luckii

My 14b seems to have oil around the flapper and around the metal band holding the two sides together. There is barely any shaft play. I dont think I would need a rebuild kit. Should I just replace the O-rings or what?

crx2211

The only o-rings in a 14b are the one that goes around the outside of the bearing housing where the compressor housing is held on by a snap ring. The other one sits directly in the middle of the bearing housing right below the thrust bearing. You have to take the whole turbo apart to get to it. I've rebuilt (with a flawless record) over 50 14b's and 16g's and I can say without hesitation that the number one reason they come to me is because of a coked up turbine shaft sealing ring. These are high mileage turbos usually and over the years they get coked up. The sealing ring literally erodes away on a lot of them. Another common failure is the turbine heat shield gets worn through causing a rough surface and the turbine wheel nicks that while spinning 150k+rpm and it's catastrophic failure.

I can also tell you without hesitation that every rebuild kit I've ever seen for a 14b is worthless; even the supposed "genuine Mitsubishi" kits from Bullseye and what not. To get a 14b or 16g perfect you have to do a tear-down and through inspection and then order the parts individually with each part number. I get mine through a local diesel shop that also does all the prep work. I really just assemble them, but even that is tricky if you haven't done a Mitsu turbo before. Good thing is it's a disposable turbo. Throw it away and get a new one for ~$100.