How to stop turbo leaking?

[Adoom]

My turbo has been leaking between the exhaust housing and the bearing housing for a while. I don't know how long the leak has been there... It was noticed on the dyno because the heat shield was off.
It has been apart before, I had to rotate the housing 180 degrees from factory when I got it.

Even with the bolts done up motherfuckingtight I can still rotate the bearing housing in the exhaust housing and wobble it a tiny bit.




All the black is from the exhaust leak.



Should the triangle washers be flat? They are ever so slightly not flat, could they be upside down and not clamping the housings together hard enough?

Should there be a sealant maybe?

It's a real bitch taking this off and putting it back on, so I kinda only want to fix it once.

[85AW20v]

Never had anything to do with a turbo but a light skim of the exhaust housing face would probably help to make the bearing housing sit proud of the exhaust housing so then your washers would clamp.

And I would think that the washers, if they are supposed to be raised, should have the raised part outwards under the bolt head not against the housing.

[evil_si]

What sort of turbo?
Is there a heat deflector that moves behind the exhaust wheel?

[Adoom]

What sort of turbo?
Is there a heat deflector that moves behind the exhaust wheel?

IHI VF.....10...8 from an RS Legacy. Yeh, it's OLD. *counts on fingers* $&#$% me, it's at least 23 years old!

It has a heat deflector plate, you can see it in the 2nd photo. You can also see in the photo that it is not sitting straight, but it is the same diameter as the hole it fits in, so it can't be assembled out of alignment.

[evil_si]

Ah yup can see it now, has it got a worn lip?
When you fit the core into the housing does the core protrude at all?
It needs to protrude so the clamping washers have something to clamp against,
as 85aw said, the easiest / cheapest fix would be skim the mounting face

[Adoom]

I ran a tap down the bolt holes. Cleaned it and put it back together. Seems to be properly clamped now.