse (simply having to do it again), and also a doubling of the pain associated with having the car off the road to work on it.

I would class a botched head gasket install as not being "engine death causing". More a case of "f**k it's still leaking!"

[sunsetR33]

5 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

Well, if it wasn't a GTR I'd say that killing an RB is a perfect opportunity to put in a proper engine. In your case, proximity to Brabus and AMG V12s would be a no brainer for any RWD Skyline engine death event.

I rather like the RBs despite their quirks and issues and also putting a random engine in will not work because you will never legally be able to drive it. Realistically if you wanted to swap an LS in, or a V12 or whichever engine, to make it legal it'd just cost more than a new RB.

[GTSBoy]

Just now, sunsetR33 said:

Realistically if you wanted to swap an LS in, or a V12 or whichever engine, to make it legal it'd just cost more than a new RB.

Yeah, I understand that TÜV is a bitch, but.... cost is not an issue when talking about putting a massive NA (or possibly large + turbo'd) V engine into a Skyline. We do it because it is fun.

If mine was a project car and not a daily, I'd be finding some massive engine to put in it. Possibly one of the Toyota V12s that they make into monsters in New Zealand. Engineering is not cheap and easy here either (although definitely easier and cheaper than in Der Vaterland). But anything is possible, and 7L is better than ~2.5L, by about 200%.

[sunsetR33]

1 minute ago, GTSBoy said:

Yeah, I understand that TÜV is a bitch, but.... cost is not an issue when talking about putting a massive NA (or possibly large + turbo'd) V engine into a Skyline. We do it because it is fun.

If mine was a project car and not a daily, I'd be finding some massive engine to put in it. Possibly one of the Toyota V12s that they make into monsters in New Zealand. Engineering is not cheap and easy here either (although definitely easier and cheaper than in Der Vaterland). But anything is possible, and 7L is better than ~2.5L, by about 200%.

To put it in perspective; there is just one tuner shop that sells a single turbo kit for the RB26, at least publicly in their shop. Maybe one or two others can offer you a setup if you inquire, but I am not sure.
That turbo kit is 16k in parts alone (high quality ones, but still). By the time it's installed, tuned and legalized expect it to cost 25k+. And then you still didn't take into account for any special wishes.

I can't imagine legalizing an LS swap for example to be any cheaper.
And if you want to legally raise power output by more than 40% of the highest-powered OEM variant of any specific car you'd have to do stress testing on a race track for 2000km. Wildly out of perspective cost and effort wise, especially for just one vehicle. But if you got too much money, I guess you could do it.

[MBS206]

18 minutes ago, sunsetR33 said:

I rather like the RBs despite their quirks and issues and also putting a random engine in will not work because you will never legally be able to drive it. Realistically if you wanted to swap an LS in, or a V12 or whichever engine, to make it legal it'd just cost more than a new RB.

But V12 Skyline.

Like, I'm In!

 

Stay Tuned in the USA are jamming a V12 into a Foxbody at the moment...

Just the sound of V10 or V12 is worth that adventure!

[sunsetR33]

1 minute ago, MBS206 said:

But V12 Skyline.

Like, I'm In!

 

Stay Tuned in the USA are jamming a V12 into a Foxbody at the moment...

Just the sound of V10 or V12 is worth that adventure!

Hey I get it. Definitely sounds exciting, but not for me, there is almost no V10 or 12 that I really like. I don't like big engines with high cylinder count. V8s would probably be where I draw the line of "which engine would you use".
Specifically an LS7 is a favorite of mine, or the 5.2 Voodoo by Ford.

[MBS206]

1 hour ago, sunsetR33 said:

Hey I get it. Definitely sounds exciting, but not for me, there is almost no V10 or 12 that I really like. I don't like big engines with high cylinder count. V8s would probably be where I draw the line of "which engine would you use".
Specifically an LS7 is a favorite of mine, or the 5.2 Voodoo by Ford.

Done! I'm in for both of those too!

[GTSBoy]

40 minutes ago, sunsetR33 said:

expect it to cost 25k+

Most proper RB26 builds here in Oz are costing multiples of that number. And yes, I know you're talking Euros. Here' the dollars being spent are largely associated with amphetamines.

[sunsetR33]

I'm aware that you can sink endless amounts of money into an engine. I don't want that kind of engie though. My power goal is 500, maybe 600hp at the max. I can get by with the nearly stock engine that I have now for that purpose and if it does need a rebuild at some point I would choose longer lasting components instead of the most ridiculously hp-rated ones. And do all the essentials of course.