Smoke coming from front of car.

[insaneturtle]

I just replaced my turbo from a 16g to a 14b. I took it for a drive and when I got back the check engine light came on, and something up front is smoking. I looked underneath and it looked to be coolant dripping down at certain spots. I swore I connected the coolant line, is there any other lines that I might have missed?

 

[ChiTownHussla]

Seeing as how we have the same car, I will tell you from experience replace every rubber hose coming off of the thermostat housing. I replaced one by the oil cooler. Then the next day the ones going to the turbo broke as well. Then my lower radiator hose. So just to solace them all for piece of mind

 

[92AWDHX40]

Smoke could be heater core in the car, if its leaking a coolant line.

 

[TimIacobucci]

Was it smoke or steam?

If it was smoking then that is different than the coolant leak.

Also when you do repairs you generally get at least a little stuff on the exhaust manifold and exhaust that will burn off and smoke for a bit. Are you sure that's not all it was?

Check the coolant lines you had to remove, they may just not be tight enough or they may need to be replaced.

 

[SrKegler]

You said your CEL came on which is a little puzzling. If you lost coolant, seems like the low water warning light should have came on.

I assume it"s a water leak.

You only have 2 water lines on the turbo, inlet and outlet. Is it a bad leak or a drip? I'm thinking you reused the copper washers on the lines or overtightened the banjo bolt and may have cracked the coupling.

Small water leaks only show up under pressure, easiest thing to do is have the system pressure tested to pin point the leak.

 

[insaneturtle]

Its definitely leaking coolant because when I look underneath there is coolant dripping down, I took it for another drive and it is getting very close to the red line on the temp. gauge. It has also been idling funny I don't know if that has anything to do with it, but once I start driving it, when the clutch is in it will idle at 3000 rpm's. Something is definitely going on here and i can't figure it out .

Was it smoke or steam?

If it was smoking then that is different than the coolant leak.

Also when you do repairs you generally get at least a little stuff on the exhaust manifold and exhaust that will burn off and smoke for a bit. Are you sure that's not all it was?

Check the coolant lines you had to remove, they may just not be tight enough or they may need to be replaced.

And yea I think it was steam because I could hear sizzling.

 

[TimIacobucci]

Did you check the coolant level if you are leaking coolant? A low amount of coolant will cause it to overheat, and that in turn will put more pressure on the system and make the leak worse.

Don't drive it until you find where the leak is coming from. Clean up the surrounding area if it is dirty or wet so when it starts to leak again you can see more clearly where it is coming from.

When that is fixed then see if it is still overheating and idling high. Fix the obvious stuff first and work from there.

 

[HooKnBooK]

Check you CEL and make sure your hoses aren't really soft.

 

['97boostinGST]

Go to a local parts store if you dont have a scanner to get the light scanned and come back with results to see what the code was.