Well I got the car running and was noticing some blue smoke coming from the exhaust when I let off. So I thought, great. It is not the steam seals, those are less thana year old and yeah.

Well it finally progressed to just a freaking smoke show at idle and smoke coming from the turbo housing. I got about 7k on this turbo at 23psi 90% of the time and 27-30 the other 10%. When I bought it the play was just fine, now it is a floppy Co(k.

I will go with another holset beause I was happy with it, but now I need to know what I need to change. I have a 6 bolt with oil squirters and no balance shafts. Ported relief hole. Stock gauge sits dead middle unless at idle running 20w-50. Feel was froma SS line from the head. I have noticed some people say using a .078 restrictor in that line. I did have a earls filter on it for about a week until I read that thread how bad it is for it, so I took it off.

So before I throw another good one on, what should I do?

There was a thread that is called ATTENTION ALL HOLSET USERS. It isn't so much in the feed as it was in the return, make sure your return line is big enough, I'm sure someone will chime in with more info.

buy mine....

but yes, the return has to be at least -10 AN. If I remembered correctly.

Buy FP!

Was it a new HX from the get go or was it used in unknow shape?

Jdog I read that thread and it turned into an oil argument, I did pick up from there that they use restrictors.

FP turbos can not be found for 150 bucks, I already have another 8 balde infront of me with almost zero shaft play, with no oil in it.

I havea -10 return line, its the pushlock kit from extremepsi.com. same stuff used for gt35rs and such.

It was a used hx35w but spun freely and I took it apart and examined it. Spun free and there was no track of oil on the hotside when pulled. I can almost garunteee my car ate it up.

I wouldn't use a restrictor if you're feeding from the head. The MHI center housings like restriction when fed even with little oil pressure....Holset and Garrett housings don't. They require a decent volume of oil if there's not a lot of pressure present.

I'd be interested in knowing what happened if I were you. It's worth tearing this turbo apart yourself to see what you find. If it's full of metal, your engine needs some attention. If the shaft on the turbine side is scored blue, it wasn't getting enough oil. Only tearing it down and reporting back will give the info we need to help you diagnose what went wrong.


The most important thing to remember here is that no two 4G63's are created equal. Perhaps you ported your oil relief hole a little more than the next guy, which may have a 10psi difference on oil pressure while cruising....putting your turbo in the danger zone for the low oil pressure requirements.

jusmx141 said:

I'd be interested in knowing what happened if I were you. It's worth tearing this turbo apart yourself to see what you find. If it's full of metal, your engine needs some attention. If the shaft on the turbine side is scored blue, it wasn't getting enough oil. Only tearing it down and reporting back will give the info we need to help you diagnose what went wrong.

Click to expand...

X2. I will put my money on the shaft being scored blue.

I suspect the turbo wasn't getting enough oil as well. If you have stock oil pressure at the head (your oil gauge is straight up like with a stock motor: ported oil relief valve), then the turbo could have seen dangerously low oil pressure feeding it at idle and from zero manifold pressure to light boost (turbo is spinning a bit quickly still). The holset requires no less than 10psi oil pressure at idle. And 30+ when starting to spool. And many have reported much lower than that at the head when having stock oil pressure on a gauge reading from the OFH, as you're stock gauge. I'd look at running from the OFH with a slight restrictor. .078 would probably be fine. Stock oil pressure only slightly goes over the maximum allowable oil pressure for a holset, as you would be seeing about 80psi at redline, but the holset chra likes 72psi maximum.

But you said you're almost sure your car ate it up. ??? Are you just getting your car running because it had a spun bearing or other metal floating around in the oil?

I think you should definately take a look at what happened inside. One of my FP turbos failed because of spun bearings. The other failed because of improper feed placement. Havn't had a failure with my holset since I figured out to really pay attention to what the turbo requires and where the motor will meet those requirements and of course pulling the turbo apart to clean when I damage rings/pistons/bearings/etc.

The engine is fine, it was freshly rebuilt coming up on a year now. I changed the oil 5 days ago and noticed no flakes or glittery whatever. There was no in and out just some more than desireable up and down play.

I will take the turbo apart tonight and take some pictures, maybe you guys can see something I don't know. I have taken them apart but I never take the center sections apart. Will report back.

And what will it look like if there is too much oil pressure? I was told that running the 20w-50 was giving me too high oil pressure and I should be running something like 10w-30. My 14b never had a problem with feed from the head, time to do some detective work.

Well I have talked to a few trusted people who are venders and they told me to run a line off the oil filter housing, with no restrictor. Since it is stock like pressure it is more than likely it will not need a restrictor. If it does smoke at a cold start right away, stop and put a restrictor in, but it is very unlikely.

Stock oil pressure is about 80psi at red line. This is above the maximum allowable per the hx35/40 repair manual published by holset. and I've had a little smoke by red line with stock oil pressure being fed from the OFH with no restrictor. . .

I recommend a slight restrictor.

restrictor + filter to make sure your CHRA stays crap-free.

-4AN Line from OFH, NO B/S, .065 Restrictor.

FP Blue Return Line.

Rotella 15w40

Zero smoke/shaft play.

Boosted98gsx said:

restrictor + filter to make sure your CHRA stays crap-free.

Click to expand...

Filter is debatable. If it clogs it will kill the turbo. If you have oil with junk in it that the standard oil filter can't filter (feeding from the OFH remember), then you have other problems. Crank bearings won't last with junk that will kill turbo bearings. My bearings went to crap and clogged my fp 18g filter. I was feeding from the OFH at the time per the common consensus.

dsm-onster said:

Filter is debatable. If it clogs it will kill the turbo. If you have oil with junk in it that the standard oil filter can't filter (feeding from the OFH remember), then you have other problems. Crank bearings won't last with junk that will kill turbo bearings. My bearings went to crap and clogged my fp 18g filter. I was feeding from the OFH at the time per the common consensus.

Click to expand...

Well, yes, but if you are neglecting your car that much and not checking the filter, you never cared enough about your turbo to begin with. It's a redundancy factor, and I am very glad I bought mine for my turbo (that and I had to have a restrictor for the BB CHRA). I have already caught a couple flakes that would have otherwise made their way to the bearings.

I will preach taking oil from the head till the day I sell the car (and maybe after). Less pressure, easier to get to, and a better place to put a filter.

Also, don't forget that people use OEM external oil coolers, and don't change them when their engines crap out, and leave all that crud sitting in there waiting to kill their next turbo.

i vote for tear apart your old turbo to see what happened... before you go n ruin another holset. and if you are feeding from the OFH you NEED some sort of a restrictor. and a better/bigger return line...

Boosted98gsx said:

I will preach taking oil from the head till the day I sell the car (and maybe after). Less pressure, easier to get to, and a better place to put a filter.

Click to expand...

That 'less pressure' can and has killed garrett journal bearing turbos and holset turbos and BW turbos. . . when running bshafts or doing modifications to return oil to stock pressure as the OP. You have a turbo that requires less oil pressure/flow. As do MHI turbos. If you have used a non-mhi journal bearing turbo, please let us know your experience.

dsm-onster said:

That 'less pressure' can and has killed garrett journal bearing turbos and holset turbos and BW turbos. . . when running bshafts or doing modifications to return oil to stock pressure as the OP. You have a turbo that requires less oil pressure/flow. As do MHI turbos. If you have used a non-mhi journal bearing turbo, please let us know your experience.

Click to expand...

True that.

It's not the pressure under load that kills these turbos, it's the lack of pressure at idle and while driving at low RPM's that hurts so much. If you install a Garrett or Holset and feed it from the head on any car that rarely sees the street, it'll probably be fine.

- Ball bearing and MHI turbos should be fed from the head, no question about that.

- If you have a Garrett or Holset, no balance shafts, and your oil filter housing isn't ported, you should feed from the head as well to prevent over-oiling these turbos at high RPM.

- Garrett or Holset users with balance shafts in place or with no balance shafts and a ported pressure relief valve should feed from the filter housing with a .062" (1/16") or .078" (5/64") restrictor.

dsm-onster said:

That 'less pressure' can and has killed garrett journal bearing turbos and holset turbos and BW turbos. . . when running bshafts or doing modifications to return oil to stock pressure as the OP. You have a turbo that requires less oil pressure/flow. As do MHI turbos. If you have used a non-mhi journal bearing turbo, please let us know your experience.

Click to expand...

I ran a 14b on this same set up for a whole year and a half at 18psi and the 14b is still tight! Not one hair of play, even with no oil running through it. I figured if MHI turbos liked feed from the head holsets would too.

If the shaft is blue I obviously can not run from the head, because it was not gettign enough pressure at idle and low boost, and there is no way to raise pressure, other than maybe oil. But I run 20w-50 anyway so OFH is the only way to go if thats the case and I will put a 50 shot jet which is 1/16th in the line.

jusmx141 said:

True that.

It's not the pressure under load that kills these turbos, it's the lack of pressure at idle and while driving at low RPM's that hurts so much. If you install a Garrett or Holset and feed it from the head on any car that rarely sees the street, it'll probably be fine.

- Ball bearing and MHI turbos should be fed from the head, no question about that.

- If you have a Garrett or Holset, no balance shafts, and your oil filter housing isn't ported, you should feed from the head as well to prevent over-oiling these turbos at high RPM.

- Garrett or Holset users with balance shafts in place or with no balance shafts and a ported pressure relief valve should feed from the filter housing with a .062" (1/16") or .078" (5/64") restrictor.

Click to expand...

That needs to be highlighted in the main holset page. That is the clearest cut answer I have heard following parts 1-whatever we are on now.

And where you buy them

95burgundyesi said:

That needs to be highlighted in the main holset page. That is the clearest cut answer I have heard following parts 1-whatever we are on now.

Click to expand...

It's mentioned in the holset oiling thread I believe. Which is linked in the holset threads

MHI turbos can handle feeding from the head or from the OFH with stock oil pressure (which you have). They have an internal restrictor. A restrictor does not restrict unless the flow potential of the oil feed (determined by the oil pressure) exceeds the flow capacity of the restrictor oriface. Then it starts to restrict. Though if pressure is high enough,it still will not be restrictive enough. Hense, those with no b-shafts and no ported oil relief valve (120+psi oil pressure) can and do get their mhi turbos to smoke when feeding them from the OFH.

Listen to Justin. He always has a clear cut answer .

Well the turbo is off but the new hx35 hotside does not want to separate, if it isnt one thing it is another ha! I was banging on it very carefully, but no go. So I will have to wait till monday to get access to a puller.

dsm-onster said:

Filter is debatable. If it clogs it will kill the turbo. If you have oil with junk in it that the standard oil filter can't filter (feeding from the OFH remember), then you have other problems. Crank bearings won't last with junk that will kill turbo bearings. My bearings went to crap and clogged my fp 18g filter. I was feeding from the OFH at the time per the common consensus.

Click to expand...

I killed a turbo w/ glitter in my oil and my crank/rod bearings were fine.