Comp Turbo's........ My experience

[smrogers5771]

So anyways here are my 2 experiences with comp turbos..... I bought a T3/T4 Comp turbo.... it started smoking about 500 miles after the engine was rebuilt.... totally blew apart about 600 miles..... car ran great with it making upto30 PSI on it. pulled hard..... anyways they warranted the turbo (which took over a month) because they went back and forth on it, playing phone tag etc... anyways got the new turbo had it installed by a shop, car ran great (max 16lbs) I was breaking it in..... proper warm up, proper cool down periods and then while driving home from the store the turbo COMPLETELY seized on me... took off the inlet to see the compressor wheel all chewed up and would not MOVE! only after 250 miles!!! So I took it off and now I will be calling them tomorrow. Anyone have any idea of what could have caused this? I was told bad shaft bearings...

 

[pantherballhp]

how is your oil feed and drain setup? two bad turbos in a row? that sucks

 

[JusMX141]

Starting to sound like the former Innovative Turbo.

What are the details on this turbo? Ball / journal bearing? Where was your oil feed coming from?

 

[rowdygst]

its crazy, i tought comp turbos were awesome, they have great succes with them on the ford focus forums

 

[smrogers5771]

Ok here is the story they were both standard 360 thrust bearings, -4an oil feed and -10an oil drain... I talked to Joe D. The owner of Comp. He is going to issue me a Ball Bearing Cartridge at NO COST!!!! These guys are AWESOME!!!!!! So I am supposed to have the BB installed and then go from there. I just want to say that they are really taking care of me and sticking up to their WORD!!! I give them a thumbs up on this!! I mean who replaces 2 bad turbo's in a row?? they are just awesome!! EDIT the oil feed was coming from the oil filter housing which when I talked to Comp they said it was ok... So now with this BB set up I know I need to get water lines etc.. so is there anything else that anyone could clue me in on what I need? I mean I know a lot about turbos;however, I never had a ball bearing installed on my car before... So any do's and don'ts? things of that nature?

Thanks guys,

Sean Rogers

 

[tenn-gsx]

Make sure you flush your oil system real well. Also verify that you are getting enough oil from your feed source. I would hate to see a third turbo go because of something simple.

 

[kidtsi]

Ball bearing feed it from the head with a restrictor.

 

[rowdygst]

i tought it was bb feed from head with no restrictor, jb feed from the ofh with no restrictor and jb feed from the ofh with a restrictor if balancechains have been taken out, some one correct me if im wrong

 

[tenn-gsx]

Comp turbos come with the feed restricted already. As far as where to feed from its up to you but atleast make sure that your head flows enough oil at idle to keep the turbo lubricated properly if you go that way. If you have a proper drain line and the turbo feed is restricted properly there is no issue with feeding from the OFH.

 

[kidtsi]

i tought it was bb feed from head with no restrictor, jb feed from the ofh with no restrictor and jb feed from the ofh with a restrictor if balancechains have been taken out, some one correct me if im wrong

You should use a restrictor from the head, and as far as i know you should never feed one from the OFH i know it might worked for some people but not for the majority. I'll wait for Justin to chim in.

Our oil pressures are very high and JB turbos like more volume than pressure and bb turbos like more pressure than volume.

 

[rowdygst]

You should use a restrictor from the head, and as far as i know you should never feed one from the OFH i know it might worked for some people but not for the majority. I'll wait for Justin to chim in.

Our oil pressures are very high and and JB turbos like more volume than pressure.

got cha...you probably right, i just posted what i read time after time ..but im no expert

 

[smrogers5771]

well now im totally confused...... I was running the oil feed from the oil filter housing because the guy who i got the car from plugged up the oil feed at the head and cant get that bolt out...... so my only way of getting oil to this thing is from the oil filter hosing, and from what I heard / read there is a lot of pressure coming from the oil filter housing. so with this being ball bearing what do I do? because some people are saying run it from the head and others are saying its fine from the oil filter housing.... I dont wana screw up a 3rd turbo because of something quite simple like Tenn-GSX said.... Much appreciated guys!!

 

[kidtsi]

Go to the thread called Qs for Justin and ask there.

 

[JusMX141]

Our oil pressures are very high and JB turbos like more volume than pressure and bb turbos like more pressure than volume.

Wrong- ball bearing turbos require just enough oil to keep a thin film of oil on the bearings, and that is all. They require very little pressure because a ball bearing turbo does not rely on oil pressure to create a barrier between two surfaces- the shaft is always supported by the bearings.

Ball bearing turbos = head feed, .030"-.035" restrictor, oil drain should consist of two 45* fittings instead of one 90* fitting.

Journal bearing turbos = refer to manufacturer for pressure spec, then abide by that spec to a tee. Unfortunately many times this is a guessing game.

A journal bearing turbo's thirst for oil often hinges on it's thrust plate design....a MHI turbo has a single 1/32" oiling hole in the thrust plate where most performance Garrett journal bearing turbos using a 360* thrust plate have two oiling holes about four times the size of the single oiling hole in the MHI cartridge, so the Garrett's thrust system will be a parasitic drain that effectively lowers the amount of pressure available for the journal bearings drastically. This also requires a larger oil drain to handle the volume of oil that is getting wasted by the thrust system.

It's safe to say for a journal bearing turbo that you want to be just under the maximum amount of pressure allowed in the cartridge, with a large enough drain to handle whatever amount of volume you're feeding the turbo. For instance, the Holset HX35's installed at the factory on many Dodge trucks are fed within the recommended pressure spec using a -6AN feed line and a huge drain (almost 1"). These turbos rarely fail.


The bottom line is you should ask Comp what the recommended oil supply pressure, volume, and drain spec should be for whatever turbocharger of theirs you are using. If they cannot provide you with an honest answer to this information request, they should not be selling turbochargers.

 

[keltalon]

So anyways here are my 2 experiences with comp turbos..... I bought a T3/T4 Comp turbo.... it started smoking about 500 miles after the engine was rebuilt.... totally blew apart about 600 miles..... car ran great with it making upto30 PSI on it. pulled hard..... anyways they warranted the turbo (which took over a month) because they went back and forth on it, playing phone tag etc... anyways got the new turbo had it installed by a shop, car ran great (max 16lbs) I was breaking it in..... proper warm up, proper cool down periods and then while driving home from the store the turbo COMPLETELY seized on me... took off the inlet to see the compressor wheel all chewed up and would not MOVE! only after 250 miles!!! So I took it off and now I will be calling them tomorrow. Anyone have any idea of what could have caused this? I was told bad shaft bearings...

I have similar experience my self with bw journel bearing turbos. I finally decided that I will switch to ball bearing and will never look back. They are a little more forgiving. I have had my comp triple ball bearing unit for a while know and I am more that satified I just recently was able to really put it to the test and its just fabulous! check out this 3rd gear pull http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/tur...o-first-impression-video-2.html#post152563063

 

[kidtsi]

Wrong- ball bearing turbos require just enough oil to keep a thin film of oil on the bearings, and that is all. They require very little pressure because a ball bearing turbo does not rely on oil pressure to create a barrier between two surfaces- the shaft is always supported by the bearings.

Ball bearing turbos = head feed, .030"-.035" restrictor, oil drain should consist of two 45* fittings instead of one 90* fitting.

Journal bearing turbos = refer to manufacturer for pressure spec, then abide by that spec to a tee. Unfortunately many times this is a guessing game.

A journal bearing turbo's thirst for oil often hinges on it's thrust plate design....a MHI turbo has a single 1/32" oiling hole in the thrust plate where most performance Garrett journal bearing turbos using a 360* thrust plate have two oiling holes about four times the size of the single oiling hole in the MHI cartridge, so the Garrett's thrust system will be a parasitic drain that effectively lowers the amount of pressure available for the journal bearings drastically. This also requires a larger oil drain to handle the volume of oil that is getting wasted by the thrust system.

It's safe to say for a journal bearing turbo that you want to be just under the maximum amount of pressure allowed in the cartridge, with a large enough drain to handle whatever amount of volume you're feeding the turbo. For instance, the Holset HX35's installed at the factory on many Dodge trucks are fed within the recommended pressure spec using a -6AN feed line and a huge drain (almost 1"). These turbos rarely fail.


The bottom line is you should ask Comp what the recommended oil supply pressure, volume, and drain spec should be for whatever turbocharger of theirs you are using. If they cannot provide you with an honest answer to this information request, they should not be selling turbochargers.

Sorry i meant that BB turbos need very little oil for lubrication.

 

[Jon91TSi]

I just spoke with Precision yesterday about my ball bearing 6262, they recommended I feed it from the OFH with no inline filter or restrictor and run a -10 drain. They said feeding their turbos from the head is not recommended. I'll stick with what they say since they are the ones fulfilling my warranty if anything goes wrong..

 

[smrogers5771]

dang.... im still wondering why there are so many different opinions.... precision says this, garrett says this, and comp says this..... I use to be a 420a guy built blah blah, and never had this prob wit turbos... I had a precision 60-1 ran 22PSI all day long, hot shut off's, cold starts and go's haha never had a problem.... I wasnt trying to start an argument on here but this shizz is really confusing anymore. I been around turbos since I was 16 wit my first DSM non turbo 91 eclipse 4g63.. Wow have things changed that much?? like no one sells a turbo manifold anymore that has a wastegate.... I was like wtf... seriously? I duno maybe it's just me haha I duno all I know is I dont wana blow out another turbo especially since comp turbo is being REALLY AWESOME!! and sending me out a ball bearing turbo... I mean come on BB's are what we all WANT!! haha or at least I do... but in a serious sense guys thanks a lot everyone has been a big help to me eventhough there are a lot of opinions on different things but the motive is still the same everyone is here to help each other out. That dont happen much now and days!! yeah I know preachy haha

 

[tenn-gsx]

You got any reviews on the new turbo yet?