Intake pipe blows off from pressure and oil/ coolant leak

[raptoranderson]

So after almost a month of intermittent work and weekends spent working on my Eclipse, I finally got the Front Mount Intercooler I purchased from CX Racing installed so that it fits on with the bumper and also holds boost I also closed the blow off valve so that even when revving in neutral the turbo flutters

So after all the time spent wondering if I'd finally get the intercooler installed I finished it and took it out for a drive. I got 100 yards before all of the boost was dumped out of the car in one sharp, short "whoosh" and the car died. Couldn't get it to start so me and my buddy pushed it back to my house to find that the intake pipe coming off the compressor housing blew clean-off. The car was also leaking what must've been oil and also smoking quite profusely. The smoke smelled sweet almost but not quite like coolant, although I assume that's what it is.

The pipe that blew off comes from the turbo almost straight down and then turns 80 or 90 degrees to go out to the intercooler; so like an upright L-shape. The turbo outlet is 2" and my intercooler piping is 2.5" so I had to buy a pipe reducer to make it fit, but obviously the reducer doesn't have a lot of purchase or a rolled lip or bead on it for the clamp to clamp onto when being bolted on, hence why it blew off.

Any suggestions from keeping the pipe from blowing-off under pressure and also locating an oil leak?

 

[EGLTAWLN]

Some people spray hair spray on the joint connection to help glue the joint together, i flare out the intercooler pipes with a pair of pliers or vise grips, a little goes a long way. you can weld a bead on it, make sure the pipe and coupling are not oiled. Try to use t bolt clamps for pressure connections.

 

[raptoranderson]

I purposefully went and got rid of all the jubilee/ worm gear clamps on the old intercooler setup and replaced them with proper t bolt clamps. I've seen some people buy a crimping tool, grind the end off of it and then use that to create a bead on the pipe ... how much do you flare the pipe?

 

[jakk220]

What do you mean by "Closed the blow off valve?"

 

[JDT]

Holy crap where do I even begin? First you don't have a DSM profile and haven't listed any info on the car in this thread, so we don't know if it's a 1g, 2g, or 2g N/T with a turbo kit bolted on. All we have to go by is the green 2G in your avatar pic.

First don't close off the BOV just to get the flutter sound, that's bad for your turbo and makes you a ricer. Second, CX racing is cheap china junk, I'm not surprised that the couplers aren't up to the task and don't fit right. If your car didn't start it's because all the air post MAF is metered, if you had put the coupler back on you would have been able to fire it up again. You need a 2.5" to 2" reducer coupler, what you described sounds like the rubber ring you put on an intake to fit a smaller OD pipe. There's a reason those are used for intakes only, you'll never get it to seal in a pressurized system.

Also if your car is leaking ANYTHING, why are you spending money on an intercooler and not on repairing the issue?

 

[raptoranderson]

Holy crap, where do you begin indeed ... maybe you begin by looking on my profile for the information I posted about my car but I do apologize for not having a DSM profile. I didn't realize that was even a thing

"Bought my first 2G Eclipse on 09/23/15 and I'm incredibly excited to begin work on it! The first owner had the car painted and had bucket seats installed in it, the second owner milled the engine, bored out the cylinders 0.2 L, upgraded to a 20G turbo, installed a BOV, stage 2 clutch and race-spec flywheel and now the third owner (me) is going to have the car remapped and tuned, cleaned up both on the exterior and interior, upgrade the intercooler and install supporting turbo-mods." - taken from my profile.

By closed the blow off valve I mean I wound-up the sprung on the plunger so that all of the air would be recirculated instead of vented. And flutter has not been definitively proven to be bad for your turbo. Whether or not it makes me seem like a ricer is entirely up to you and a matter of personal preference.

I know that not having the intake pipe attached would stop the car from firing up. I didn't know at the time of driving it that the intake pipe had come off.

And the hose reducer is a piece of metal pipe stretched-out to 2.5" pipe. The problem is that the reducer is steel of some sort whereas the intercooler piping is an aluminium alloy so I can't weld the two pieces together. I definitely need to find a more permanent solution to this problem ... isn't a 20G turbo outlet 2.5"?

And I replaced the intercooler because the old intercooler had been damaged in a crash and was leaking badly in several places. The leak is something I thought had been fixed until recently. I saw the smoke and figured it was a boost leak, which it partially was.

 

[raptoranderson]

On a side note I can safely tell you that this car is full of mechanical mystery. Hoses not connected, smoke coming from unknown places, odd numbers of clamps in certain areas, wires not connected to anything, exterior trim parts completely missing ... it's like the car was built in the dark

 

[donniekak]

The elbow should be a 2" to 2.5" reducer.

 

[JDT]

Holy crap, where do you begin indeed ... maybe you begin by looking on my profile for the information I posted about my car come on, JDT ...

"Bought my first 2G Eclipse on 09/23/15 and I'm incredibly excited to begin work on it! The first owner had the car painted and had bucket seats installed in it, the second owner milled the engine, bored out the cylinders 0.2 L, upgraded to a 20G turbo, installed a BOV, stage 2 clutch and race-spec flywheel and now the third owner (me) is going to have the car remapped and tuned, cleaned up both on the exterior and interior, upgrade the intercooler and install supporting turbo-mods." - taken from my profile.

Most of us don't want to spend the time and energy to dig through your bio to find small pieces of information about your car. Especially when there's so many new questions posted every day. Keeping a DSM profile or at least including details in the original post will help us help you. You're only making it worse for yourself here buddy.

By closed the blow off valve I mean I wound-up the sprung on the plunger so that all of the air would be recirculated instead of vented. And flutter has not been definitively proven to be bad for your turbo. Whether or not it makes me seem like a ricer is entirely up to you and a matter of personal preference.

A blow off valve is either recirculated or not, adjusting the spring has no effect on that. If your blow off valve is recirculated it'll have a hose running to the intake pipe. The spring is only there to keep the valve closed under idle vacuum. It's well known that not running a BOV on any decent sized turbo will cause excess wear, you have a 20G so you're risking it. It's completely up to you if you want to chance it just for the noise.

And the hose reducer is a piece of metal pipe stretched-out to 2.5" pipe. The problem is that the reducer is steel of some sort whereas the intercooler piping is an aluminium alloy so I can't weld the two pieces together. I definitely need to find a more permanent solution to this problem ... isn't a 20G turbo outlet 2.5"?

Any decent quality pipe kit would have bolted up. I would measure each outlet OD and order some quality couplers from a reputable source. Also there's different types of comp housings for the 20G, off the top of my head though I do believe it's a 2" outlet.

Rant over ... but come on guys, don't talk down to new members. If I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a job at McLaren Engineering in their Research and Development department there might be a chance I know a thing or two about cars

That doesn't make you a mechanic or a race car builder. I've met plenty of ME's that can't diagnose basic engine issues and likewise have met plenty of backyard mechanics that can design and fabricate race cars from scratch. The two are tangentially related and don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. I asked you to help us out by filling out your profile and gave reasonable advice to keep you from hurting your car. Plenty of new members come here and ask for help and listen to the advice we give, but also many join and ask for the cheapest way to make more HP without regard to maintenance. When you bragged about turbo flutter it made me assume you're the latter. The car sounds like it's had a rough life and it's good that you're trying to restore it.

 

[raptoranderson]

The elbow should be a 2" to 2.5" reducer.

It is, but I couldn't get hold of an elbow and so I used a short piece of pipe reducer that was straight. Packaging is definitely an issue because the j-pipe that comes off the turbo is fairly low to the ground and so there isn't much room for an actual elbow bend that will keep the intercooler piping above the sub-frame. I suppose I could cut the j-pipe so that it's shorter but that doesn't solve my problem of needing a hose reducer that won't blow off under pressure

The blow-off valve I have at least has a spring that puts pressure on the plunger that opens the blow off valve when the throttle is closed. What I mean is that I tightened the spring so that the plunger can't open therefore forcing the air to be recirculated. It isn't a great blow off valve in retrospect but I'll keep it for now

I think we got of to a bad start here all in all. I'll make sure I make my profile easier to read and post more information about my car in future posts ..

 

[gsxeclipse102]

By forcing your bov to stay closed your causing the pressure to build up very high in the intercooler piping when the throttle closes. This can cause your turbo a lot of damage and piping to blow off. You should fix the bov and then tackle all those loose hoses and un plugged connectors

 

[JDT]

The J pipe shouldn't cause any issues with ground clearance, got a pic?

 

[jakk220]

No... that's not how it works. You having that blow off valve adjusted all the way in is giving you compressor surge. That "awesome" fluttering sound you are getting is you killing your turbo. Which by the sounds of it you may have already done. If everyone on here is telling you its bad then you should probably listen and loosen up that spring.

Also, when you say you blew off the intake pipe.... are you taking about the pre-turbo intake with the MAF on it? Or are you talking about an intercooler pipe?

 

[raptoranderson]

By forcing your bov to stay closed your causing the pressure to build up very high in the intercooler piping when the throttle closes. This can cause your turbo a lot of damage and piping to blow off. You should fix the bov and then tackle all those loose hoses and un plugged connectors

That's actually a good point, but the pipe blew off before I even let off the gas. I was at 5,000rpm in first gear and the pipe blew off and the car died

 

[raptoranderson]

No... that's not how it works. You having that blow off valve adjusted all the way in is giving you compressor surge. That "awesome" fluttering sound you are getting is you killing your turbo. Which by the sounds of it you may have already done. If everyone on here is telling you its bad then you should probably listen and loosen up that spring.

Also, when you say you blew off the intake pipe.... are you taking about the pre-turbo intake with the MAF on it? Or are you talking about an intercooler pipe?

The pipe coming off the j-pipe on the boosted side of the turbo came off. I'd be concerned if the pipe before the turbo came off!

 

[raptoranderson]

So what you'll see is the J-pipe with the rubber hose clamp on it coming down from the turbo (all of this is behind the radiator) and then the hose reducer which is attached to a pipe that runs over to the driver's side of the engine bay before turning around and coming back to the front mount intercooler. It's still disconnected because the car was scorching hot when the pipe blew off but that's what blew off under boost pressure. That pipe with the hose reducer on it only barely clears the sub-frame of the car

The J pipe shouldn't cause any issues with ground clearance, got a pic?

 

[jakk220]

If there is oil in that pipe at all or if that is where the oil / smoke was coming from, then you need to check the condition of your turbo. You may have already killed it or its just tired. LOOSEN THE BOV.

And you need to get rid of those awful worm clamps. Those are part of the problem as to why it popped off. The other problem is that it appears that the coupler you have on there is a home depot special. Get rid of the shi**y coupler and clamps and replace them with good ones.

 

[jakk220]

And ditch the useless exhaust pipe adapter you have and get a reducing coupler for the j-pipe accompanied by a 90* intercooler pipe instead of a 90* coupler.

 

[raptoranderson]

I haven't checked the turbo after having installed the FMIC but I checked it before and there was zero shaft play. HOWEVER there was some oil on the compressor housing of the turbo. I've read that if the vacuum lines going to the turbo become blocked that oil can be drawn out of the turbo and into the compressor housing, but it is literally on the compressor housing seal. Not the seal near the compressor wheel; the ring that forms the outside of the compressor housing.

Where would I get a reducer that fits my application? Or would I look into getting a 2.5" j-pipe?

 

[raptoranderson]

And ditch the useless exhaust pipe adapter you have and get a reducing coupler for the j-pipe accompanied by a 90* intercooler pipe instead of a 90* coupler.

Would buying a hose joiner that steps from a 2.5" down to a 2" work? Or would I need an actual solid piece of pipe?

 

[JDT]

I see your problem, definitely get a 2.5" to 2" 90 degree elbow on there. The reason it's so close to the motor mount is because the flange for that J pipe isn't angled far enough to the driver side.

Here is how mine looks, notice how tight the J pipe hugs the manifold:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[JDT]

Where would I get a reducer that fits my application? Or would I look into getting a 2.5" j-pipe?

I've never seen a 2.5" J pipe, they're all 2". I doubt a 2.5" would fit.

 

[raptoranderson]

I see your problem, definitely get a 2.5" to 2" 90 degree elbow on there. The reason it's so close to the motor mount is because the flange for that J pipe isn't angled far enough to the driver side.

Here is how mine looks, notice how tight the J pipe hugs the manifold:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

So buy a j-pipe with a tighter bend? Got it and I can easily get ahold of a 90 degree 2" to 2.5" hose joiner elbow bend.

Do you have both radiator fans or did you have to remove one to make room for the j-pipe? Also, where does the cold side of your intercooler piping route to? And do you have any brackets made-up to support the intercooler piping?

 

[JDT]

If you want a J pipe that will fit guaranteed then buy a VRSF J pipe, they cost a bit more though. But yes get that elbow in there, you can see that's what I have in my photo since it came with my VRSF kit. I deleted A/C and don't run a A/C fan so I don't know if it will fit, might be close but it could work.

Found a low res pic with the A/C fan still in place looks like it fits:

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Also if wouldn't be a bad idea to post a pic of the serial # of your turbo, we can tell you if it's a genuine MHI or not, and if it's a 20G or something else.

 

[raptoranderson]

I'll look around and see if I can find one. Any ideas on the oil leak in the turbo I mentioned?

I haven't checked the turbo after having installed the FMIC but I checked it before and there was zero shaft play. HOWEVER there was some oil on the compressor housing of the turbo. I've read that if the vacuum lines going to the turbo become blocked that oil can be drawn out of the turbo and into the compressor housing, but it is literally on the compressor housing seal. Not the seal near the compressor wheel; the ring that forms the outside of the compressor housing.