Good thread sealant?
 

I have searched the forum, but I found nothing related to my question that I know of.


My question is, what is a good thread sealant for the fittings on a turbo? I have never used any, and all up until this point no issues.

Now my problem is I just changed the turbo out with my spare so I can rebuild the better one, and the spare is a silly little masterpower GT17 (I actually have no issues with this brand or the turbo, I must be the lucky one) that is only oil and air cooled. I started the car in the cold ass morning, let it warm up with no issues; then on the way to work, I noticed oil smoke seeping out my hood at the first two stop lights, then it didn't show itself again after I got off the freeway, but it only does it with cold-warm starts. When I had the time to check, I noticed small amounts of wet oil around the drain fitting on the turbo. I am guessing its because I don't have any thread sealant, I have always relied on the pressure from tightening the fittings when it came to oil. I also have a restrictor feed line so I am pretty damn sure its not to much oil.

Tephlon tape scares the crap out of me on the fuel and oil with nightmares of trace debris clogging up my screens or worse. I used J-B Weld on my oil pan fitting and it worked like a charm, but I dont know if its reliable for the turbo fittings itself.

There are a few sealants mentioned in this thread. https://www.miataturbo.net/forum/t35610/

You should be scared of Teflon!!!!!

wow I missed that post... and I am for sure glad I went with my fears... that sucks for him tho that the nightmare came true for is turbo...

So, Resbond or Permatex is the best bet huh?




I also a cheapo, even if I live where I can DRIVE to a Summit Racing retail store here in reno...

I haz all forms of jb weld, can handle a constant temp. of 500 degrees, and petrolium resistant... im lazy.




So no jb weld on turbo? I stand by it to the grave for my oil pan fitting but... no to turbo?

http://www.bellengineering.net/templ...S_Shangahi.pdf

See pages 8-11. It has detailed instructions on what can be used and what cannot be used.

http://www.bellengineering.net/templ...eries1-2-3.pdf

See pages 13-14.
Stephanie

Like you, I've never used any kind of sealant at the oil drain fitting. Restrictor or no, I can't see how there would be any amount of oil pooled up at this location unless there's something causing oil to back up into the line.

what type of fitting are we talking about here

this one is a -6 or -8AN flared fitting (cant remember which) with a 1/2 Barbed end. I usually dont have an issue with this type of fitting at all. I have been meaning to upgrade and get away from the barbed, but I just havent yet. I want to go full compression fittings but so far my feed is all compression. My drain is a 5 1/2" long, 1/2" oil line that is slipped and clamped over barbed fittings from turbo to pan, I just have never come across this problem before.


And joe, I think I will check my drain line tomorrow, it couldnt hurt. If its not ill head to summit to get Permatex or similar.


Oh and btw, thanks Steph and thanks corky on my manifold issue on M.net, I got my other part of my military bonus coming up and I really want to keep that style of manifold, and yours is from what I hear: the original design, not that shitty ebay one that I have that I had to keep tig welding the cracks. I had no idea that you had that style I would have got it a long time ago.

I used Great White thread joint compound on the fitting on my turbo, and there were zero leaks. A year later when I removed them (due to selling the kit), they were still moist. This stuff is normally used on natural gas pipelines, so I figured it was good enough for my car :)

http://www.oatey.com/Channel/Shared/...with_PTFE.html

So I was wrong and your idea was the right one. I guess I was too stubborn and lazy because working in the wet cold isnt my ideal conditions to work on a car. But one symptom made it clear for me. It was a little warmer today and there was no steam to be seen coming out of my exhaust, but instead blue smoke, my guess it eluded me by hiding with the steam. So at this point I went from 40% sure to 75% sure it was oil back up. I needed to rotate my tires so I had the oportunity to get day light on the whole setup and to my amazement, the line looked wet, and not just from the leak. I admit I was lazy when I checked the first time, all I did was took off the line from the pan, and ram a pipe cleaner up there a couple of times and checked to see if there was any debris by air compressor.:facepalm:So while I was there, I took off the whole drain assembly, and measured my hose for swelling, and sure enough... my lines inner diameter went from 1/2" (-8AN) to a 1/4" (-4AN):crx:. Drove to Summit racing and bought 3ft of new SS braided -8AN lining, installed it, and my car is happy again. I also got the russel hose assembly for free with it, so its a good 15 bucks spent, and a annoyance cleared up.

I think I learned from my mistake. Here is my happy day step by step.


Drive to Summit Racing
Attachment 201110

Go Inside (paradise!)
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Buy part needed (3ft of -8AN SS Braided racing line)
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Drive home

Remove old nasty line, and size up to cut new line
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Notice my fail.
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Install, be happy!
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Look for next victim.
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