Hi guys, I finally found my FD's horrible coolant leak. It turns out to be the lower banjo bolt on my stock secondary turbo. I applied a decent amount of JB Weld onto both washers and I am going on about 1 hour of letting it sit. Will this hold up? As some of you know, this banjo bolt is within 1 inch of the downpipe and gets extremely hot. How long do I need to let it sit before it'd be safe to drive on it.

 

why the hell would you do that?

go order a bolt from mazda??

 

at least 12 hours depending on what temperature its curing in.

 

you'll definitely need to let it sit for a whole lot longer than an hour. i don't know how well it'll hold up in that environment. i didn't have very good luck with it when i used it to repair a couple of solenoids from my rat's nest.

 

I have used JB weld on different applications then you are using it on, but everytime i used it i let it set up for atleast 24 hours. There is no way it can set up in 1 hour. Give it ATLEAST 24 hrs.

 

there is jb weld putty which sets a lot faster. i've used it for my water pump housing

 

so now that banjo bolt is welded in place? What are you going to do if you ever have to remove it

 

thus me asking why the hell he would do that...

 

good point rich, i am also curious about this. I bet its just one of the crush copper washers that need to be replaced...

 

That doesn't make sense.. washers are meant to be crushed to form into the bolt/banjo pattern
Jb weld will harden and not seal right if you do it before installing it, because it will never "mold" itself. You'll still have a leak.. just get youself a new bolt and washers

 

Can't you just replace the crush washers, or even the whole bolt like Bobby F. suggested?

 

Im still unsure of what he actually broke haha

ive broken a banjo bolt before, one of the big oil feed ones...it was stuck and didnt like an impact gun haha

but, moral of the story, i did not jbweld it back together

 

and yet another hacked up 3rd gen is born.

 

 

EricRyan, fix it the right way. JBWeld probably isn't the answer in this case.

 

Uh, jesus christ some of you guys are ******* ****. I did not mean I was going to let it sit for 1 hour and then drive on it, even the tube says 4-6 hours. I let it sit 4.5 hours. Yes it helped my steaming problem by 95%, but there is still a tiny second leak higher up. This is only to get to my grandma's house for Thanksgiving tomorrow morning. This is only a temporary fix.

At the time I posted, all nearby parts stores were closed, this was my only option for a fix.

 

There is no reason to call Christ in here. We're only going off what you posted man.

 

Should be fine for a temp fix, but dont expect a 100% seal, especially as the coolant and turbo temps rise after driving a while.

I use the stick putty type, and it cures in about half an hour unless you are using a whole shitload-glob of it.

The stuff usually flakes off with a hammer or screwdriver when the time comes.

I am curious how a banjo bolt is leaking. I have never seen the bolt itself fail. Even the washers can be reused several times if the bolt is tight enough. I'd say either someone left a washer out, or the bolt is just not tight enough.

 

The crush actually has a hairline crack in it and is made of a different material that the other one (the one that held up) and is maybe 1 to 2 mm thinner. None of this was my work, the previous owner didn't service the vehicle himself (spark plugs circa 1993) and the undercarriage shows obvious damage from the 6 years it was exposed to snow. My job, basically, is to bring this car back up to stock, one piece at a time.

 

Ah, the joys of purchasing a northern owned car.

 

I have seen jb weld used for cracks in heads and it held up for a long time. This was done for a few cheap customers that could not or did not want to pay for a proper fix.

As for the banjo bolt this is a new one to me as well. Like people are saying, as soon as you can check if the bolt is tight, washers, or if the bolt cracked were the holes are at in the bolt. ( which I have seen ).

Good luck

 

ahh if you had stated that it is a temporary fix, these guys would've been a little easier on you.
But with anything, do it right or don't do it at all, fixing with jbweld might hold up for a while but it will eventually fail so might aswell save yourself the double work.