Couple Questions Re Removing Turbo

[Touge Kyousou]

Hey all,

Posting on my phone so apologie for spelling and structure etc

I need to remove the turbo from my 33 due to gasket/flange leaks etc or at less thats what I hope it is instead if a blown turbo.. It's making tractor like noises but anyways..

For when I remote the oil and water line.. They are nit pressurized lines are they? And do they just unscrew/slip off etc? It's a Garrett gt2871r turbo.

Thanks guys.

Should mention in mechanically minded but haven't removed a turbo before.

[JonnoHR31]

no they wont be pressurized, you'll lose a fair bit of coolant tho.

if you have braided lines you could just try and leave the lines on and move the turbo far away enough to change your gasket

[Cassbo]

I don't think broken turbos give off a tractor noise, or at least mine didn't. Was a very loud scream and no power

Which gasket requires replacing will determine if the turbo needs to be removed or not.

If it's the gasket between the turbo and the dump, the turbo can stay where it is, just remove the exhaust between the turbo and the cat.

If it's the gasket between the turbo and the manifold, turbo will need to come out.

If it's the gasket between the manifold and the engine, the turbo will need to be removed to get to the manifold which will also need to be removed.

This is something I have only done once so I'm about 80% confident in my answer. I'm sure someone will point out my stupidity if I'm wrong

[Touge Kyousou]

Thanks for the replies. The oil line is braided but uncertain on the water line.. I'll need to have a look again.

The turbo is still making boost as usual but also a loutish ticking noise.

When on boost it also sounds like theres a screamer pile so yeah hope it's leak.

The dump flange gasket looks ok. It seems to be coming from somewhere around the t3 to t25 adapter flange (2 piece system)

I'll pickup some gasket goo for the 2 pei es of adapter flange and may as well coat the other. (fresh) gaskets.

Cheers!

[DVS JEZ]

Get permaseal gaskets from bursons. They work really well.

If its a stock turbo or similar.

Remove intake pipes and cooler pipes.

Remove dump pipe.

Undo the locking tabs on the 4 turbo to manifold nuts. Then undo the 4 nuts. Leave the easiest nut till last it

will make the job soooo much easier cause the other

nuts wont be under load.

Carefully pull and pry the turbo off the manifokd studs just enough to get the old gasket off an the new permaseal gasket on. Dont use any gasket goo!

Tighten the 4 nuts in reverse order nice and tight and be sure to refit the locking tabs.

Refit cooler pipes and intake pipe.

Also u should soak the nuts and dump pipe bolts with wd40 before u start

[mystery_kid]

sounds like it's the exhaust manifold gasket gasket/broken studs with the ticking you describe

don't use gasket goo

also nissan gaskets ftw

[Touge Kyousou]

SOB, hope it's not studs/exhaust manifold gasket.

The engine was rebuilt 70 thou ago and the exhaust manifold gasket still looks quite new but i will have a closer look at it once the turbo's off.

Turbo's almost off.. all piping etc removed. Just need to get to one PITA nut on the dump pipe then remove the 1 piece dump/front pipe. I'm hoping it's just the t3-t25 adapter itself - it's a two piece design with a t3 piece and a t25 piece with 4 allen bolts holding the two pieces together however there's no gasket in between the two flanges. I think i can see some remnants of gasket goo between the flanges and here's the problem..i don't think there is a gasket for the 2piece adapter so might just try and get away with some form-a-gasket stuff.

There's two new genuine t3 and t25 gasket flanges on both ends of the adapter so it shouldn't be those though i wouldn't be sad if it were as it'll be an easy fix. Also looks like i won't need to remove the water and oil lines as i can drop the turbo slightly down and then remove the flange adapter for inspection/repair etc.

[mystery_kid]

i undo the front pipe at the cat and pull it out with the turbo as there is a bolt you pretty much can't undo with it in the car

the ticking sound gives it away that it's the manifold no the turbo gasket, if it's on 1 cylinder then only when that cylinder fires will it make the sound hence the gap in time between each tick

[Touge Kyousou]

Cheers for that mate.

Funnily enough, i managed to get the last bolt off the dump pipe with a socket/tool made from 3 different tool-sets lol. It's actually an SR flange though so only 5 bolts (being a gt2871r).

I managed to check all 12 studs and they seem ok. Could see there were two or three new studs at the front of the engine and the nuts on those were quite loose so i re-tightened but the ticking noise wasn't coming from the front anyways. Just to clarify though, what is it like when the studs are broken ? Will it be loose etc where i can move it easily-ish with a spanner on it etc and the nut stays on the broken/snapped stud?

The ticking noise really did sound like it was coming from the turbo or very nearby. Very minimal shaft play and the compressor blades all look good. Once i pull the turbo off i'll check the exh. wheel and have a closer look at the manifold and it's gasket. Though your ticking sound theory makes alot of sense mystery_kid.

I'll make sure to have garden hose etc handy for when i put it back together if the leak is still present.

[Touge Kyousou]

Just wanted to update this thread for information purposes.

search terms: turbo ticking noise, flange leak, flange leaks, gasket leak, gasket leaks,

Turbo's been off and back on. As mentioned, my car runs a t3 to t25 adapter flange to mount a gt2871r. There are no gaskets available for in between the t3 and t25 adapter plates so i got some sheet metal and some tin-snips then voila! Dodgy custom gasket. Whilst doing all this bs we found the turbo's front housing plate.. a bloody bolt had become undone and fallen off! Luckily it was sorta wedged in the engine bay and i screwed it back in and checked the others.

So after adding a custom dodgy gasket between the flange adapters and screwing a bolt back in...the car is now running as it should - in fact, better as i replaced the fuel filter and did some other misc work while it was sorta apart.

My manifold gasket, studs etc were all ok (good condition) yet i still had that ticking noise/leak. Hope this helps anyone that searches.

[Touge Kyousou]

And thanks for everyone's help!

<3 SAU.