AGP L2R without coolent?

[gob4sho89]

Hi, I think my turbo is dumping coolent/burning it in the hot side and I was wondering if anyone has ran this turbo without the coolent lines hooked up, or has and opinion about doing so? Could I do this just as a test and maybe a longterm solution? current mods in profile.... thanks for the help

 

[JusMX141]

Unless the center housing got cracked somehow, there's literally no way you could be burning coolant at the turbo.

 

[gob4sho89]

i know....

 

[1gDSM4g63]

Well, I don't back AGP turbo because the last AGP turbo crapped out on me with the CHRA splitting apart. Nevertheless, another situation you should look into is the turbo seals.

BTW, whose manufacture of the CHRA?

 

[gob4sho89]

I dont know who made the center section. I baught it used, I've put 16,000miles on it and have loved it untill now....

 

[gob4sho89]

OK, Today I have to drive my car 3hours on the freeway from school to home, and I was wondering if I would hurt anything by disconnecting the coolent lines from my turbo. I want to do this so I can see if it is the turbo that is leaking or if it is something else. Thanks

 

[JusMX141]

Sure you can do it, just let the car cool down properly before turning off the ignition if you don't have a turbo timer. A good 1 minute idle should suffice.

....but the turbo's not where your coolant's going.

 

[gob4sho89]

Well, where is it going then? All of my plugs look the same, have compression +- 1%, and nothing drips from the car, there is not any coolent in the oil or oil in the coolent.

 

[JusMX141]

I've seen cars that leaked coolant almost undetectedly into the cylinders when the engine was hot. Most of the time when this happened the cooling system would bleed itself into the recovery tank, and the car would be running hot.

I've seen water pumps that leaked only slighty, dripping on to the accessory belts where the coolant would be flung all over the engine bay. The coolant would then dry and you'd have no idea where it was leaking from.

I've seen cars that had cracked blocks which sprayed coolant into a cylinder or two while the engine was running. The car would then gobble up coolant, but it wasn't going into the oil or oil into the coolant....it was being burnt.


I haven't seen a turbo that leaked coolant into the turbine housing where it could be burnt undetected. Not saying it isn't possible....just very unlikely. The turbo would've had to freeze with straight water (no coolant) in the cooling system or had a casting flaw from the factory to make this theory fly.

But go ahead and block off the water lines and see if the problem stops....just don't run it too long that way. Ball bearing turbos like their water as they use such very little oil for lubrication. Something needs to disperse heat.

 

[gob4sho89]

If I was burning it in a cylinder or two, the plugs would look at least a little different then the others. The plugs look just like they did before I started loosing coolent, and all look the same. Guess I'll try putting a new gasket on the water pump?

 

[JusMX141]

Oops...almost forgot my latest "where's my coolant going" repair:

The freeze plug behind the flywheel rusted out and developed a pinhole leak. Coolant was running into the bell housing and all over the back of the hot, spinning flywheel....the coolant then was flung all over the inside of the bell housing where it blended with clutch dust so by the time it hit the ground it looked like a leaking rear main seal.

That was on my buddy's '95 TSi AWD....wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it with my own eyes.


Even if your CHRA was damaged, it probably would be letting the oil into the cooling system or vice versa instead of leaking into the turbine housing where it could be burnt undetected. I think you have a leak somewhere that you haven't found yet.