what the fuck is this shit now?

[TheChad]

so as some of you who have checked my other thread will know, my 35r had some foreign object damage.

so i've bought a replacement turbo and pulled off the old turbo.

now i've found all this shit up the water line joiners, and looked inside the turbo and its full of this calcification or something. this shit is quite hard and is resisting being scraped off.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/hide_the_sausag3/IMG_0289.jpg
The first elbow i looked at... initial thought was oh fuck

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/hide_the_sausag3/IMG_0290.jpg
this joins the elbow to the turbo

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/hide_the_sausag3/IMG_0291.jpg
inside the turbo




car has done approx 3k since being put together. this also included the radiator being removed, and i paid for it to be flushed and painted. then everything put back together and filled up...

ever since then i have only topped it up myself with demineralised water... ALWAYS demineralised, because i am not an idiot. the car itself was filled with the red coolant by the mechanic that put it together.

what the fuck is this shit! its hard! i havent pulled off the lines at the other end to check the block side... very scared about what i will find :/


is this just calcium? why is it that it has built up in the turbo, and is that likely to mean that i am going to have calcium elsewhere?

[Drift_R32]

Is that chemi weld?

[indecline]

^^^^^^^^^^^ thats what i thought it looked like chemiweld,

[Turbo2.6L]

Built engine or just a s/hand one you bought & slapped in? Looks much like chemi weld as already stated...

[XsQuiZiT]

Thread sealer overload?

[Drift_R32]

Never seen a build up like that even in a car only ever run on tap water.

But ive seen a build up like that in 22r that had chemi weld in it to fix a dodgy head gasket.

[TheChad]

fuuuu!

built bottom end s/h (had been run in and crashed lol, not even on the dyno for a power run)
built head s/h (from a race car over east)
original radiator and hoses, radiator removed by me and then apparently (ive paid for it) serviced and painted before being installed again
brand new metal gaskets all round, including top $ head gasket


at what point could that much chemiweld make its way in... all of the items were completely void of fluid before being installed, could that much chemi-weld lay dormant then move again when new fluids were added?

so other option is a bunch of chemiweld has been put in either the radiator by the radiator shop or by the mechanic upon filling up the car...



now that i think about it, the turbo water feed and return are the only two points that have a right angle bend, and especially one that small... (aside from inside the radiator... fuck knows what that looks like :/) so hopefully thats why it has built up there.

so now i cant bolt my new turbo on till i locate the cause really...

[Drift_R32]

Guess start checking elsewhere. Maybe take off thermostat housing have a look under there?

As for where it could have come from, fuck knows it's definitely a bottle neck spot where it would build up.

[RRob]

Mixing of coolants by the looks.

[TheChad]

so some residual green coolant "somewhere" mixed with the red coolant?

caused that deposit?





a couple of points that might be worth noting:

the car did boil over once. snapped the water pump belt on a run at the drags, didnt realise till i got it back down and parked it. popped the overflow lid off and pissed water everywhere.
(didnt boil all the water off and i refilled it with demineralised as it cooled)

also the turbo is a highmount, in that the highest point for water is in the turbo, so it is likely that it drained out that side when the car was stopped. thus leaving drops behind.

also it seems the return line was close to the height of the overflow when removed from the turbo, so the balanced water level would change depending on how close or far the level was away from max





EDIT:
So i just went and had another look at the big deposit, since it has been exposed to more air in the last 5 hours the colour has changed from the snot green colour in the pics to a much more white colour... is that typical for chemiweld?

[TheChad]

so i drained the radiator, and found this under the radiator cap:

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/hide_the_sausag3/IMG_0303.jpg

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w9/hide_the_sausag3/IMG_0302.jpg



1 to 10... how fucked am I?
haven't had a good look in the radiator down the bottom as i cant get my head in


so i'm just thinking... red sludge in radiator, yellow crusty shit in turbo lines, probably my whole water side is fucked hey? even the block!

interestingly someone on another forum suggested that mixing coolants could cause the buildup in the turbo lines, and google has one or two things saying that mixed (dexcool or something mixed with antifreeze) can cause this redish buildup. other posts say that dexcool will do that itself over time.


so it looks like:
remove thermostat to check block.
remove water lines to turbo to check them.
remove radiator and flush thorougly to inspect.

then:

replace all parts accordingly and new thermostat.
proffessional cooling system flush

[Brett_J]

Looks like mixed inhibitor issue, when you overheat it, it makes it worse and any scale/calcium build up turns rock hard.
Get your radiator rodded out, new thermostat, new turbo coolant lines, get the engine flushed at a radiator joint and you should be good.
Get them to fill the car with coolant, that way you know it has been done right.

[03stiwrx]

yeah mixing coolants is a no-no. some genuine manufacturers coolant turns to jelly if you mix the early type and late type.
looks like the whole system needs a goooooood clean out

[DISTRBD]

Fit an rb20 in there to solve the problem

[TheChad]

Fit an rb20 in there to solve the problem

I don't think it matters what engine I have when it comes to poorly welded pipe work and crazy coolant issues. I've learnt my lesson, I'll be there every step the next time I do something.