dime1622

blown headgasket? when i get on the throttle i blow black smoke out the back,i keep having to refill the coolant, and the car starts overheating after just 10 minutes of driving. this is my first guess, would that be yours as well?

if so, what may have done it? my 13 year old APE chips? my broken water temp sender (i just bought a new one, its on its way)? the fact that my turbo is spewing excessive amounts of oil into the motor?

im thinking that if the headgasket is gone, im gonna replace it, buy a new turbo (or rebuild the current one) and get new chips that i actually trust.

sorry, thats a few questions actually in there, help me out the best you can, give me thoughts/ideas/suggestions

PCinDC

Black smoke generally indicates a rich running condition and while not ideal isn't necessarily going to damage your motor. (extreme rich conditions or prolonged richness is another story)

About the overheating -

Have you noticed any coolant leaks? The waterpump is a common leak. If its leaking, replace it becasue it will fail soon to the tune of a head rebuild. When was the last time the system was bled? I would replace the temp sender first and see if the car is actually overheating or if a bad sender was indicating it was.

Have you noticed any oil residue in the coolant overflow resevoir?

How about coolant in the oil? If coolant and oil are mixing your oil would look like a sludgy vanilla milkshake.

If thats the case, chances are its your oil cooler seals and not your headgasket (although thats still a possibility)
Do you know for a fact that your turbo is allowing oil through? Is the car down on power?

As you can see there are a lot of possibilities given the circumstances. Answer some of my questions and we will probably be closer to an answer.

dime1622

no coolant leaks. i havent bled the system since i resealed the motor in august 2003.

there's no coolant in the oil, and no oil in the coolant (changed and coolant recently), so that would indicate against a blown head gasket.

the oil cooler seal was replaced last august as well.

the car is a little down on power, but not much. the turbo makes noise at full boost (like somethings being sent through it) but i checked and its not self-destructing. the IC pipes have quite a bit more oil in them than they did last august.

hosrom_951

When the car is cold (parked overnight) and when you start it, does it hesitate/stumble? if so, that indicates 3 cylinders working (then the 4th catched up) which is a head gasket. Also look for white smoke from the exhaust for further indication of a blown head gasket.

dime1622

no white smoke in the exhaust, pitch black. it stumbles a bit on startup, but not a whole lot

hosrom_951

Get a leak down test to confirm the head gasket issue.

Again, i used to get 'stumble' on cold start ups on my NA, no white smoke and the coolant was always getting low after a couple of days without any leaks.

pk951

On the coolant tank there is a hose for overflow, connect it to a bottle and go for a run well into boost.

Then check you're bottle again, if it's full i would say head gasket. Also do a leakdown test