SOADweskey
15+ Year Contributor
- 1,224
- 96
- Dec 11, 2006
-
Jacksonville,
Florida
Well as you can see form my earlier entries I was in turbo hell from that PTE-5031E. Here is a quick rundown of what happened.
1. Brand new turbo put on car with new engine for break in. It made great power and felt strong until huge oil clouds started following me. Took it apart and it appears contaminated oil got in and killed it as the bearings and shaft were scored.
2. Fresh rebuild from a local shop with a complete Garrett center section, shaft, wheels, bearings, and bronze thrust plate. At this point I added a restrictor to the feed line as oil pressure was high and a concern. Bought an 0.075" restrictor and slapped it in. I failed to personally measure the restrictor and when the turbo died again I inspected it and found that I had a 0.03X" restrictor that was labled as a 0.075" and as you can guess I had some burnt up turbo parts.
3. This time I pulled out all the stops, new center section again, FP 4 micron inline filter, a proper 0.075" restrictor, and an electronic oil pressure sending unit in place after the restrictor and the filter. The sending unit is hooked to my Zeitronix warning box and was showing 12 psi at idle and 60psi in the higher RPMs. It also was set to alarm if the pressure ever went over 70 PSI and to go off if it was ever under 15 and the RPMs were above 1400. These alarms never went off. Cause of death unknown as the turbo is still on the car so I can commute to school in it with no boost.
But pretty much three strikes and the 50 trim is out. Moving on to an HX35.
**EDIT**
Here are pictures of the components from dead turbo number 1. Of interest in these pictures is the mix of real Garrett and imitation parts. The compressor wheel has the A cast in it marking it as genuine but the turbine wheel does not and nor does the center section. Also I have been told that if the shaft was a real Garrett shaft it would have a thinner diameter in the area between the journal bearings.
1. Brand new turbo put on car with new engine for break in. It made great power and felt strong until huge oil clouds started following me. Took it apart and it appears contaminated oil got in and killed it as the bearings and shaft were scored.
2. Fresh rebuild from a local shop with a complete Garrett center section, shaft, wheels, bearings, and bronze thrust plate. At this point I added a restrictor to the feed line as oil pressure was high and a concern. Bought an 0.075" restrictor and slapped it in. I failed to personally measure the restrictor and when the turbo died again I inspected it and found that I had a 0.03X" restrictor that was labled as a 0.075" and as you can guess I had some burnt up turbo parts.
3. This time I pulled out all the stops, new center section again, FP 4 micron inline filter, a proper 0.075" restrictor, and an electronic oil pressure sending unit in place after the restrictor and the filter. The sending unit is hooked to my Zeitronix warning box and was showing 12 psi at idle and 60psi in the higher RPMs. It also was set to alarm if the pressure ever went over 70 PSI and to go off if it was ever under 15 and the RPMs were above 1400. These alarms never went off. Cause of death unknown as the turbo is still on the car so I can commute to school in it with no boost.
But pretty much three strikes and the 50 trim is out. Moving on to an HX35.
**EDIT**
Here are pictures of the components from dead turbo number 1. Of interest in these pictures is the mix of real Garrett and imitation parts. The compressor wheel has the A cast in it marking it as genuine but the turbine wheel does not and nor does the center section. Also I have been told that if the shaft was a real Garrett shaft it would have a thinner diameter in the area between the journal bearings.
