Anyone ever see something like this before? I'm embarassed to say it took me quite some time to notice the white smoke billowing out behind me and I'm afraid I've killed the motor. I finally got a chance to look and see what happened and honestly, I'm not even sure how a failure like this can happen. I assumed it was an AN adapter I had that was leaking, but it appears to just be a mid line failure?




Also found a 'hotspot' on one of the ends.

 

Exhaust leak? Rubbing on exhaust/turbo/etc?

 

The places those are, there's no exhaust. I would've thought rubbing on something, but there's just nothing over there. I suppose it coulde've rubbed itself apart aginst the other SS line, but they are both zip tide down right there and the zip ties were fine. I would think enough to rip through stainless would've been ehough to rip thorugh plastic zip times. Plus the other 'hot spot' in the pic is hovering and nothing touches it at all. I'm bewildered!

 

Unless that second discoloration is actually a leak, you are cooking your line somehow. Either a jet impingement hot spot from a small exhaust leak, electrical issue (line is acting as a ground and you got arcing between the strands) or something to that effect.

 

So now that you mention it, although it was far away and it was a chaotic mess, when i parked after seeing the white smoking, I popped the hood and reached towards the back of bay where the line was run to see what was going on. While reaching back there, I thought I heard/saw a spark from a sensor that I have in that actual line. I panicked enough b/c of the oil that had been left everywhere to run to the back of the car and hit my emergency shut off.

I came back a day later after I had cleaned up the oil to test again and no matter what I couldn't get any arching or sparking to happen. Also the hot spot near the start of the line, there's no wiring there. Now I'm even more panicked that just a failed line as this feels like it could happen again at any moment. I was able to install a replacement line yesterday and at least for the 20 minutes I had the car idling, there was no obvious signed of rod knock so I'm hoping I got away with it. That being said, I dont exactly want to go through this ever again.


EDIT: I'm starting to wonder if the starter, which is not that far away has an exposed area which touched the line and created a zap. ****.

 

Looking at the second photo, it looks as though there may be a small arc burn just slightly left of center in the discolored area.

 

was it resting against the exhaust/turbo/manifold?

 

The starter is right by the port that the turbo feed comes off of, I'm wondering if there was some metal on metal intermittently and created the arc.

No, I think Supe is on to something though.

 

Both your starter hot wire and your alternator wire run in that congested area under the intake runners.
Stainless line makes a wonderful ground that will saw through just about anything.
Do an oil analysis on your motor to see if you hurt it.
https://www.blackstone-labs.com/

 

https://www.improvedracing.com/3-8-i...se-sleeve.html

https://www.improvedracing.com/racef...ptfe-hose.html

 

There are alternatives, I use pushlock hose extensively, never had a partial failure even (yet?!).

For a DIYer, I found the SS braided lines such a pain in the ****, and problematic in the shorting/abrasion context, that I would only ever use them where there was no practical alternative - and I haven't used them in probably 20 years.

 

I still added heat shieling over my braided line for the last 18in. at the turbo.

 

Sick thanks. Will check these out. I actually might even have some laying around still from when I mistakenly thought I would need the FM oil feed kit.

Where do you source yours from? Are you doing turbo track days or race days? Every push lock line I've found has a 212F limit and that's wait below oil temps.

I had dei hear shielding over everything near the turbo. Unfortunately I didn't do it for the entire line, so the starter side remained raw dog, lol.

 

For oil supply lines, I go to my local hydraulic shop to get crimped end hoses made. JIC ends are common and work with AN fittings/adapters. JIC is the same thread and cone angle as AN, it just has less threads.

 

Good point. I do TA type competition, 5-7 laps, normally ~15mins. In 20+ years, no failures. My supplier says he has never heard of a failure, but advises to watch for the signs. I know I looked at this some time back, and identified a higher temperature hose, I haven't looked at exactly what hose is on the car at the moment.

 

Had some of this DEI rubberized heat shielding around. Hopefully this does the trick!

 

Looking at the video, the hose is flattened and the stainless steel "scales" look like they've been ground-down and sawed-off.
The only thing that would do that IMO is another stainless steel hose.
Did you zip-tie another stainless steel hose at this point (or very near it)?
If one hose is more rigid (ie. moves less) than the other, it's possible that only one of them is doing the actual sawing.

I still have have 2x stainless steel hoses left in my car (I went through a "bling phase" too as a newbie) because they don't touch or interfere with anything and have a lot of clearance but the second they do, they're out, way too much hassle and potentially dangerous.

 

It was near another ss line but that line was wrapped in heat protection and showed no signs of wear. I think one of the first replies got it and it arced by touching something near the starter. I did try to replicate it with electrician rubber gloves on but wasn't able to. I just installed a new SS line but this time with rubberized heat protection through the entire line. I'm hoping that is the trick.

 

Good news is I did multiple hours of goofing off and street tuning and everything seems great. Also the weird issue I had with alternator also is maybe fixed?