Hey guys quick question. I finally got my begi shanghai kit installed and started up last night. Unfortunately, I almost immediately discovered that I have a coolant leak from the turbo. I was hoping one of my coolant lines was just loose so I tried tightening them to no avail. It almost looks like it's leaking from the bottom near the oil return line but its hard to pinpoint it exactly. I'm in the process of taking the turbo back off to check everything over but I wanted to see if anyone had any preliminary ideas before I tackle the $!@%&@! downpipe nuts. Any common problems that would cause this? Thanks in advance.

 

My friend's WRX had a coolant leak from the turbo.

Here was the culprit:


I'd check for anything like that on the hard coolant line, even tho I doubt it'd be that noticeable.

 

Meant to post in prefabbed turbo kits section...

 

Found the problem, it was leaking from the NPT coolant fittings on the turbo. I just applied some black Permatex (as the Begi instructions explicitly said NOT to do) and the leaking totally stopped.

 

Will that stuff stand the heat? Did you over or under torque the bolts in the first place?

 

No it won't, it will start leaking again shortly. The problem is likely that your hardlines are not true (ie, flat) on the machined sides.

 

Are you using the blue 90 degree AN fittings with rubber lines? I broke one of those by overtightening. The permatex is going to melt and make your coolant black lol.

 

I don't have "hardlines" it was leaking from where the NPT to AN fitting screws into the CHRA. Black permatex is good to 500 F so I'm hoping it'll hold up. If not I guess I'll be looking for a another solution.

 

You are aware EGTs will hit 1400F+, right? Will that much heat conduct itself through the CHRA? No, but enough will that you'll see more than 500F at it. Replace your fittings sir.

 

Chinese turbo has Npt thread? Thats odd. One would think they would be metric.

 

If/when they fail and start leaking again what's the correct way to fix it? New fittings? Is there a specific torque they're supposed to be tightened to to seal? Crush washer or something? Thanks.

 

In my experience it's best to have a copper crush washer on both sides of the fitting. I've never had a turbo leak due to a fitting issue before, my issues were the lines falling apart.