[TurboS10]

Hey all,

For those who saw the other thread I thought I would post an update. I drained about 2 pints of water out of the oil pan today....which scared me. I replaced it with new dino oil and ran the engine some. It held good oil pressure and maintained temperature. I ran it long enough to force the water to boil a little bit to check for leaks.

As far as I can tell everything is holding. I think that the water came from the loose intake bolts. When the water got to about 245 it begain to push out into the overflow container. With the fans on it cooled down pretty quick and gradually quit spewing. Some might think it silly to do this, but it solidified in my head that I got the water leak under control. In the past I could always hear a girgling in the engine when it was hot. I never thought much of it, but I am sure it was the intake leak. It does not do that at all now and goes into the overflow instead.

The problem I have now is getting all the water out of the engine. It steams a good bit when running and after I kill it when it is up to temp. It also lets out a good puff of steam when it starts after sitting. The water is boiling out, but it is just taking a while. I am going to take it for a short drive to maintain temp for a little while and then change the oil again. I will keep a close watch on water level from now on. It was almost 1 gallon low today.

Later,

Chris

[Matts99Sierra]

did you ever figure out what was up with the timing problem?

[Fast Orange]

Where is steam coming out at?Hopefully it's coming out of crankcase vent system and not out of exhaust.
I'd advise pressure test of cooling system(hand pump to pressure cap rating&watch guage to see if pressure drops)If no drop,you've probably found & fixed problem.
If steam is out of exhaust,you probably have an internal engine leak-head gasket,cracked head or block,intake gasket.
If steam is coming out of crankcase vents,repetitive oil changes and running up to temp and holding temp should clear out balance of water.
DON'T put anti-freeze in cooling system until you know leak is repaired.As you probably know,anti-freeze and bearings don't get along.
I have had situations where leak only appeared when engine was hot,so keep an eye on it for awhile-
Hope this helps,George

[baddbob]

[QUOTE=Fast Orange]
DON'T put anti-freeze in cooling system until you know leak is repaired.As you probably know,anti-freeze and bearings don't get along.
QUOTE]

Water and bearings don't get along very well either.

[TurboS10]

Yeah, I am definately keeping an eye on it for a while. I think that all the moisture is what caused the steam situation. The steam is coming from the crank case vents. It does steam a bit out the exhaust and is hard to crank after sitting a while. I pulled the plugs and every single one had condesate on them. I think it is just the steam coming up through the ring gaps and condensing on the pistons and chambers. When I checked the plugs none of them were shiny and clean as if it had been burning water when running so I am thinking the head gaskets are okay.

Bearings and anything other than oil dont get along to good, so yes I am being cautious. I am hoping that I did not hurt the bearings at the race last week. Oil pressure remains the same and is very steady. I was running Valvoline race synthetic, so I am hoping the synthetic itself or the zinc additives kept things lubricated. If the bearings go away in the future, I will know why.

Matt, I checked everything mechanical and electrical with the timing. I came to the conclusion that the distributor must be slipping. I put a new hard gasket in it and will clamp the heck out of the hold down when I get it on the road again. I have to get this moisture thing delt with first, but I will let everyone know if I find that the distributor is still slipping.

Later,

Chris

[baddbob]

Chris, is this the turbo'd combo in your avitar? A home brew setup? Interesting. Do you have your parts list combo available anywhere here? What kind of power is it making? If you put this combo together yourself from readily available/common parts I sure would be interested in the setup. Bob

[TurboS10]

Originally Posted by baddbob

Chris, is this the turbo'd combo in your avitar? A home brew setup? Interesting. Do you have your parts list combo available anywhere here? What kind of power is it making? If you put this combo together yourself from readily available/common parts I sure would be interested in the setup. Bob

Yes, it is the hombrewed setup in my avatar. The engine is a 400 SBC bored .040 over. Block is tall filled with forged rotating parts. I am running 230cc Dart Pro 1 heads and a bastardized Edelbrock proflo EFI with DIY Genboard V3 ECU, 50lb injectors and port matching to the big heads. I used a set of chevelle headers that I cut up and rearranged. I plumbed the two headers together with 3 inch mandrel bent piping and did the same for the downpipe with 3.5 inch pipe. The turbo is from a large diesel of some sort. A rebuilder told me it was from a 14L Mitsubitshi, but I dont know for sure. I picked it up for $175 off of ebay. It is good for ~30psi and ~1000HP from what I can find. I dont really have a flow map on it, but that is just a guestimate from other comparable turbos.

I am not sure of the output of my engine, but they are always lower than they "should" be. With optimal tuning and 12psi, my engine "should" make 750-800HP, but it is not making that much now. I think with a good tune it will make close to 700, but I could be off a little. An intercooler and better bonnet will help alot. The engine is only seeing 8.5 psi now due to the poor flow in the crappy bonnet I built, so there is alot of room for improvement there.

Chris

[k-star]

Wow, 2 pints....

I am not trying to alarm you but if it was mine it would come out,,, But i always err on the safe side... Does it have a high dollar crank in it????

Could you see for sure on the intake gaskets where it was leaking???? It sounds like to much steam/ moisture not to be something else still wrong. If you run it and it looses even one drop of water out of the radiator there is another problem....IMO

Since water and oil do not mix i would think that after one running of the engine all the extra water would be gone and there should be no more signs of a problem...But stranger things have happened when it comes to engines!!!!!

Keep us updated......

Keith

[TurboS10]

Keith,

I hear you on pulling the thing, but I am going to give it a little time. My first move will be to pull the intake and check it out. I am pretty sure that is where it was/is coming from. The front four bolts were so loose I could take them out with my fingers. Somehow, they came loose over time and I am sure that is the origin of the problem. I am going to keep an eye on it and watch the radiator fluid very close. With moisture in the engine, it makes sense to me that it could take a few times of coming up to temperature to get all the condesate out of the engine. Any existing condesate is picked up by the oil and stays until it is hot enough to boil out, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I have heard stories of antifreeze hurting bearings, but I am running hard race bearings on a forged crank with synthetic oil so I am hoping they might have survived the ordeal. It will show real soon if they are going to go away. If I have to pull it out, turning the crank again is not a huge deal if it eats it a little. It has already been turned from the last debris problem anyway.

I am about to the point I want to go to the junk yard and get a beater engine and slap the turbo stuff on it. Those engines never seem to have problems.

Chris