Turbo not working after head work

[Puscifer]

Hey guys. Sorry if this multisourced question has been answered to start off with. I feel bad for asking questions most of the time because I believe they're answered somewhere and after an hour of looking.. I quit. Situation

I recently blew my HG, was a crappy one. the supporting ring on the #4 cyl on the HG just.. fell off onto the top of the piston.

Pulled the head, bought 272 i/e cams, valves, seals, guides, springs, retainers (all crower) lifters, ARP studs (torqued to 90lbs in the proper direction in the proper sequence), and the famous Cometic HG. Dropped it off at the shop, everything installed fine, no damage to the head or block surface, car was cold when it blew thank god.

In the process of pulling the head, I removed my exhaust system and the other various things to make the removal / installation easy. I got the head back on there fine, lifters pumped up good, no ticks, motor holds stronger than ever.

Problem I'm having is before hand at idle I could rev the car up and hear the BOV dump back into the intake and could see my boost gauge jump accordingly, now I can't. I haven't been able to put the car on the ground yet (waiting for a new water pipe because I noticed my old one has a small leak at the distribution block but using the old one for now because the leak is very minor)

I've read that you're not supposed to get boost unless there's an actual load on the motor, I determined that being the car on the ground, going through gears. All my vacuum lines seem to be hooked up correctly, no shaft play, wheels spin in the turbo. I did however block off my EGR valve (sorry Defiant, less to stare at) put some copper based hi-temp silicone to seal with. I completed a boost leak test, came back fine, just leaked at the MBC a little. Um. Compression test read 182-185 on cyls 1-3 and 179 on 4. Haven't done a leak down test but I don't really think that's necessary with those numbers.

Only thing I have questionable at the moment is my sanity. Would the oil feed/return lines have a proper in and out or are they like the coolant lines? (which to my understanding doesn't really matter) Exhaust tone is a little weaker than before which was unexpected because I changed out my O2 housing and went from a 2.25 DP to a full 2.5 - 3.0 and eliminate the CAT. Any other time I've done that .. it gets much louder.


Well, Sorry for such a large post everyone but I'm the kind that likes detail and I really appreciate anyone who actually read all this to give me a hand. All suggestions are open as I'm on vacation and I've been running in and out of my house so much I think i have a rut in the floor. Good day and happy new years.

 

[iwannagofast89]

I know the oil lines matter but you can't really get the two mixed up. And when you start your car does that stupid stock gauge and aftermarket one read vacuum?

 

[Puscifer]

Aye, my GReddy Boost gauge reads vacuum like normal. Just when I punch it up to about 6k it runs up to 0 PSI.

 

[iwannagofast89]

Well since you have no load at all you would see more then 1 maybe 3 psi. If your car is really well supported and you have all most eveythibg together you can get it going in 2nd(in the air) and start to press the brake thus putting a load on the engine

 

[Puscifer]

Gotcha. I shall try that in the morning. Little after 1am here and I think I've got my neighbors upset enough for one night. Anything else?

 

[Puscifer]

Got a little more out of it when I did that. Going to throw the tires on there later tonight and see how she acts. Good direction, I think that may be what's up with it - no load.

 

[Puscifer]

Really confused about something - I just noticed on my turbo (TDO5H don't know which, think it's a 16g) I've got two hard elbows coming off of it (assuming coolant) and two stainless steel lines that were previously connected to the bottom of the radiator. I've browsed numerous 16g setups and members pictures trying to find a similiar photo, but, everyone has ONE SS line and it goes up? Could someone clarify this for me?

 

[Burnett03]

Really confused about something - I just noticed on my turbo (TDO5H don't know which, think it's a 16g) I've got two hard elbows coming off of it (assuming coolant) and two stainless steel lines that were previously connected to the bottom of the radiator. I've browsed numerous 16g setups and members pictures trying to find a similiar photo, but, everyone has ONE SS line and it goes up? Could someone clarify this for me?

Take pictures it's to hard to tell what you are talking about.. Basically you'll have a two coolant lines, one that runs up to the thermostat and one that runs to the water pipe behind the turbo along side the block. From there you have an oil feed (top of turbo) and oil return (bottom of turbo into the pan)

 

[Puscifer]

Yeah, I was working on some pics tonight.. going to pull the thing off and take the radiator out so you guys can get a full WTF effect off this thing.. I got the car from a private party.. but I'm not exactly new to mitsu turbo's. I've just never.. seen anything like it. I swear (until i get pics posted) i've got 2 feed SS oil lines that come off of the turbo and go to the bottom of the radiator which seems to cool the oil and that's fed by the oil filter housing.

 

[iwannagofast89]

What does the compresor wheel fins look like. All the same size or big small big small

 

[Puscifer]

big and small with some curves on the ends (got pics and changing resolution on them)

 

[Puscifer]

Working on the pictures still - Turbo is engaging fine.. I've got everything on the ground and running great. Just one last problem. Burning a bunch of white smoke of the of the exhaust but it doesn't smell like coolant. Not losing coolant or oil from anywhere either and only put 20 miles on it today. Figure it could be from where the HG blew and soaked into the cast metal on the manifold and the cast on the turbo before the o2bung? i replaced the o2 bung and DP, washed the cat out as well before putting it back on so i don't think it's hung up anywhere other than the muffler.

It's thick at times, not so thick most of the time. Torqued the studs down good and proper direction. Think the gasket may not've sealed as well as it should? MLS cometic. But, i'd think with the amount of smoke i'm seeing it would show a good amount of fluid loss somewhere. I poured about a half a gallon of fluid out of my exhaust alone when the HG blew. especially gathered in the CAT. Could it have messed with the turbo seals or anything to the point it could be leaking coolant in a little bit? causing a little coolant to show such a big amount of smoke? gah.. one problem after another this year.

 

[iwannagofast89]

How long ago did you wash the cat out? Have you checked for shaft play?

 

[Puscifer]

Sorry about getting back to this a week later. Hectic life and had to fly out for work. I can't really get the pictures of the turbo hookup but i managed to locate a part # on the radiator and checked out out. Seems to be an aftermarket with a build in feed / cooling system. Two supply lines for the turbo (which works great with no problem, no shaft play at all) Took a nice warm day to get all the coolant blow out. Weather outside just wasn't letting the car heat up to make a difference but after about 100 miles everything is kosher and the car couldn't run better.. well, actually it could, starter is giving me hell now. Engaging and not disengaging like it should, sticking out on the flywheel but eh.. only our cars, right? (no i'm not driving it like that) That'll be done tomorrow though. Sorry about the late response again i just hate leaving unresolved threads - and if anyone had ever looked at this it wouldn't have been anymore help than it is now. Good luck.

 

[T9S1i]

ive never heard of/seen a mitsu turbo's coolat being fed from the radiator. id like to see pics of that

 

[iwannagofast89]

It wouldn't happen to the two lines at the bottom of the radiator would because if I'm not mistaken those aren't actually coolant lines. I might be eong about though

 

[Puscifer]

Sorry guys, I rarely do this but I wasn't clear enough. I was tired and just got home. I've got about 3 inches of height in the bottom of my radiator and full left to right which holds oil. (this is all oil i pulled the lines to verify because i'm curious as hell myself) I'm really, really trying to get you guys some pictures because i want you to be able to see it as it's really odd to me to. Seems to be just a normal AM oil cooling radiator though -=x just never seen one I guess.

 

[turboglenn]

Sounds like some one used an AT radiator and plumbed the oil feed to the turbo through the tranny cooler built into the radiator. Is your car a stick or auto? And does the radiator look stock except for 2 hard lines coing out of the bottom under the main fan area?

 

[Puscifer]

Manual of course, And yes.. typical black stockish radiator.. looks rather new though, no bends or anything in the aluminum and two nipples at the bottom that stick out about an inch.

 

[talontd92tsi]

Sounds like some one used an AT radiator and plumbed the oil feed to the turbo through the tranny cooler built into the radiator. Is your car a stick or auto? And does the radiator look stock except for 2 hard lines coing out of the bottom under the main fan area?

Thats exactly what I was thinking. Not sure how efficient it would be though, however its pretty ingenious that someone thought of that.

 

[Puscifer]

The flow seems to be very optimal, i really like the setup of it.