If you are replacing your turbo line with a "upgraded braided line" be very careful not to track your car unless you get a longer line than most kits supply and reroute the line over the top of your turbo then back around underneath. This will avoid the stock route directly between the turbo charger housing and the block. This area gets extremely hot during track days and you have the potential to melt your valve cover and worse yet your new "upgraded" steel braided line. The line could potentially melt down completely and pump your engine oil all over your exhaust and start a fire or seize your motor!!! Both not very nice options for you or your car. go to your local parts store and buy the necessary banjo fittings etc to route the line over the top of your turbo and around under the turbo, it will fit perfectly behind the heat shields under your turbo. You will need a banjo bolt and gaskets for lower line connection, for turbo connection you will need a line adapter to turbo (silver piece in photo) and a 90* elbow from line adapter to your new steel braided line (black piece in photo), your line has to be at least 6" longer than the one your braided line kit comes with, I also added additional heat shielding cover on line. Next time I am at the parts store I will make a complete list, I would estimate the line is approximately 18-24 inches. Please note this happened to my sons car, was not a pleasant experience, luckily his co-driver noticed some smoke from the rear of the vehicle before the engine seized or car caught on fire.

 

Ouch.

I'm guessing he didn't have the heat shield for the oil line? Or did it not help?

 

That thing was on and id didnt do ****, believe me things get really toasty in that gap between the turbo housing and the block, that is why the factory line is solid steel. The braided steel line is not actually steel its steel braid over a nylon or similar material line that is susceptible to heat damage. The steel braid did not melt the line inside the steel braid melted, oil was spewing out of the braided casing from the inside line failure

 

That's unreal.

Thank you for posting this.

I have a DEI Protect-A-Sleeve shrouding my WMI line. I think I'm going to run one over the oil feed line just to be safe.

 

Which braided line kit were you using?

 

That valve cover has got me scratching my head.

 

perhaps a picture showing the rest of the bay would help here ?

 

Definitely. That and a list of other parts that may have been involved. These oil lines are not exactly new or uncommon, so this failure is interesting. The valve cover reminds me of the aftermarket heat shields that have been known to melt the cover.

Any information would be helpful.

 

Here is my temporary fix based on @E34M5's fix. I had enough stainless line to simply reroute it around the cold side. I also added some DEI reflect-a-gold and protect-a-sleeve. Until today I've been putting off buying a WMW turbo blanket for years.
Thanks for bringing this to the forum.

 

Hey Scotty, that will work, doesn't really matter who you get this kit from they are all about the same. I don't want to name the seller of the kit, they are a reputable company, I just don't think the line routing has been very well thought out. Just thought I would give everyone the heads up regarding the potential for a big issue if your tracking your car. The problem is not with the quality of the line, its with the route.