Coolant leak from turbo.

[Donover]

My car is a 75 1.8 T, on starting the car today, after it had stood for ten days in garage, it ran rough with a misfire and the engine management light was flashing.Turned it off, even before temp gauge had reached normal and found it had deposited a pool of coolant, say 1 litre on floor! not sure where it came from, but steam{due to some landing on manifold} and droplets finally landing on turbo below.Did start it again for a couple of minutes and seemed to run slightly smoother, management light now intermittent but still leaking coolant as before.When last used it showed no signs of a problem, except as described in my recent post which was a ticking/ taping noise on cold start up, which quietened after a mile or so. Hoses seem fine, could this be I M G problem? For info: the car had the new up rated M G etc fitted, purely as a precaution about 2000 miles ago,the mileage is 28,000 miles.Any help much appreciated.

[kaiser]

T-piece in plastic is prone to split.
Make one in SS or aluminium.

[Donover]

My car is a 75 1.8 T, 2004 year.I have a significant external coolant leak,[ right from cold start up ] which appears to originate from the Turbo! manifesting itself from below the turbo to down pipe flange / nuts.The T piece is okay, as is the visible part of the turbo coolant supply hose. Any ideas much appreciated.

[suzublu]

Inlet manifold gasket a weak point, by the way, you don't need to double post your question, it will get picked up on

[T-Cut]

There's a coolant inlet and an outlet nozzle with sealing washers screwed to the CHRA body and rubber hoses attached to them. These are the only places where a leak can occur around the turbo itself. This is assuming there's no crack in the casting. Coolant can't escape via the turbine shaft/seals because the water jacket is integral with the casting and doesn't inteface with the shaft. The lower (inlet) hose is a known weak spot due to its twisted shape/fitment. The 8mm outlet up to the plastic T-piece is usually reliable and easier to check. Also check that coolant isn't leaking from the silly T-piece and running down the thin hose onto the turbo. This might cause drips underneath.

TC

[VVC-Geeza]

After you have ruled out all the weak points if it persists feel underneath the exhaust manifold to see if it is wet.My problem (back in 2009) was external HGF.The front edge of the gasket above the turbo had failed and a pool of coolant was forming on the garage floor overnight as the engine cooled down.It could clearly be seen when the old gasket was removed.This is not that uncommon apparently, due to heat from the turbo.

[Parker]

Hi Don

Welcome to the club and sorry to read of your issues. You started four threads on the same subject, please just create one thread per topic especially if you are looking for technical support as all answers will then be in one location and other members can see what advice has already been given.

It can be frustrating when a solution isn't received quickly but bear with it as answers will start coming through

Hope you get everything sorted soon.

[Donover]

Have now confirmed my coolant leak is from the downpipe to turbo flange joint! also one of the three top flange nut/studs was totally unthreaded and another was far from tight! So where is the water originating from in order to escape at the flange joint ? Am i right in thinking this may be due to the I M G failing? Could the untightened flange joint have caused such a failure or is it a coincidence? Temporally tightened flange nuts and external leak stopped, but now plenty of whitish smoke from exhaust! On the plus side,the ticking/tapping noise i was getting even before the coolant leak was evident, has gone now the flange nuts have been tightened. Any comments/ advice much appreciated.

[T-Cut]

On the face of it, it seems there's a coolant leak into a cylinder and from there it's being ejected into the exhaust manifold. The most common cause of leakage into cylinders is a faulty inlet manifold gasket.

TC