Blown Turbo in my 04

[Lamby]

So this has now happened to me, exhaust gases under the drivers side of the car, and the power is all over the place and I have rough idle. Turbo is shot and the Manifold has a crack so... Its time to pull it all out. I am a fairly decent DIY mechanic, so I am going to strip the car down and get the old manifold and turbo out. I have new Manifold (from X8R) one of those cast iron ones, with all new gaskets, reconditioned Garrett Turbo, from TurboTechnics with the fitting kit, etc...

Just looking at the warranty on the turbo they say I need to do a oil swap out as well at the same time as fitting a new turbo. Seems a bit of an over kill my oil is 3 months old. Could i just get away with priming the Turbo with some fresh engine oil?

Anyway, Will do it and the manifold and the turbo and report back. Not making an arse of it and making sure I am methodical means... its the best part of a days work for me. Any advice is greatly welcome.

Found this guy on the tinterwebs, seems like the right way to go about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdMIRg7u8U4&t=463s

[wpoll]

Originally Posted by Lamby

So this has now happened to me, exhaust gases under the drivers side of the car, and the power is all over the place and I have rough idle. Turbo is shot and the Manifold has a crack so...

...

Hey Lamby, just what you need right on Christmas.. but it sounds like you sorted it.

When I replaced my manifold (with an X8R), I wondered about doing the turbo too but since it's fine (other than whistling when cold) and I didn't actually remove the turbo from the car, I left it well alone. I guess when it's "my turn" a straight turbo swap isn't too hard.

I was thinking I'd just do a CHRA swap, assuming I don't leave my turbo so long as to fail and damage the main housing. The reconditioned options out here are few and far between. Could always get one in the from the UK I 'spose...

[Lamby]

Its not bad thinking as long as the housing is all ok, the main seals on both sides of my turbo where covered in burnt oil and on startup there was a fair amount of blue smoke that came out as it fired out the oil sitting in the turbo.

Its a pain to fit the turbo, you have to prime it first with engine oil when you fit the new one and I had to get the old one out from the bottom of car and requires a lot of jiggling to get it out. Installation is the same, through the bottom of the car, with a new primed turbo and the oil feed poured all over me so I was really unimpressed with that.

I also got the X8R manifold, when it turned up my wife took the delivery as I was at work and she was like 'What the hell is it that weighs that much!' hahaha... Cast Iron Manifold my dear... You can get X8R shipped all the way down there?

I have some photos of me doing it, but truth is I was fighting getting it done in time, outside, its not that cold at the moment in the UK, around 9c but daylight is only 8am to 4pm-ish so it was kinda a rush. One thing you need is time to do a turbo, otherwise if you make a mess of it it can be a bit of an issue.

I am going to hold on to my E53 for a couple more years then get a decent F15 as I was never that keen on the e70 so its well worth the time and cost for me to keep the old truck running.

[deepblonde]

Originally Posted by Lamby

So this has now happened to me, exhaust gases under the drivers side of the car, and the power is all over the place and I have rough idle. Turbo is shot and the Manifold has a crack so... Its time to pull it all out. I am a fairly decent DIY mechanic, so I am going to strip the car down and get the old manifold and turbo out. I have new Manifold (from X8R) one of those cast iron ones, with all new gaskets, reconditioned Garrett Turbo, from TurboTechnics with the fitting kit, etc...

Just looking at the warranty on the turbo they say I need to do a oil swap out as well at the same time as fitting a new turbo. Seems a bit of an over kill my oil is 3 months old. Could i just get away with priming the Turbo with some fresh engine oil?

Anyway, Will do it and the manifold and the turbo and report back. Not making an arse of it and making sure I am methodical means... its the best part of a days work for me. Any advice is greatly welcome.

Found this guy on the tinterwebs, seems like the right way to go about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdMIRg7u8U4&t=463s

My turbo just went a week ago too;
Happened at the worst moment where I was sitting between carriageways on the Princess Highway with traffic heading straight for me at 100 kmh...
Had to just floor the accelerator to get across with clouds of smoke behind me...
I should have put a new turbo in when I changed the manifold to cast iron a couple of years ago; as oil got everywhere...

I just put in a second hand turbo as a temporary fix;

I had the vortex breather in, and now have just changed the oil and breather to the roll filter type to try it out, I’ll see what it’s like in a month.

[ChrisUK]

Hey, hope you get this fixed. I sold the car not long after getting it all fixed.

Chris

[ChrisUK]

Hey, hope you get this fixed. I sold the car not long after getting it all fixed.

Chris

[wpoll]

Thanks for the insights!

Yes, X8R (via eBay) ship to NZ - the manifold plus shipping/taxes etc. was a mere NZ$200 - a real bargin!

I sometimes cut the little finger off a latex glove to use as a sealing cap when working on oil filled lines etc. that want to leak all over me... Easy to remove once in position.

[Lamby]

Okay, so I did the job with a new intercooler to turbo pipe, new garratt turbo and a new cast iron Manifold. Took two days and I am happy to say its back to full power and running really well and doesnt let any blue smoke out on startup any more.

Its not a job for the faint hearted and some times you are going to need an extra pair of hands. The bolts on the manifold and to reattach the turbo by holding it, bolting it and holding a gasket in place is really a challenge!

[wpoll]

Nice work, Lamby!

That new turbo is a thing of beauty...

After changing out my manifold via the side (images here - https://xoutpost.com/1142332-post39.html) I found re-attaching the turbo not too bad a task. A small dab of grease is very useful to hold gaskets in place when they won't stay put!

[Lamby]

Cheers Wpoll, not the worst job I have ever done in my life in a car, I did once snap a engine stud in an old Saab 900 AND THAT was a total pain, still I learnt how to drill out and use a bolt extractor. Just took forever! That Turbo is putting the rest of the engine bay to shame!

Also that is a great post on how to do this job you did and great idea with the dab of grease I didnt want to get anything near the ports and like you I stuffed shop cloth in all the holes of the turbo, was test driving it and totally panicked that I didnt take them out.... but I had of course.