Hey all,

Upon nearing completion of my head gasket job I've begun re-thinking things I've found during the teardown. My reason for doing the HG was that I was having big time pressure in my cooling system and I spied coolant in the combustion chamber on top of the pistons. With this, I only showed very light traces of any white smoke.

During teardown I found play in my turbo when I put fingers on each side and wiggle up and down. As far as the car ran, I would never expect any turbo issues - ran great - no oil smoke, etc.

My question is: can an internally leaking turbo pass either coolant or oil back to the intake and not just to the exhaust as you most commonly expect? I'm wondering if any of the coolant I found actually passed from the turbo to the intake and where I found it in the combustion area? The turbo intercooler pipes definitley have oily residue, but I'm not certain how common that is.

I just don't know turbos enough to guess how any of it's symptoms can imitate engine issues. I'm hoping after all this work that I don't end up in a similar situation.

Any comments? Thanks in advance, Steve