Well today I decided to work on the Evo for a little bit since my Cusco brace was rattling. So I fixed that problem and before I took the car off the ramps, I decided to take a look at my oil pan area and I noticed there was a little bit of oil surrounding the downpipe and the bottom on the oil pan. It wasn't a whole lot but it just looks like its been collecting over a while. I ended up cleaning it all up and then I remembered, I removed my turbo to install my o2 housing last year but I reused the gasket that went onto the oil pan when I should have replaced it. I couldn't wait for a gasket since it was my daily driver and I had to be at work later that night but since then, I picked up a daily driver. So now, I know the oil return line gasket is leaking but its very little and I know it'll be pretty straight forward to replace it. Simple unbolt the downpipe from the o2 housing, remove it from the hangers, drain the oil and unbolt the 2 bolts holding the oil return line in place. Now my question is, all of these modifications were done in April of last year but I just noticed the oil leak now. Its very minimal but I was just wondering, will it cause any damage to my turbo? I always check my oil level and its always at the full mark on the dip stick when its cold. I'm going to keep a close eye on it to make sure the gasket simply doesn't give out completely and then start a huge oil leak. I just wanted you opinion on if you think that small leak could cause any damage to the turbo or even the motor and if I could hold off till about late August to swap out the gasket if it holds out till then.

 

Also, is the oil return line from the Evo 8, the same as the one in the Evo 9? as well as does anyone know how many gaskets are on the oil return line? I know there's one on the oil pan. Is there one where it connects to the turbo as well?

 

There are two different gaskets. There is a black rubber-like gasket down below at the drainpipe flange/oil pan interface. Then there is a newly designed yellowish colored paper like gasket up top at the turbo's center housing/oil drainpipe flange interface.

 

Alright, thanks for the info. Do you know the part number or what the rubber like gasket looks like? I went through my service manual and all it shows is 2 of the paper like gaskets on each end of the oil return line.

 

most of the time its the washers that leak. A lot of ppl don't notice that the washers are unique because they have have rubber to seal the threads. Try some teflon on the bolts first if its really bugging you. No you will not damage the turbo in anyway from this. Just keep an eye on your oil level...which you should be doing anyway.

 

Thanks for all the help. I just ordered new gaskets for the turbo and oil pan side as well as the bolts and washers. Hopefully it wont be a pain to remove the bolts from the turbo side.

 

Removing the two bolts that fasten the oil drain pipe flange to the turbo's center housing is not too difficult. Installation, on the other hand, is a PITA!

It's good to have certain 1/4" drive socket accessories on hand, such as a few long wobble extensions at least. Lining up the bolt holes and the gasket and getting the bolts started can be a real beatch.

 

EDIT: I had to come back and edit a mistake on my part with regard to a rubberlike gasket. This black rubberlike gasket used to go up top, but it has been superseded by that yellowish paperlike gasket. The gasket down below is actually a thin metallic gasket.

The thin paper gasket up above that goes in between the turbo's center section and the upper flange on the oil drain pipe should only be oriented one way. that is it has a top mating surface and a lower mating surface. So you have to be careful not to install it upside down.

The Mitsu parts counter should have a factory advisory on how to install it correctly. If you look at it and compare the top and bottom surface then you'll notice that one surface has a kind of tacky substance forming a circle around the drain hole in the center of the gasket.

I think that the tacky ring should be facing down toward the flange on the drain pipe and not up toward the turbo. But, you'd better double check with your Mitsu parts guy. They redesigned the gasket because they had been having a lot of sealing issues involving oil leakage at that specific location.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'll ask RussellM which way to install the gaskets since I ordered it from him.

 

Alright, so I finally got all the parts to replace the gaskets and now I have one big question. Does anyone know the order that the gaskets go in and which side they have to face? I was given links to the service manual and its really no help. It says the protrusion on the gasket needs to be on a certain side but both sides on the gasket are different. So I can flip the gasket and the protrusion will be on the same side but then the gasket itself is different on the front and back side. Does anyone know for sure how these gaskets need to go? I need to know the direction for the oil pan and turbo side.

 

Here are some pics to help explain:

Oil pan gasket:




You can see one side is raised and the other is recessed. Now which side faces the oil pan and which side faces the oil return line?

Turbo side gasket:




Here you can see that one side has a circle around the drain hole and the other side doesnt. Which side faces the turbo and which side faces the oil return line?

Also, on the pan side I'm assuming it goes Oil pan, Metallic gasket, Oil return line, rubber gasket washers and then the bolts correct?

 

Ttt. Someone has to know.

 

Asked a few dealerships as well and they were no help.

 

Put the recessed side towards the oil line and the raise towards the oil pan.

 

Alright, thanks for the help. Are you 100% positive on that?