Buy New Or Rebuild Turbo?

[Baldwin1993]

a few months after i brought my skyline (1996 r33 series2) the turbo blew the oil seals (I'm guessing) as it was using a lot of oil, blowing a lot of smoke and had a lot of oil in the intercooler pipe. so i brought a china cheap turbo off ebay as a temporary turbo, but it done the same thing after a month or so. then i found out a friend of a friend was selling a stock one out of an r34 with 70 000 ks on it and i was told it was fine. put it in filed my car with oil and drove around town and it seemed ok. still blew a bit of smoke but i just assumed it was burning some that may have still been in the intercooler piping. drove to visit mum 200 ks away and got pulled over for the car was blowing smoke. popped the bonnet and got defected for oil on the engine coming out of the blow off valve. also got defected for the bov but thats another issue. anyway when i got home i checked the oil again. almost empty so this turbo is no better than the other two.

so 1st question; is there something wrong with my car as to why it keeps blowing the seals in the turbo or have i just been unlucky?

2nd question would it be cheaper to rebuild the turbo? or just have seals replaced whatever the case may be, or buy a new turbo?

3rd; where would i get it rebuilt or get a kit to get my mate thats a mechanic to rebuild it, or where would i buy a new turbo?

i only want to rebuild the stock turbo or replace it with a new stock turbo. i just want to keep the turbo stock.

thanks in advance as i really need you guys help!

Baldwin.

[chiksluvit]

Possible scenarios:

1. Standard turbo busted

Second turbo is bush bearing, busted due to reusing stock oil line

Third turbo was busted also

2. Standard turbo busted

Second turbo is bush bearing, changed line over but just being unreliable as all ebay turbos are

Reused line from second turbo, killed third turbo caus r34 turbo is bb

3. Used the right lines, just unlucky

Or maybe you have massive amounts of blowby?

Cheapest and most reliable option will be to send your first turbo in to hypergear and get a highflow/ rebuild done

Edited December 3, 2014 by chiksluvit

[GTSBoy]

Yuh I vote for a scenario where none of the turbos are blown but the engine sucks balls.

[chiksluvit]

Engine rebuild time

That said blown turbo oil seals that I've seen usually leaks from the exhaust side

Not saying it doesn't happen from the intake side but i haven't seen one before from my limited experience

[Blackkers]

Engine has been dead this whole time. All turbos are okay.

Compression and leak down test will tell but I'm guessing either busted rings or HG

[Baldwin1993]

ok so i need to rebuild my engine? so the turbo thats in it will still be fine?

[GTSBoy]

No. Yo do not need to rebuild your engine. You need to find out what is actually wrong. A dead engine is as likely an outcome as any of the turbos being dead. So you need a decent mechanical inspection of the engine by someone who knows what they're doing. A compression test, leakdown test and a few other little look-sees will go a long way to telling you what needs to happen. As would an inspection of any one, two or three of the supposedly dead turbos by a turbo expert.

[KiwiRS4T]

Compression test may tell you all you need to know. I know from experience that an RB25DET will still go quite fast on 4 1/2 cylinders so the fact that it is still running doesn't mean a lot.

[Baldwin1993]

ok. ill get my mechanic mate do to a compression and leak down test. how much compression is good compression?

i seriously can't thank you guys enough for your help

[GTSBoy]

How much? Doesn't really matter. So long as they are all even. Reason I say that is that the compression tester might be crook, or the battery might be a bit weak, and you don't get the full ~150 psi that a healthy RB usually churns out.

If you get all even results but they are quite low, then it is essential to do a leakdown test to find out if the low compressions come from worn rings.

[Dose Pipe Sutututu]

And if compression is low across the board however even, just screw in heaps of boost* to make up for it haha

#soundadvicealways

[Baldwin1993]

ok im in the process of putting new pistons and rings in. will i need to rebuild my turbo now or will it be ok?

[GTSBoy]

That depends on whether the state of health of your turbo is linked to the state of health of your rings.

[Baldwin1993]

Well every piston is chipped out between the compression ring and oil ring. However all cylinders are ok except for the fourth, which has a bit of a groove. As for the rings, other than that fourth cylinder the rings weren't too bad. So at the moment I'm on the lookout for a cheap block with cylinders in good nick, if I have no luck there I'll get then all honed out 20 thou to put .5 oversize pistons in it. Would anyone have an idea roughly how much id be looking at to get it bored?

[75coupe]

Buy secondhand motor done

[Baldwin1993]

then risk having a shit ton of blow by in 10 000ks n still in the same situation I'm in now? probably a bit too much of a risk

[AngryRB]

RB30det time.. and yes turbo needs done too lol...

[jay-rod]

i replaced 3 turbos on my WRX, found the issue to be a peice of rubber stuck in the oil feed line....
Causing a restriction...causing starvation..

[scotty nm35]

Does it blow smoke with the turbo removed? Have you compression tested the engine?

I have seen many ball bearing turbo's leak from both oil seals, it is usually from way too much oil pressure and flow. Sometimes 3 x 1mm restrictors are required to stop the oil leaking down the dump. Of course you are wasting your time swapping turbos if the engine has a cracked piston.

[Baldwin1993]

ok this is the situation, i had massive blowsy, like a lot haha. and pulled it all down and pistons and rings a rooted. and I'm just trying to figure out if i will need to rebuild turbo because oil had been pushed past the seals?

rb30 block? i don't think so. because to be sure id still have to put new bearings and pistons rings etc in it anyway, and mod it to fit the rest, more money and time