RS49T Review: Questionable Quality

[Ultimatedsm]

Forget these AGP's, stick with T3/T4 50 trims or 60's depending on your application. I never had a problem with my 60 trim ever.

 

[AL92]

Agp has the regular garrette 50 and 60 s not just the cheaper turbonetics 50s and 60s.I would spend the extra and get the garette ones.I had the agp rs49 garette and no problems with it.I might buy a rs60 or even 65 if do a stroker like planning and not worried but wouldn't buy the RS49T or RS60T after hearing about the problems with them.Turbonetics sounds too hit and miss quality wise.Garrett is the word to the wise.

 

[olmytsi]

Just to reassure some people, i took off my rs49t today because i am doin a 6 bolt swap and the shaft is SOLID, the shaft does NOT move a bit so it isnt a bad turbo like some are claiming. I put about 2400 miles on it at 20 psi daily and even had it up to 23 on leaded fuel.

 

[pickens]

Well, mine had shaft play from the very beginning and the more I think about and read others comments, the turbo must've been bad from the get-go. And I still haven't recieved a replacement. It's been two months since I paid for it. I waited a little over three weeks to recieve it the first time, had it on the car for a few days, and then overnighted the turbo back, and ever since I've been patiently waiting for about a month. This lead time is just getting ridiculous, and apparently there is no end in sight!

 

[sweet97]

Well, mine had shaft play from the very beginning and the more I think about and read others comments, the turbo must've been bad from the get-go. And I still haven't recieved a replacement. It's been two months since I paid for it. I waited a little over three weeks to recieve it the first time, had it on the car for a few days, and then overnighted the turbo back, and ever since I've been patiently waiting for about a month. This lead time is just getting ridiculous, and apparently there is no end in sight!

A month without a word? Call Ben at AGPand ask what's up. Mine had shaft play fromthe get gobut has held usofar. man a month is TOO long. Mark

 

[cfisher]

That is exactly what I am worried about. My GSX is my daily driver right now and I cannot be without a car for over a month.

 

[pickens]

Okay, well after about 1 1/2 months I get a repaired turbo. It may have been a totally new turbo, AGP said my old turbo was being repaired and then changed the story after the fact that it was a brand new one. Who really knows. Anyhow, first thing I noticed was this turbo still had some shaft play right off the bat. AGP once again assured me that this was normal. I posted a video I took of the turbo's shaft play. I think the shaft play was way too much. Anyhow, I took off the 16g and installed the RS49T turbo. I drove the car around my area for awhile to make sure their were no leaks and to let the turbo get acquainted w/ the engine. I then did a leak test to make sure there weren't any leaks since I installed a new FMIC at the same time. At this time, I noticed that the turbo already had slightly more shaft play then when I first got it. Hmmm. I pull the turbo and sure enough, you can hear the blades ever so slightly touch the compressor housing. The turbo was still working but I didn't see how it would work much longer. Didn't even put more than 20 miles on the turbo and it already seemed as if it were older than my 16g which has over 20k 20psi boosted miles . Big props to Mitsu, they really know how to build a good quality turbo.

Here's what I did since the first turbo took a dump after about 50-100 miles. I cleaned out the oil line, took off the oil filter housing and inspected it, cut the oil filter open to look for junk. I found not a single thing wrong anywhere. The lines and passages were clean and the oil filter didn't have any visible metal flakes. So I put my 16g back and drove the car for about the next 1 1/2 months until I got the second turbo from AGP. Since I checked every possibility I could think of AND my 16g still to this day runs like a champ and has almost no shaft play I cannot believe there is an oil or engine problem. Heck, I had the engine rebuilt last october w/ out the balance shafts so it is getting plently of oil pressure and flow. Did I miss something?

AGP seems to think so, and blamed my engine before even looking at the turbo and its shaft play even though I did every due diligence in checking the engine before re-installing. Plus my 16g is back on the car and still have not a single problem from it. So Ben stated he would refund my money after a lengthy conversation. I overnight the turbo and get a call from Kevin stating AGP will not refund the money even though Ben stated he would. After numerous attempts to resolve the issue, I got fed up w/ Ben and Kevin's attitude. So, I will be taking them to court since it has been about 7 months since I first bought the turbo and I only had it for a total of 8 days and when I call to check on the status I get "I don't know as answer". That is completely unacceptable. It is my conclusion that turbonetics turbos are very sensitive at best. Definately not robust like true Garretts or mitsu's. Please be warned:

"The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of cheap price is forgotten. " -quoted directly by AGP.., I guess I should've taken this as a discrete warning from AGP that the cheaply priced turbo they sell would cause bitterness.

 

[pickens]

http://www.Vid-host.com/files/53tcl9ekg0.mpg

Paste link into broswer to watch the shaft play the turbo had.