Pre-turbo exhaust leaks

[tbiagent69]

I have had a persistent leak in the turbo inlet since I got this truck. It's enough so that the entire top of the engine is coated in soot.

Tonight I decided to do a little wrenching on it and found that it is not at the turbo flange as I previously thought. I found that the (majority) of the leaking is in the header pipe that leads to the turbo flange adapter (for lack of a better term).

There is a small leak at each manifold, enough to leave about 1 1/2" to 2" soot stain, and a small leak at the junction where the pipes from each manifold meet and go up to the turbo.

My question is, what is an acceptable amount of leak? I am able to remove all the bolts, no problem (live in socal so no rust, at all).

I loosened and retightened the flange and tested it 4 times and finally was able to make the leak at the flange small enough that I could just see a small puff when I rev it as opposed to the normal cloud.

 

[79jasper]

No leak at all is the acceptable level. Lol

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[tbiagent69]

I am looking at it from a cost / benefit standpoint, as in is the cost to my back and knees worth the benefit of no leaks

Also, I'm looking at my EGT sensor. It's a banks unit, and hasn't worked since I got the truck. How do I test it to see what's wrong?

 

[79jasper]

Eh, couldn't tell ya. Lol
Something to do with resistance though.
Make sure all connections are clean and tight.

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[tbiagent69]

So I got it as sealed as I could just by tightening and loosening it. No longer spewing soot out to the engine bay when I drive it.

When I drive on the freeway there is not constant smoke, but it puffs very light smoke out of the exhaust like every 1/2 second. Does this sound like a bad / leaky injector? The ones I have in it only have about 1,000 miles on them or so.

Also, where I live is at or below sea level. When I get up in to the mountains, like 3-4,000 feet it smokes quite a bit. No matter if it's an incline or just driving down the road, it's a good amount of smoke. Any thoughts on this? Is it just turned up too much for the turbo to suck enough air in at those altitudes?