Lots of In-and-out play, no side-to-side play

[thearkatek]

I recently installed a billet wheel and matched/ balanced turbine in my 16g turbo with a full rebuild kit. I ran it for a few hundred kilometers at 20 psi. It has developed a lot of lateral play but hardly any axial. I am running a 4an braided line from head and running stock return line. Im going to open up the turbo and investigate the thrust bearing but i just wanted to get some thoughts on what would cause this strange situation.

EDIT: I might have mixed my terminology up - so to be clear I have a fair amount of in-and-out play but barely any side to side play.

 

[bling5tatus]

A quick check on google says that the compressor seal being worn out can cause this problem.

 

[Marchev]

If you have in and out play, the thurst plate has failed. Also most likely the compressor wheel has made contact with the housing since the clearance there is very tight. Did you use oem parts for rebuild?

 

[thearkatek]

Ya I used an OEM rebuild kit from the guy who made the billet wheel for me. It's just strange that there's very little side to side play so I was thinking mayyyybeee a bent shaft causing the thrust washer to wiggle while spinning? I haven't gotten it apart yet but I don't want to rebuild it if it's just gonna wear through another thrust collar. I can't see it being an oiling issue since the side to side play is minimal.

 

[Marchev]

I had oiling issues before, when I fed my turbo from the head. Let's just say I rebuilt that turbo a few times. One thing I noticed was that the thrust collar would fail much faster than the bronze bearings. So I had a condition very similar to yours with almost no up-down play but severe in-out play. The thrust collar's job is much harder than the bearings it appears, therefore it failing sooner. This is just theory of course
My problem was insufficient oil

 

[thearkatek]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I think I'll have time to tear it apart tomorrow finally and see what kind of wear is on the insides. I don't think there has been any contact with the housing at this point so maybe I'll try a rebuild and feeding it from the OFH instead this time.

 

[thearkatek]

welp.... looks like the turbo saw prettttty much no oil pressure. Guess I'll be getting a whole new turbo and not reusing my current oil feed or drain because clearly there was an issue.

Still weird how much wear is on the thrust bearing but there's very little wear on the journals.

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[1990TSIAWDTALON]

The drain will work. Feed it from the OFH and restrict it if it feeds too much!

 

[JusMX141]

No bearing transfer on the shaft at all- it was getting enough oil or the shaft would have yellow bearing material all over it as the journal bearings are loaded at all times while the thrust system only sees load under boost.

The way there is heat scoring on the shaft, the turbine seal ring has all the tension wiped out (completely-collapsed in the groove), and the accelerated thrust wear...what does the rest of your exhaust system look like? This almost seems like a turbo that was suffering from excessive backpressure to me.

 

[thearkatek]

oh really?! It's a catless 3" turbo back exhaust. Plus an extra leak in the flex pipe for good measure. This seemed weird to me but I was gonna chalk it up to my old braided stainless supply line being partially collapsed or something.

A bent shaft would have uneven wear on the thrust surfaces eh? Cause when I was torquing the the nut down the heat shield fell out of place which bound up the turbine wheel. I didn't put much torque on it before I realized but I'm not sure how touchy that is.

 

[thearkatek]

I've got a new turbo on the way. I'm going to feed it from the ofh with a new supply line and hope that solves the problem. Maybe I messed the other one up when I rebuilt it.