I was working on the car today and I reran all the vac lines and adjusted the TPS. Car seemed to run better on startup. Way better throttle response, but now instead of just idling high it fluctuates between 1100 and 1500 rpms. Probably a vac leak I missed. Figured I would ask that and get it out of the way. As soon as it cranked, it started puffing white smoke. It has never overheated, I checked the oil and the antifreeze and everything was ok. No oil in the antifreeze, and no anti freeze in the oil. I also noticed that there is a liquid leaking out in between the turbo and the downpipe. I thought maybe the turbo is bad not the coolant seal. There is also antifreeze sprayed on the ground behind the exhaust. Any ideas?

 

Well there are two lines on the turbo that carry coolant that could leak. If any got into the exhaust stream somehow (which is possible if your exhaust isn't perfectly sealed) then you could maybe have this issue.

 

The downpipe does leak somewhat between the downpipe and turbo, but it is now leaking fluid (I'm thinking antifreeze) coming out which it has never done before. Not sure why it would do that, or if it would cause the car to smoke badly.

 

Cheap coolant leak test involves running the car, hood up, highest coolant cap off, and watch for bubbles. No bubbles, no bad news. Do a search on it if you have more questions. There's plenty of info all about coolant leaks.

 

Car doesn't have coolant leak. No bubbles, and no leaking coming from anywhere. The only thing I could see was a little bit of liquid barely spitting out between the downpipe and turbo and then the spitting on the ground behind the exhaust. It's almost like it's spraying from the back of the exhaust too. Other than that just very very thick white smoke puffing out of the exhaust.

 

may be lucky and it may just be the turbo!

 

That's what I'm hoping. I wasn't sure if it is possible for the turbo to cause this though.

 

There's also coolant passages on the housings that go through the LIM. If either started leaking they could drip down, too.

See the round ~1" holes at the same level as the intake ports? Those all connect to the coolant passages. The 13B's are no different. They're plugged for certain applications, but I think at least one if not both are open for the stock turbo configuration.

 

Not sure. I haven't pulled the intake manifold off. I can do that though. I did take the turbo off this morning and there is coolant on the inside of the downpipe, and a little bit in the turbo.

 

What about the intake? Check the throttle body to make sure some freak accident isn't letting it in there. Unfortunately you might have to take a lot of stuff out to find the source.

 

When the coolant hose b/'t the rear side housing and the throttle body leaks, the water puddles up bt the *block* and the intake manifold and then once fully puddle up, drips/runs down the back of the block and around the downpipe area. Might be that.

Or if the two 0rings b/t the block and the intake manifold leak, they puddle up in the same area and then dribble down the back of the engine around the downpipe area and finally on the flo.

 

Checked everything pulled the intake manifold and checked the throttle body and all and no leaks. The coolant was actually in the downpipe when I took the turbo off and there was nothing leaking onto or near it.

 

sounds like a bad seal or you somehow really tried and hooked up one of the thermowax/BAC coolant hoses to a vacuum port. make sure you deleted the sub-zero assist system(if it has it), could be you hooked up the lines incorrectly to that and it's pumping coolant into the engine as it warms up.

 

That is all completely unhooked. Just to make sure, where exactly are the hookups? I looked and did not see it though. The exhaust exits were completely dry after I took the manifold off. I don't know if that helps any.

 

Any other ideas?