Re: When a turbo goes bad...
 

id guess boost leak. post more pics

Re: When a turbo goes bad...
 

wow and beau comes out of hiding to answer your question, lol just ------- with you

Re: When a turbo goes bad...
 

If your car is running any sort of load then yeah the turbo should build boost since it's exhaust driven. I'd definitely guess boost leak as they're #1 cause of boost related issues. I've seen way too many people think their turbo is toast when really their charge system is at fault. If your turbo isn't spinning freely that's a bad sign though. You could always convert to i-DEI if you really need some reliable power.

Re: When a turbo goes bad...
 

The shaft play is almost zero. I'll double check the charge piping. I am using the factory bellows at the throttle body, so maybe it has a tear in it that I cannot see.

Re: When a turbo goes bad...
 

I think the turbo is damaged. I warmed it up to operating temperature, then shut it off and spun the impeller by hand. I can feel much more resistance than when it was cold, and I can feel it catching and grabbing while I spin it.

What are my options at this point besides a new turbo? Could there be crap in the bearings that I could flush out by removing the inlet and drain lines and spraying something in there?

Re: When a turbo goes bad...
 

umm so if its coming from your VC haha there is no pressure behind that? no oil really either? if im reading that right? :l

Re: When a turbo goes bad...
 

That line from the valve cover does get oily. That oil made a nice coating in the compressor too. I am going to put a seperator in that line to keep the turbo from sucking in a minimum amount of oil mist. The engine does have some blow-by that I can feel coming out of the oil fill cap. So that line i am using to suck out the crankcase is a little pressurized.

Re: When a turbo goes bad...
 

He means he has a valve cover vent, aka crankcase vent / breather / pcv line, routed to the turbo's air inlet. Its highly unlikely that the residue is blocking your turbo - it would have to overcome massive centrifugal forces to make it behind the comp wheel, then bypass the seal, then push past the oil pressure to gum up the seals.

If you can spin the turbo by hand, it should at least make some boost. I will bet that its an exhaust or charge pipe leak - i'm 99.69% sure.

Re: When a turbo goes bad...
 

If your turbo truly is toast you'll have to have it repaired or get a new one. There's no simple way of doing it. Some jackasses claim you can just take it apart and replace 1 bearing, but that's nonsense if you want any kind of reliability. Rebuilding a turbo is precision ---- and requires machining of certain areas like bearing and seal areas. 90% of the time if the used bearing housing is being retained you'll have to fit oversized journal bearings.

Those rebuild kits on Ebay are hit and miss too. You may get lucky and your turbo may boost fine after a homebrewed rebuild, but more often than not it'll fail. The #1 cause for backyard rebuilds failing is the shaft nut falls off because the person who rebuilt it didn't use loctite and tighten it down properly. I would much rather buy a used unmolested turbo than some backyard rebuilt garbage. Not to mention once you take the wheels out you've essentially taken them out of balance and the scribe technique is worthless.

Then again, some of the ---- I've seen from reputable turbo rebuilders on this site is pathetic. I won't name names, but I got a turbo from a popular turbo rebuilder on this site and took it in to my local turbo shop. After the guy working there got it apart he called me and said that the guy who "rebuilt" it had mismatched some Garrett internals with Chinese internals. No wonder it failed miserably. There's only a few places that are guaranteed to repair your turbo properly and they are insanely expensive. You're running a fairly cheap and common turbo, so IMO just buy a new or used one and be done. Absolutely do a boost leak test before you spend any $ on new ---- though. Good luck.

Re: When a turbo goes bad...
 

if you try to spin it when hot and its sticky, i think you have an oil feed problem