Last weekend I installed a new turbo (Pulsar PSR2860 Gen 2) which came with a 1mm oil restrictor. The turbo is leaking where the restrictor threads into the CHRA. If I swap out to an unrestricted adapter it doesn't leak. I happened to have another Pulsar restrictor on hand so I tried that and it leaks as well although less than the original restrictor. ETA - the restrictors will both start to leak oil when idling for about a minute, not just under load.

I was doing some pulls tuning yesterday with the unrestricted adapter and a leak developed, although I think the fitting may have simply loosened up. Regardless, I ended up redoing my oil drain line because my old one was slightly pinched and I was thinking the higher load of the pulls caused the drain to back up or something. I've run my old 2560 at similar boost levels on that return line for over a year without issues.

I've also ordered a couple more restrictors that should be here yesterday.

My thinking is that the restrictor would limit the pressure and flow less oil, so I don't believe the issue would be the drain line. I'm thinking it's the restrictor flare not sealing well against the CHRA but I would be surprised if 2 restrictors from the same manufacturer as the turbo (Pulsar) were bad. I've got 2 more restrictors that should be here tomorrow, so I'll give those a shot.

I also have some high temp thread sealant, but that feels like a bandaid if it even worked.

I also emailed Pulsar and are waiting to hear what they think. Curious if anyone on here has any ideas in the meantime as I have an autocross this weekend and I'd like to run the restrictor if possible.


Large leak with one of the restrictors

Smaller leak with the other restrictor

2 restrictors and 1 unrestrictor Note that the holes here seem to be different sizes

 

unrelated to your issue but if you're still interested in selling that 2560 hmu!

 

I was wondering if you were still looking. I'll try to shoot you a message tomorrow

 

trying to decide if i should save for rebuilding with rods only (im burning oil anytime im in boost bc of my rings) or get a 2560 haha, actively looking/hoping for a happy accident.

 

Parallel thread may want a copper crush washer on it to seal? Don't know the turbos/threads etc but the fittings look to have a landing on them for a washer.

 

In this case a crush washer shouldn't be needed. The sealing really should be done by the flare. I have seen crush washers on some turbo oil feeds, but never on a 2560/2860.

I received 2 more restrictors from Amazon today and unsurprisingly they both leak as well. At this point I've tried 5 different fittings and had temporary success with 1 of them. I went back to that one today and it was leaking as well. I've installed/uninstalled these fittings more times than I can remember.

I have one more theory/experiment I'm going to try. I've noticed that there seems to be a groove in each of the fittings. My guess is that there is something on the CHRA flare that is catching prematurely and not allowing the rest of the flare to seat and seal. One of the restrictors has a larger hole in the flare side which seems to barely contact where the groove is being created. My plan is to drill out the restrictor side hole to hopefully miss whatever is causing the groove which will allow the rest of the flare to seat and seal. Feels like a long shot, but at this point what do I have to lose.


In the photo above, I'd expect the wear to be more evenly dispersed around the flare instead of concentrated in a little groove.

Pulsar did respond to my email with a warranty claim form. I'll fill that out and get in touch with them. I did find some threads on other forums where a similar issue resulted in a CHRA replacement, which I'm hoping isn't the case here.

 

Got you on the flares mating. Does look like poor finish on the CHRA side.

A thick crush washer may still let you out play so long as its thick enough to take up the gap and crush. I did this with incompatible fittings when I put my turbo on. As its been no bother I've never changed it out in 4-5 years. I should probably revisit it!

 

I'll keep that in mind depending on how my next experiment goes. I've also heard people have used high temp thread sealant or red loctite to remedy leaks. I don't want to do loctite, but I might try the thread sealant to get through the weekend at least.

I just sent a response off to pulsar, so hopefully they have some ideas

 

I'm 90% sure mine didn't have a copper washer, but I need to check and confirm. I'll take a look for you later and let you know. I remember them being flare fittings and sealing that way. Maybe a dab of oil/grease on the flare when you seat them could help as well? Similar to how you are supposed to oil AN fittings where they seat. Though I gotta assume with the leak it's plenty oiled, lol.

 

Ok, I don't want to celebrate prematurely but I took a step bit to the restrictor where that groove was cut. I used one of the pulsar restrictors since it had the largest hole on the flare side. On that restrictor the groove was right on the lip of the flare fitting.

Threw it all back together and let it idle for ~5 minutes and didn't see any oil leaks at all. Previously I've been seeing oil start to bubble up within 15-30 seconds.

I'll probably take it to the grocery store for a test drive and see how it goes. If that goes well then I'll either leave it alone or pull it apart one more time and add a tiny bit of thread sealant to hopefully really seal things up.

 

Yeah if you get the flare to seat properly it won't leak. I think your solution is the best; fixing the male flare inside the CHRA won't be as easy as drilling/boring out the fitting.

 

I just took the car to the grocery store which was way more stressful than it should've been. Smelled some oil burning a couple blocks from home but I was either imagining it or it was just residue burning off from swapping those fittings. The top of the CHRA was clean.

~5 miles and 20 minutes due to traffic and everything looks pretty good. I think there might be a tiny bit of oil on the top of the CHRA but definitely the best it's sealed with a restrictor so far. I'll probably pull the restrictor one more time, drill a tiny bit more and throw it back on with some sealant for good measure.

Assuming my diag is correct, the proper way to fix this would be to have the CHRA warrantied and/or fixed, but given my timeframe and a workaround I'll probably skip that. I'll see if Pulsar will offer me a discount or anything I suppose.

Tim, I agree. Annoying to need a "custom" flare fitting but once it's on I doubt I'll be pulling it off more than another time or two.

 

Could you try something like these flare gaskets? Not sure what size would be appropriate.

https://www.grainger.com/product/MUE...-in-SAE-38N874

 

Interesting. I've never heard of those but I'll keep it in mind. So far the drilled out fitting seems to be sealing pretty well, so I think I'm just going to leave it be for now.

 

Updating to add that Pulsar's warranty team ended up shipping me a replacement CHRA because of this issue.

 

Nice - double bonus if you don't have to return the faulty unit.

 

They haven't said anything about returning the faulty one, so I'm pretty sure I've just got a spare CHRA now. I did explain to them that I didn't want to send the current unit in because I have events almost every weekend for the next month. I did get tracking info on the new CHRA and they haven't mentioned anything about sending the old one back in.

I figure the current one is working, but only after some diag and modifications on my end (which I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they started recommending if this issue crops up in the future). If someone wasn't interested in trying a DIY fix then the turbo would've been unusable.

 

Dude that's honestly pretty awesome. Glad it all worked out for you.

 

Thanks man, definitely not bummed to basically get a 2 for 1 deal. I guess I'm committed to this turbo for a good number of miles now

 

If your unrestricted fitting works without leaking, you can always put the head of a pop rivet on the fitting to act as an oil restrictor.

Did it on my TD04 setup 18 years ago with zero leaks. Just a thought.