TomInOregon Posted June 7, 2005 Share Posted June 7, 2005 My 1987 GL-10 turbo FT4WD D/R 5 spd sedan started belching out masive clouds of white smoke about 6 months ago while getting off of the highway on an offramp. I assumed it had a blown headgasket and asked my mechanic how much he would charge to fix it. he didn't want to touch it, saying that it would cost more to fix than a used japanese market engine would cost. Needless to say, it has been sitting since then. Yesterday, my wife's car broke down and I was looking at the Subaru to see what I could do with it. I checked the oil and there was no milkiness and no evidence of water at all in the oil or oil in the radiator. Now I am starting to think (hope) the turbo may be leaking coolant into the exhaust. Is there a way I can disable the coolant to the turbo for a short time to check this for sure? Can I fit a bolt into the inlet/outlet where the turbo coolant lines connect to the engine? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Tom 1987 GL-10 EA82T 5spd FT4WD D/R w/locking diff and digidash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
critical_max Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 The turbo is cooled by the engine oil, as I understand it, so there is no way to leak engine coolant to the exhaust... What did your temp gauge say while the white smoke was coming out? Were you overheating? A compression check on all 4 cylinders will be a very valuable test in your case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoorManzImpreza Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 turbo is oil lubricated and watercooled FYI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 Your turbo is water cooled. One way to check for a blown HG is to start the car with the radiator cap off. If the head gasket is blown you will probably see the cooland start to froth or bubble. Could also be an intake manifold gasket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanislru Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 Your turbo is water cooled. One way to check for a blown HG is to start the car with the radiator cap off. If the head gasket is blown you will probably see the cooland start to froth or bubble. Could also be an intake manifold gasket. I've found intake manifold bolts that were hand tight at best might be and idea to give the 6 of them a quick check. If they are loose/broken the gasket is probly in need of replacing anyhow cause it might have shifted and/or be damaged. They're cheap and easy to do maybe take 4 hours.To do the headgaskets might run you $150 dollars for all the seals and gaskets and will most likely eat up a weekend but there's an excellent write up in the USRM by Torxx i think. If you get into trouble someone will know how to get you out. I personally would do the HG's just so I know they're not going to be needing attn down the road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quattroPilot Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 my turbo just gave up the ghost in January. It puked oil into the exhaust (HUUUUUGE blue smoke), not coolant. I don't think you could attribute white smoke to bad turbo because its "water" cooled system is a jacket around the turbines & bearing. So for there to be antifreeze in the exhaust post-Turbo, that jacket would have had to crack in some form... and I'm pretty sure that's not a regular occurance. Oil leakage due to bad bearing is the most indicative sign of blown turbo. I would be prepared to accuse either the HG's or else the IM becoming untorqued(as was suggested by Vanislru). When a headgasket failed on my Audi, I could observe the gradual mixing of oil + coolant right from the expansion tank. It was f'ing gross! about an 1.5" oil layer on top and white curdles all inside the tank, and a repulsive stink of burnt oil. Perhaps that is a good place to look in diagnosing a split headgasket on your GL-10. However you slice it though, it's still a biotch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomInOregon Posted June 8, 2005 Author Share Posted June 8, 2005 When it started blowing smoke, it was not running hot at all. In fact, I had my wife drive it home, keeping an eye on the temp gauge and after the 30 mile trip it still had not gotten even a bar above normal (digital dash). It also didn't seem to lose much coolant, considering the length of the trip and the massive amounts of white smoke. The intake manifold is a good tip. I just had the gasket changed early last year and you can never really trust any mechanic other than yourself. I will check the bolts on it and see if any are loose. Thanks, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomInOregon Posted June 10, 2005 Author Share Posted June 10, 2005 I started it up today and only got one smell of antifreeze from the smoke. Mostly it seems to smell of exhaust and it smells rich as well. There was also noticable smoke coming from around the turbo. There also appears to be some blow-by, because I can feel air being pushed through the oil filler neck and it idles slower with the oil filler cap on. That's not much to go on, but at this point, that's all I have been able to get done. I don't have a guage to check the compression. Thanks, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KStretch55 Posted June 10, 2005 Share Posted June 10, 2005 Do you have a vacuum guage? That would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4WDFrenzy Posted June 12, 2005 Share Posted June 12, 2005 My 1987 GL-10 turbo FT4WD D/R 5 spd sedan started belching out masive clouds of white smoke about 6 months ago while getting off of the highway on an offramp. I assumed it had a blown headgasket and asked my mechanic how much he would charge to fix it. he didn't want to touch it, saying that it would cost more to fix than a used japanese market engine would cost. Needless to say, it has been sitting since then. Yesterday, my wife's car broke down and I was looking at the Subaru to see what I could do with it. I checked the oil and there was no milkiness and no evidence of water at all in the oil or oil in the radiator. Now I am starting to think (hope) the turbo may be leaking coolant into the exhaust. Is there a way I can disable the coolant to the turbo for a short time to check this for sure? Can I fit a bolt into the inlet/outlet where the turbo coolant lines connect to the engine? Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, Tom 1987 GL-10 EA82T 5spd FT4WD D/R w/locking diff and digidash. What you will want to do is take a piece of hose and loop it from the coolant feed line( the metal line that comes from the passenger side head;from the bottom of the engine) to the return which is on the thermostat housing, and clamp both ends. This will safely bypass the turbocharger housing, but I wouldn't suggest running it like that for a long period of time. The coolant helps to evacuate heat from the turbocharger bearing housing, or center section if you will, to extend the lifespan of the turbocharger and reduce the chance of bearing failure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted June 12, 2005 Share Posted June 12, 2005 Regarding turbo coolant leakage, one of our locals says that he has had 2 turbos fail with leaking turbo coolant jackets. This is anecdotal, as I have no personal knowledge of this problem. No one has yet mentioned the common way that EA82T's die: The infamous exhaust port crack. This is the crack in the port divider in the exhaust port, typically on the passenger (right) side head. This can dump coolant directly into the exhaust system, without any overt signs of a blown headgasket. Overheating would occur only due to coolant loss, and there would be no oil/water mixing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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