E316g: How free should shaft spin?

[Fox1486]

Maybe I'm just being paranoid .........

I put all this time into porting out the turbine housing and I'm ready to put the turbo on the car. I put the turbine housing back on with the band clamp. I spin the turbine wheel with my finger to see how it spins. It seems to have a certain spot where the is a small "catch" to it. I took the housing back off to see if maybe the little plate that is free behind the turbine wheel was holding up the blades from spinning free. Nope.

The turbo has about 1,000 miles on it, and looks brand new. The more I spin it the worse it seems to get (or just my imagination). Obviously there is no oil/water in it and it has been off a running car for at least a year that I know of. Someone had the bright idea to use an airhose to see if the blades would spin by the air pressure alone. I did not do this because I figured with no lubrication, this wouldn't prove anything and may do damage.

The only other turbo I am able to compare this one to was a 14b I was able to spin VERY freely by hand and it kept spinning. I also had ALOT of miles on it and a good amount of shaft play.

I thought perhaps maybe with a lack of lubrication that it might be a little "tight" and not able to spin as free. Someone give me some opinions here because I'm starting to become pretty bummed out

 

[JusMX141]

Newer (low mileage) journal-bearing turbo turbos will not spin freely without oil in the journals.

It could be "catching" because of a dry spot on a journal, or possibly everytime the turbine shaft rotates it's grabbing the gap of the turbine seal because there's no oil on it.

As long as it doesn't catch and stop, or if the turbine shaft were to wobble as if it were bent, then I see no need to worry.

 

[Fox1486]

Well the catch does slow it down a little, but thats probably because i'm spinning it at .0000002mph. .

Phew! Thanks for the reply. That's a relief.

 

[kmoore]

Is it so bad that when you "whip it" with your finger it will only go around once or what?

I don't want to discourage you at all but when my brand new (0 miles) Evo III 16g came in I could EASILY spin it. How many miles is on yours.

Your probably just freaking out though. Good luck

 

[Fox1486]

Is it so bad that when you "whip it" with your finger it will only go around once or what?

Kinda

Honestly if you saw it in person, there is no way this turbo is "bad". It looks brand new, the compressor and turbine wheel look barely used at all. Everything is still really shiny and nice looking with almost no residue from exhaust gas.

I think that possibly the lack of oil is the major factor. I guess we will see as I put the turbo on the car tomorrow. FINGERS CROSSED!!!!