Turbo Oil Return line - gasket and O ring questions

[jmailloux]

Yep, that was me with the turbo cooling hoses. Still working on that, see the other post.

Got the turbo oil return line seal (at the turbo end) in last night. Took a pretty good look at the lower part of that line, where it goes into the block. There was some older oil down there, but the more I looked at it, it looked like it was all seepage from the bad seal at the top end, running down the outside of the drain line to collect there. Given how bad my seal at the turbo end of this line was, it is pretty likely that is all it is. So, not doing anything with that now.
Jim.

[beoutside]

I have 5 min to repond to this so take my grammer/run on sentences with a grain of salt.

I had just done the head job and somehow neglegted this ....
Tips on doing this with the least amount of issues/PITA/mimimal removing of anything.
tools needed
1/4 drive extentions two six and one three inch, 1/4 inch swivel attachment, a short 5 mm allen or 30 torx depending on your car it's impossible to get in there with 3/8 drive or to long of a allen/torx socket
17mm wrenchs and socket for banjo bolts.... short narrow walled preferred, pliers to replease spring clamp on coolant line that needs to removed
8 ,10, and 12 mm sockets to remove misc things such as heat shields and hose clamps.... sloted screw driver as well.


..........from underneath I can wiggle my hands right to the allen/torx bolts holding the oil return line in place, one hand from directly beneath one hand comes around and above the half shaft.... like hugging it pretty much.... and granted I have the hands of a little person removing the pass tire allows another point you can visually see were the line comes of the turbo and enters the block. ... if you are having problems getting in to a spot try another angle, that made the world of difference for me

tip two
from above remove the large intake hose coming into the turbo that snakes over the motor and the short hose that connects it to the turbo thus allowing more hand space to remove banjo bolts , also removing the heat shield and taking note which bolts go were.

drain coolant before removing two banjo bolts on top of turbo and dont loose the brass washers as you take out the banjo bolts EACH BOLT HAS A WASHER ON EITHER SIDE OF THE LINE THE BOLT PASSES THROUGH..... this is vital for putting back together and not leaking. The coolant line that comes off the top of the turbo and goes to a short rubber connection by the heat shield needs to be removed.
The banjo bolt that attaches on the turbo facing the firewall needs to be removed to allow the turbo to be raised/ moved slightly allowing turbo return line to be removed since it is pressed into block and held by turbo. THIS IS DONE BY REMOVING THE CLAMP ( which can be tricky to get back on) THAT HOLDS THE TURBO TO EXHAUST AND BY RELEASING THE ACTIVATING ARM RUN BY THE VACUUM, mine was held on by a pin then the arm lifted off.
By removing these things the turbo can be moved enough allowing access to and space to remove oil line .
It is now also easier to access the two allen/torx bolts from underneath and by lossening the turbo to exhaust connection the oil line can be removed
This gave me enough room to remove and replace the oil line/pipe with new gasket and rtv sealant to hold it in place on the top and new o ring on bottom oil line/pipe.
When putting back in as I layed on top of the motor.... put the upper gasket on with rtv black sealant to hold it in place then put the o ring on the lower section and carefully placed the tube back in the block with out losing the upper gasket.... then orient top/flanged part of line as close as possible to bottom of turbo... from underneath place the easier bolt in a few threads using the hug technique discribed earlier... dont tighten down yet! Now get the second harder to reach bolt in using the 1/4 inch drive tools, no need for ratchet until final tightening just get it started enough to hold everything in place. double check you havent knocked the pipe from the block then tighen down, can't remember the toque but 1/4 inch drive with a stubby ratchet helps prevent breaking things!

quality extendable magnet... you will drop things into unreachable spots
a way to jack the car up on stands to allow you to lay underneath with yourself oriented directly under the turbo feet towards back of car.

plenty of light, headlamp, larrys light stick for tight spots.

[FREE-PPV]

I had just finished a valve job after water pump froze and timing belt came off, wiped out almost all valves, so bought another low mileage head and did a valve lap and valve seals, so here is my issue. Got it all back together and had major oil leak as the turbo drain pipe came out of engine? How in the world can this happen when putting on new head? Can't get it back in hole, tried removing brace and loosening top bolts, a real hassle to access for sure, but still no go, just doesn't align properly. So since it is out of hole, will replace O ring and gasket, but I still question why pipe doesn't align with hole? Any tips on getting it back in, I assume you put tube in position first, but given the tight access to bolts, if they don't align I am in deep shitz, so should I buy new pipe? Also, any trick in getting exhaust gaskets in, one was not in proper position behind turbo as you can't see it.

Thanks,

[abscate]

I had an i oil leak on my t5 that drenched the rear of the engine and driveshafts in oil, took me a long time to track it to the turbo return line o ring.

Tips on the turbo oil line flange bolts. They are an odd size like m4 I think they also take a 5mm hex? Don’t strip them with the wrong tool

A great tool for the low clearance AWD cars is a ball head hex driver set which lets you apply torque at an angle at the fitting, as opposed to a swivel joint.

It’s written up here on a T5

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