My car got to ride on a trailer today.

[stu]

So last night I was giving a buddy a ride in my car. Right as we were heading back to the house, and were pretty close, I had to make a hard brake at a yellow light. Immediately a large quantity of steam started pouring out from under my hood. So I made a jack move right turn (thank god no one was there so the lane was open) and pulled into a parking lot. We popped the hood, and about 3/4 of the way down towards the bottom of the IC, all the fluid was spraying out onto the turbo. All my friend's were drinking, so I babied the car back to my friend's house to let it sit for the night. This morning when I was showing my cousin where the hole was after we loaded it onto the trailer, I found the problem. Apparently, whenever I actually drive my car hard for more than just a few times in a row, the bolts that hold the turbo to the manifold come loose. Well, the same bolt that always falls out, fell out and got stuck between my charge pipe and the radiator (I've actually found it there before). Apparently, when I stopped short, the motor moved and jammed the head of the bolt right into my radiator and punctured a nice big hole in it. I just put this radiator (BRAND NEW) in the car last week. The box is even still at my house. :(

So, now I have to go find out if it will be cheaper to replace the radiator all over again, or just get it repaired.

The bolt had a locking washer on it as well, some job it did holding the bolt on there. *lame.

[stu]

Oh yeah, and I'm thinking that this probably wouldn't have happened if the radiator wasn't a dual core. Oh well.

[rmcdaniels]

Do yo use lock washers? I use the wavy ones and haven't had a problem with them. The split ones don't hold up so well.

[john]

Arrgggghhhh!!!!

Loctite the turbo nuts & bolts.

[Weston]

One thing that I've found that can cause this problem is the length of the bolt. If it's too long (even slightly), it wont tighten down and will come loose. In that case, having a lock washer on there will only make you *think* that it's tightened down all the way. If the bolt is too short, it will have less threads to grab onto.

But given the weight, heat, and vibrations, they are probably going to come loose no matter what. This is a very common problem on turbo Hondas. The best you can do is get it so that it doesn't come loose as often. You should be checking the tightness on the bolts and checking your oil level on a regular basis. It only takes all of 5 minutes.

I've found that reducing the stress on the related parts will also help keep the bolts from coming loose and keep things from cracking. If you can find a good way to help support the weight of the turbo, do it. I have my downpipe braced to the engine (the same way the stock header is braced), but then have a flex-pipe after that to absorb the movement of the engine. The downpipe does see more strain since it's now partially supporting the weight of the turbo, but it doesn't seem to be a problem and bolts seem to come loose less often now.

If you ever run the wastegate output into the downpipe, make sure there is some flex-pipe in there or you will have bolts come loose and things crack.

[stu]

I heard that the spring lock washers didn't work very well, so I got the star type washer, which apparently doesn't work at all.

Roger: What is the wavy type you are talking about?

John: I figured that even the highest temp locktite would just melt off on the turbo manifold.

[rmcdaniels]

A wavy washer looks like this:


http://www.proecentral.com/portal/articles/articlesDetail.asp?id=25&p=7

but usually they don't have that many waves. I get them at Ace Hardware.

[chris_venturini]

stu. your radiator has a lifetime warranty....well at least mine does. :fu:

[Brian]

Locktite should hold up to the temperature just fine. The way the compound works it solidifies in the absense of air, but even with the high temps it should hold. I would at least give it a shot.

[1998cc]

What grade bolts are you using? If you aren't already I would reccomend some stainless steel ones.

[WyoTeg]

Dare I say JB Weld? We welded a hole in my Mom's radiator on her Honda Civic shut and it has been running fine for about a year.

[myshtern]

That sucks stu :(

Since it is all metal though, it shouldnt be too hard to weld though would it?

[rmcdaniels]

Dare I say JB Weld? We welded a hole in my Mom's radiator on her Honda Civic shut and it has been running fine for about a year.

I use JB Weld on just about everything.

[WyoTeg]

JB Weld OWNZ j00!...........and me.

[Weston]

Get it fixed the right way. Don't try to use JB Weld as a long term solution.

[vince]

my down pipe kept getting loose and i finnaly got it to work when i used a ton of locktite and let the car sit over night, it smells like bananas when it burning off. To me anyways.

[doctorstupid]

two words, stu: safety wire ;). now that i mention, i'm thinking about safety wiring my main bolts, because i'm cool and like overkill :D

anyway, sorry to hear about the misfortune, right after it got quasi-tuned, too :(

[stu]

Chris, my radiator also has a lifetime guaranty, but not for punctures.

I'll try the locktite for sure, what color should I get? I also thought about using saftey wire, but I don't understand how I'd attached it to the bolts.

P.S. I've actually got my old cracked one on the car right now, it should hold me over until I can get this one fixed. :)

[doctorstupid]

for the saftey wire you need to get safety wire bolts ;)

[1998cc]

Loctite red and no subsitutes. Make sure you use grade 8 hardware too. You don't want those bolts streching on you.

[saabracr]

There exist lock nuts that do not rely on nylon to resist loosening. They are roughly the same shape as the nylock ones- kinda conical on the back, but the opening is oblong. The alloy they are made from is heat treated so that it will take many heat cycles before it tends toward round and vibrates loose.

That, and Loctite the bastard out of them. Buy the highest temp shit they've got. Tis not a problem exclusive to turbo Hondas. Any "high" pressure turbo car sees a remarkable amount of heat and pressure at this junction. It sucks that it resulted in a molested radiator though.

Best of luck,
Andy