PTE Turbos Dying

[DSMKevan]

Has anybody been hearing about the PTE turbos just dying? Ive heard many horror stories of them just dying off after a few hundred miles or so, for no apparent reason. The problems seem to be limited to their SCM (sport compact mitsubishi flange) as opposed to their SC (sport compact, t3/t4) line as far as Ive heard.

A couple theories have arisen that it might have to do with oil supply and the center thrust bearing. Since the SCM uses a different one than the SC line, this might mean that the problems could be limited to just the SCM line.

Has anyone here experienced this sort of problem with their PTE turbo?

 

[almostquick]

locally I've heard of one horror story around here with a guy building up a good 10 sec. street car... went through 2 or 3 PTE turbos I believe.

 

[NeEmO6]

Mine went no more than 5k miles, with oil feeding off the filter housing, inline filter, and oil was changed about 3 times withing those 5k miles due to other issues. All this and was told by PTE that it was cuased by "oil contamination". Funny thing is that they told me that before i even sent in the turbo. They told that to my buddy also when he went through 3 of them in a matter of a month.

 

[Eagle 5]

Dont feed PTE turbos off the filter housing. The oil pressure is too high for them and the bearings go. Three guys in my area all had BR475 turbos, all were fed from the filter housing, and all three of them died after about 800-1000 miles or so. All for the exact same reason. Found out the bearings had oto much oil pressure. So, dont feed them from the filter housing, just use the stock oil feed location. Ya, they are not ball bearings, I know, but for whatever reason, there is too much pressure from the filter housing for the turbos. Heck, look at the stock Mitsu turbos, they are not ball bearing and they run off the oil pressure in the head.

the BR475 turbos are PTE turbos incase someone doesnt know.

Actually, go read the other thread about PTE turbos, more info there than what I can give. Its possible that maybe the pressure is too high but not enough oil is getting to them.

 

[BlackbirdOfPrey]

As far as I know, that only applies to the old PTE's that had the 270 deg thrust bearing. THe new ones have a 360 deg thrust bearing and are much more reliable. We have several in the local dsm club that run PTE 50's and not one has had any sort of issues. One guy just broke into the 11's on his, and is probably going to go a lot farther.

 

[sbiggi]

PTE sends instructions with the turbo stating the warranty is void if you dont run it off the filter housing.

I talked with a guy at PTE, and he told me that they only have problems with the Mitsubishi's.

 

[Burnett03]

PTE sends instructions with the turbo stating the warranty is void if you dont run it off the filter housing.

I talked with a guy at PTE, and he told me that they only have problems with the Mitsubishi's.

my pte had a 360 thrust bearing, fed from the housing with a -4an line and took a dump..

 

[DSMKevan]

Very strange. Must be some flaw in the turbos design. I guess Ill have to start looking into alternatives to the SCM61.

Whats really weird is that you get some success stories, with turbos with over 24k on them, and some horror stories with turbos only reaching a couple hundred miles (or feet) before their death.

 

[prostreetdsmx1]

94 SCM Turbos Sold - 3 dead

that is not to mention the SC, GT or T4 turbos we have used. Needless to say not one of those has died.

Pretty good run rate. One was a customers fault. Who would have thought that running without a filter on the street could be a problem???.

 

[92awddsm]

I run a pte scm 5252e and have had zero problems with it in about 3k miles. You can read this thread and it goes through a lot of pte problems. If you look at post #26, I took an actual picture of the instructions that came with it stating "do not run oil feed from stock location". And it also says you can get a feed line from AMS. If you read on, AMS states that they sell -3 lines so that will restrict feed volume and pressure to the turbo. I dont think it is a bad turbo, I just think they had problems with the 270* thrust bearing and now all dsm'ers think they are junk. Kinda like the cw theory on the 2g 7bolt. This is just my $.02 worth, but Im sure someone will argue the point.

 

[1fastlaser]

Its best to run a -3 line,especially if your running balance shafts removed and so forth.I see lots of problems with -4,and alot of people run them with no problems,for awhile anyway .I researched,read some post on -3 and got myself one to save me the trouble and money after getting the custom turbo built.I acually got the guys over at extremepsi to start ordering in the stuff for the -3 setup.Thats where i got mine,you just need 3 fittings and the line

 

[diamondstargsx]

i posted about my pte taking a shit after about 10 logs and going out of town and failing on the highway.it never even made it to the track and im just done and will never use that dam turbo again!

SHIT AS CENTER SECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!JUNK IM OUT ALOT OF MONEY AND I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS THERE SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IM GOING AGP TURBONETICS 50 TRIM SPECIAL FOR $699.00 WITH A YEAR WARRANTY!

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

94 SCM Turbos Sold - 3 dead

that is not to mention the SC, GT or T4 turbos we have used. Needless to say not one of those has died.

Pretty good run rate. One was a customers fault. Who would have thought that running without a filter on the street could be a problem???.

got my scm50 from this guy.. 3k+ miles so far no problem..

martin i emailed u my car stuff for customer section on ur site a while back, making sure u got it?

 

[nanokpsi]

Very strange. Must be some flaw in the turbos design. I guess Ill have to start looking into alternatives to the SCM61.

Whats really weird is that you get some success stories, with turbos with over 24k on them, and some horror stories with turbos only reaching a couple hundred miles (or feet) before their death.

I has about 18-20k miles on my scm 50 and I sold it to a fried about six months ago. it is still running fine. I also replced it wi a scm61 that is still running fine. Precision is also very good about warranty fixes fro what I hear.

 

[Mackzero]

I bought my GT3255 from someone off DSMTrader, he had not installed it yet. It died on me and I called up PTE and told them I had not bought it from them directly, or through a dealer of theirs.... They covered it warranty and I had them do an upgrade to a 57 trim wheel. It pulls like a monster and I have not had another problem. They have always treated me good, and I will continue to do business with them.

 

[DSMKevan]

Seems like this huge "scare" is just a small problem. Also looks like its a pretty common problem among all turbos, possibly due to owner neglect or mis-installation? Thats what its starting to seem like now. Ill probably still go with PTE now, as my uncle knows the owner .

 

[Car Cannibal]

PTE 57 trim here, filter feed and has almost exactly 30k miles on it. I am eventually going to the SCM61 in the .63 and have no worries about the small % of horror stories.

 

[EnticivEclipse]

what is the exact warranty coverage details on the SCM PTE's?

Im ready to make a purchase for the 50 trim, but i just cant decide if I should go with PTE or AGP turbonetics 50trim

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

Seems like this huge "scare" is just a small problem. Also looks like its a pretty common problem among all turbos, possibly due to owner neglect or mis-installation? Thats what its starting to seem like now. Ill probably still go with PTE now, as my uncle knows the owner .

just as with all the stories of the greddy type s being leaky and people complaining about that also..

yet people forget about the tons of other people who run these products with no problem what so ever. thats why you buy it new and with warranty

 

[prostreetdsmx1]

got my scm50 from this guy.. 3k+ miles so far no problem..

martin i emailed u my car stuff for customer section on ur site a while back, making sure u got it?

hey bud, i did receive it. We are launching a new site soon. Once that goes up your car will be on the front page