Reinstalled S13 T25; coolant leaking, high idle & smoke?

[SHIFT_*grind*]

I had broken a bolt off in my exhaust housing, so rather than roll around with an exhaust leak any longer, I pulled the turbo and had a machine shop drill it out and put a helicoil in. Put the turbo back on, along with new OEM turbo-->manifold and O2 pipe-->turbo gaskets. I had Taka lines on the way as well, but unfortunately since my apt complex was going to tow the car due to expired inspection (:(), I had to put it back on with the shitty stock lines before the braided ones came in.

This also involved reassembling all the intake and IC hot piping, and I installed a new (well, slightly used) 3" cat in the process, in place of my old test pipe.

Problems:

-Coolant leaking from the turbo, or possibly from the block.
-Smoke coming from turbo/manifold area, and from the exhaust (white smoke), after the car warms up a little.
-High idle. Idles around 1.5K; once it's a little warm though, and I tap the gas pedal, it'll start idling up to 2K, then dropping, up to 2K, drop...over and over.

I did not have any of these problems before I pulled the turbo. Bolting the stock lines back on was an unbelievable sonofabitch, of course, but I thought they were ok. I couldn't remember which coolant lines go to which ports on the turbo, but I didn't see how they could fit any other way besides the way I have them; feed line (from the block) going to the outer side of the turbo, return line (from heater hose) going to the manifold side.

Could I have them reversed? Could that, or blockage (caused by even a slight bend in one or both lines) cause the above problems? I thought maybe the lines are either reversed, or blocked, causing a coolant backup, so it leaks out and gets sucked into the engine, causing white smoke and bad idle?

[SHIFT_*grind*]

:(

I'm almost certain I didn't reverse the lines; I put them on the same way they are in this (http://www.sr20tuning.com/turboswap04.jpg) diagram, on this (http://www.sr20tuning.com/fittingaturbo.html) page. I might have bent them just a little when putting them back in, because it was necessary to get the banjo bolts in at just the right angle, but not much...

:(

[Kuzumi]

take off lines and recheck them and make sure you have them on correctly. also check vacuum lines and make sure they are installed correctly.

does it pull as hard as it did before?

[Def]

If you reused the copper crush washers on the stock banjo bolts, that's most likely where you are leaking. They will rarely seal without excessive torque once they've been used due to being deformed once and never matching up exactly the same. I would suggest installing the Taka lines ASAP.

I hate banjo bolts on hard lines - such a PITA to install.


The high idle might be a vac leak, but not sure.

[Chrischeezer]

Check that line behind the motor, i thought someones head lifted up.. cuz i saw coolant all over that part of the money.. but that line had a pin hole in it..
its soo wierd.. a PIN HOLE.. how the fuck does that happen. lol i dont mess with pins... lol

oh yeah BTW... that line is the biggest pain in the ass in the world... good luck

[SHIFT_*grind*]

take off lines and recheck them and make sure you have them on correctly. also check vacuum lines and make sure they are installed correctly.

does it pull as hard as it did before?

After looking at that picture/diagram on the sr20tuning.com that I referred to above, I'm 100% certain I don't have them reversed. I'm not sure how it pulls; I let it sit and warm up, and then it started smoking and idling high and I didn't want to drive it.

If you reused the copper crush washers on the stock banjo bolts, that's most likely where you are leaking. They will rarely seal without excessive torque once they've been used due to being deformed once and never matching up exactly the same.

Ahh. Yeah, I did that. I remember one of them being in slightly poor shape as well. Should have waited until the Taka lines came in, but I was in a bind :( So that would cover my leaking, and probably the smoke from around the turbo/manifold area...I've still got smoke from the exhaust though, and the high idle...

I'll check the vac lines again, but I did a pretty good check of them before. Also, it's not just a high idle. After I start it, it'll idle high while it's warming up (of course), but it never drops. It may even go up to 1.8K or so. Then, if I tap the gas pedal, it'll start slowly revving up to ~2K, then die down to ~1K, rev up to ~2K, die down, etc etc.

[fliprayzin240sx]

You cant fucking reverse the lines cuz they will only connect to the block 1 way (bolts are different sizes). If your leaking coolant, check 3 things, itll either be coming from the water line in the back, or the hard lines itself. Like stated, the connection to the block gets iffy sometimes. Also if you did alot of twisting on the hardline, it could have loosend the connection on the turbo itself.

[tunerzimage]

Had the exact same problem when putting back my turbo, I used my stock hard lines. Caused a leak pulling the line a little to bolt on the block. Switched the circuit sports lines and all was good (plus a lot easier). Should be straight after putting it back on with your taka lines.

[SHIFT_*grind*]

Did you have any of the other problems? Smoke from the turbo, and from the exhaust? Those are worrying me the most, at this point :(

[tunerzimage]

My oil pressure was too high. Caused the high idle. I had a lot of white smoke from the exhaust. I didn't drive it after i noticed the problem. But after I put on the cs lines it ran fine. I swapped a s14 t28 shortly, but the t25 was still good.

Edit: Forgot to mention after putting back in a turbo I'd recommend to not push it. Let the coolant and oil run through it for a hundred mile or so.

[SHIFT_*grind*]

Ahh, so your CS lines fixed the oil pressure problem (which I'm guessing was caused by your old stock hard lines). That's somewhat reassuring.

Looks like I'll just put the new lines on and see where that gets me. Thanks all. =D

[kaotic]

yeah, you cant reuse the copper crush washers.. once you torq them down they "crush" to form a seal..

since you reused them, im guessing that why youre leaking..

[Jtuned_andy]

The bouncing idle would indicate either a vacuum leak or your IAC is dirty or going out. Since you mentioned you had to mess with intake and charge pipes I would double check all hoses and clamps to make sure nothing is leaking. If that doesn't fix the hunting idle try cleaning out your IAC with some gum cutter (2+2) can't hurt anything.