Concern after boost leak testing...

[xcelr8n]

Ok, I will try and cover every detail in this post. My car has ran beautifully the last couple months, no leaks, doesnt burn oil or coolant of any kind. We did a boost leak today, popped the intake tube off, and it was all clean. Left the VC breather hose attached to the intake tube and set it to the side. Started filling the system with air, built 5, 10psi quickly, noticed a weird bubbling/gurgling sound starting (something I have never heard while doing a BL test) Anyways it built 20psi rather quickly and than slowly bled off, so thats fine... Than I noticed that the intake tube is now filled with oil, and that coolant is pushing into the overflow... It's not overflowing but its definitely leaking back into the reservoir.
Any thoughts on whats causing this? I drove the car home and all was fine, no smoking, overheating, coolant pushing , etc...
Whats the deal here?

 

[SoonToBeDSM06]

Well the bubbling could occur from the turbo seals not being pressurized with oil and the air is leaking into the oil system. It could also be your valve seals but usually you will smoke a little at idle but not always. And the third thing could be your PCV valve is leaking under boost. But you should check your rings too ### you could have blowby. Check that with a compression tester.

 

[xcelr8n]

Compression numbers are still the same as they have always been straight 155psi and 167on the wet-test. Had an issue with a leaky PCV valve about a month ago, replaced that with a new Mitsu unit.
The car doesnt smoke, and doesnt burn any oil... I'm leaning towards it being from the turbo, but am also not that concerned about it anymore, as I don't think after talkin with a few knowledgeable people is that BIG a deal.
Any more feedback is widely welcomed!
Thanks.

 

[-Stroked-]

I would just say you turbo is showing its age. Signs of oil will be from the seals and the coolant would usually be from a headgasket but if you have no overheating problems then I would say don't worry about it. Looks like everything checked out and your car is showing its age especially since the compression jumped from 155 to 167 with a wet test. Rings are starting to fade.

 

[xcelr8n]

The engine and turbo have almost 150,000miles on em, (230,000ish kms), so its not surprising. I am going to continue to run 13-14psi and keep a close eye on it, I'm pretty sure its the turbo though. As for the numbers 155 going to 167 on a wet-test is pretty damn good IMO, thats less than 10% difference 14 years later... =)

 

[Cool Mr Steve]

I think that the coolant being pushed is definitely something that needs to be investigated. There should be no way for any of the pressurized air to be able to enter into the coolant system. I read a thread a long time ago (can't find it right now) where a guy had air leaking into his cooling system that caused his radiator cap to bubble during a boost leak test. He said that it was a leak in his throttle body where it met up with the coolant hose. A leak like that, though, seems as though it would be very easy to notice. The only other way air could be entering the cooling system during a boost leak test, as far as I can see, would be a bad headgasket. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but thats the only thing that comes to mind. Possibly you should pressurize the cooling system to see where you are leaking. My guess, though, is a headgasket job is in your future. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[xcelr8n]

I was planning on buying the tester to pressurize the cooling system tomorrow morning =)
As for the amount of coolant though, it wasn't pushing like I've seen coolant "push" before, this was more of a little bubbling of air, and maybe a total of >5mL actually being pushed, now that I think about it, the amount was very minimal...

 

[Cool Mr Steve]

I was planning on buying the tester to pressurize the cooling system tomorrow morning =)
As for the amount of coolant though, it wasn't pushing like I've seen coolant "push" before, this was more of a little bubbling of air, and maybe a total of >5mL actually being pushed, now that I think about it, the amount was very minimal...

Be sure to post your results! I want to know where that air is coming from, especially if it's not your headgasket. I'm rooting for you, man! Hopefully your test comes out good.

 

[xcelr8n]

This is going to have to take a backseat til the weekend my 50+ hour work/school weeks are killin me right now, have no time do get anything done... I will dig it up after this weekends test results.