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How to Fix Your Leaking Turbo Drain Hose by bajacalal on 15 Feb, 2012 01:01
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If you have an old VW turbo diesel then odds are, your Reagan-era turbo drain hose has seen better days. If yours leaks like a sieve, they're known to be difficult to find. Few solutions exist for the DIY-er other than to pay a hydraulic hose shop to custom-fabricate you a replacement part using your existing metal ends of the hose.
I came up with a cheap and easy 12 step solution.
1. Remove the turbo from the engine and the turbo drain line from the turbo.
2. Gently Mount the drain line in a vise. To avoid marring the tube, use a piece of aluminum, brass or copper to hold the line in the vise.
3. Next, use some sort of drift or punch to remove the ferrule from the bottom (oil pan) end of the line. This is by far, the hardest part of the job so be very careful and do take your time with it. You might have to use a file to remove some of the material from the end of the metal line if it has mushroomed. You can also try holding the ferrule itself with the vise, do it very carefully and use a hammer and socket to tap the metal tube out of the ferrule. It might be difficult to remove but don't risk damaging the ferrule and don't lose it. It's a weird metric size.
4. Pull off the nut.
5. Thoroughly clean the entire turbo drain line.
6. Cut a piece of hose to appropriate length, lube it up real good and slide it up over the metal tube, to completely cover the braided steel hose section and the swaged connections between metal tube and the braided hose. You will have to twist it back and forth to work it up the tube but it will go.
Use an oil and heat resistant hose. Silicone is resistant to heat and chemicals and is also very flexible. I used 3/4" hose.
7. Install 2 hose clamps. Preferably, use the European type that do not cut the hose.
8. First put the nut back on the drain line and then push the ferrule on the metal tube until it's back where it was. You might want to clean up the tube end with some emery cloth.
9. Reinstall the turbo drain line.
10. Wrap your repair with something like silicone tape (Tommy tape) or heat-resistant wrap to protect it from heat and abrasion.
11. Reinstall the turbo.
12. Start it up and check for leaks. Done.
Disclaimer: this has not been proven to work because I have not put it into service yet... But hopefully if done properly, this repair will last a long time. -
#1 by 745 turbogreasel on 15 Feb, 2012 01:21
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Looks just like what only leaks a little and came in my Banks 6.2 kit.
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#2 by R.O.R-2.0 on 15 Feb, 2012 01:35
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i took and slit the compression fittings, and pulled the chunk of stainless flex line out of there, and used a piece of oil line with hose clamps..
basically the same thing, but i removed the flex section that you slid the hose over..
and mine works fine, doesnt leak.. -
#3 by bajacalal on 15 Feb, 2012 01:39
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i took and slit the compression fittings, and pulled the chunk of stainless flex line out of there, and used a piece of oil line with hose clamps..
Other people have done the same thing, and I thought about doing it too, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time messing around with it. And, I was afraid to do something where I might screw it up and wind up with an utterly useless drain hose. -
#4 by wolfsburged on 29 May, 2012 16:54
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My drain is leaking now...
Anyone have any experience with using something similar to this ebay solution:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MK1-Turbo-Braided-Oil-Return-Drain-Line-Garrett-T3-T4-/160544134823?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_100&hash=item25612d16a7&vxp=mtr
Not sure what fittings would be required to adapt to whatever is at the pan... -
#5 by R.O.R-2.0 on 29 May, 2012 19:14
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My drain is leaking now...
Anyone have any experience with using something similar to this ebay solution:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/MK1-Turbo-Braided-Oil-Return-Drain-Line-Garrett-T3-T4-/160544134823?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_100&hash=item25612d16a7&vxp=mtr
Not sure what fittings would be required to adapt to whatever is at the pan...
cut the bottom of the stock oil line off, and either solder a fitting to it, or use it as the fitting, if its the right size. -
#6 by libbydiesel on 29 May, 2012 20:52
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Those aluminum fittings in the eBay link suck. Don't bother. Cut off the old flexible line from your stock return and clamp on a new section of braided stainless oil return hose.
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#7 by R.O.R-2.0 on 30 May, 2012 13:04
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Those aluminum fittings in the eBay link suck. Don't bother. Cut off the old flexible line from your stock return and clamp on a new section of braided stainless oil return hose.
what is the OEM flex section made of Andrew? Teflon?
its some sort of semi-hard plastic. its also white under the stainless wrap. -
#8 by libbydiesel on 30 May, 2012 14:52
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I think the stock hose is teflon. I've just been using oil return hose from Summit and haven't had any issues.