ever see an exhaust leak from here?
 

have you ever seen an exhaust leak from here.

to give you the general location since the picture is focused in on a small area.... its the part of the center cartridge that the metal band press against when you bolt the center cartridge to the turbine housing.

never leaked before but now that i am running 9 psi it leaks. not much but its enough to see soot from and i can see it at a stop for a 10-20 seconds after a boost run (hood is off)

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l1...o/DSCF0513.jpg

somthing tells me that behind that backing plate on center cartridge there is a crack

I've never seen it from there. That is crazy. You'd think when bolted together that everything would be to tight nothing could leak, especially after thermal expansion of the housings and other pieces.

no its in the center cartridge, not where the two join. the place they join at is leak free.

sure wish i could peak behind the backing plate on the turbine wheel to see if it is cracked

I understand, I can see the soot. I've never seen one crack but that is very possible. In your current situation, you don't want to run that turbo anyway right? If you wanted to pull the turbine wheel and get the backing plate off atleast you would know for sure if you had a crack or not. The turbo shop in nashville charges $35 for turbo balancing, not sure what it is everywhere else. A few people just mark the nut, compressor wheel, shaft and line it all up again when they reassemble it. Not perfect and I'm not suggesting you do that but it is an option.

nah i love this turbo. ill either get another or get one with a larger turbine housing. think i can run it till mid summer? i dont feel worried, just somthing to fix

..ooookaaay, about 100 more miles and now its about to fall apart.

time for a replacement.... looking for another 300zx turbo. if you have one or know anyone with one.. let me know! thx

when i pulled the motor i noticed a kinked water line... i beleive that is the culprit. could have been from letting one side cool down faster than the other side of the turbo's center section.

dang...that is wierd.