Man is my car fast now. I just installed my new Turbo. Just had some good base maps installed that made it fly...



Tonight a friend and I went driving around to scare up some stangs or whatnot (nice pun for Halloween, huh?) We couldn't find one so decided to stop. I ran it to the drug store for my vitamins. I know, I'm really weird about taking those things. I went out to fire it up and something fishy happened. Something in the air twasn't right. I smell the sweet aromatic fumes of antifreeze. ******* ****, mutha-******* ******* bitches alive! I have sprung a leak. This thing started really subtle. I rode off and spotted some of my friends in a parking lot that we drove by. I started it up again, and this time it was a veritable smoke screen. I have heard all of the horror stories but **** man, I at least expected the SOB to last over 80 thousand. The interested thing that I found were a few precursors that might of been a sign of a leak. First my water temps were a bit harder to maintain. Then my car would lose a bit of coolant each day with no signs of antifreeze coming from the exhaust and finally it was progressively hard to start.



Well...the big engine decision remains now. Have pity.

Welcome to the club https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...DIR#>/cool.png

So you done with the rebuild yet?

Fresh rebuild = another 20K miles. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/biggrin.png

I just got my rebuild kit in today... had to drive to phinsups house to pick it up, and i always get lost... always ... :( haha



but yeah, welcome to the club. ... granted i am a fc'er.

So how many miles did the motor manage to hold up before you experienced those symptoms?

It lasted a little over 77 thousand miles. I am hoping my rebuild will last over 50 thousand. If I just run 1 bar of boost and not race it at the strip or autocross, then I think that will greatly improve its life, thus fascilitating the 50 thousand mile and above mark.



What have been your experiences with engine life of a rebuild if you baby it a little? I think it can be done.

how much were you boosting when it happened?

I was boosting around .97 bar which equates to around 14psi. I was previously running around 12psi on the stock turbos. I was only running 14psi for a few days with the new single.



A factor that might have sped up the process is, I installed a 16psi pressure cap for my radiator that day. I did have a 13 psi cap. I think that put undue pressure on my seals and they went prematurly. I think the seals were an inevitable thing to fail but the change in pressure sped it up. It did water down my engine until it heated up and became pressurized. So I assume that they leak when under that kind of pressure.



Are you worried about your water seals or something?

Any one use HYLOMAR with their coolant seals ? , reason is its supposed to be great for rebuilding our engines , Idid one engine with it and couldnt get it off when it was rebuild time . That sealant with the water seals should be ok.