Oil seals on the turbo isn't a massive job. I'd take it to a specialist. Blades look ok to me in the picture. Are they all uniform? Does the compressor spin freely? A new second hand turbo might be a cheaper way to go, if you can score one off ebay from someone who is upgrading theirs.
The blades aren't curly to the same extent, the compressor spins, but I don't really know how it should feel.
The main problem in this car is access. It's not a big engine bay, the turbo's on the back of the engine, with about 6" between it and the bulkhead and there's quite a beefy subframe and transfer box in the way from the underside.
I think I am going to drop the subframe, looks relatively simple.
Ebay is awash with new and recon turbo options, I'm not sure how much cheaper rebuilding my own turbo would be than just buying a new one.
Will the turbo housing be damaged by running with buggered oil seals?
If the impeller spins freely when given a thumb/forefinger flick, its rebuildable. Any drag on housing means the impellers have touched and are scrap. The swarf that comp wheel to comp housing contact creates will wreck the engine, requiring a re-bore. It will show up by metallic flecks in the inlet ducts. Getting it out of the intercooler is close to impossible, whatever you do you can't be sure you got it all out and all it takes is one old fleck of alloy case to pass though and lodge in between piston top land and bore, so a new IC is needed.
150,000 - 200,000 are typical speeds for small turbos.
A 2nd hand turbo from a car that doesn't have a large number of people upgrading at low mileage (
The impeller spins and does not appear to drag on the housing, however it does not continue to rotate for any amount of time after a flick.
Do VAG 1.8T engines have a reputation for early turbo failure? I probably wouldn't have bought a used turbo anyway, was thinking more along the lines of ones advertised as 'new'. From what you say the cheap ones are probably chinese copies as per:
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As opposed to remanufactured:
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Or new:
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Do you think Eurocarparts will sell real turbos or fake ones?
My plan is to replace most of the breathing system.
The electric pump runs for 5 mins after switching the ignition off.
The oil was very dirty, I changed it when I bought the car a few days ago and running it for the few miles I have has made the oil black again.
A firm of US Lawyers sued VW in a class action over 1.8T turbo failures and won a settlement for their clients. So it would look like the answer is "yes" since they won their case.
I've also seen one heck of a lot of 1.8T badged cars burning oil or stranded by the side of the road over the last eight years or so.
TBH I think the main problem is that many of them are repmobiles and reps maltreat turbo cars - whang down the motorway getting everything hot, pull into service station for their "lartays" and just turn the engine off and walk away leaving the oil to cook.
Seems they have a rep for belt failure and newer ones have reduced change interval.
The heat soaks into turbo from cast log manifold.
What will really bugger them up is people skipping the interim oil change or city use on short runs that puts them on a "high maintenance" schedule and then just having the full service.
Have you taken the turbo off to have a look in the turbine housing? If there's enough play in the bearing to do that damage to the compressor side the turbine side is probably in a similar condition. If the turbine and compressor wheels both have that damage along with the damaged housings there's very little left to recondition. And stay away from Chinese copies, I've seen pictures of ones where the compressor housing has just fallen apart where they were just glued together. Have you tried Overton for a used one, may not be the cheapest breaker but at least they're local and you can inspect the turbo before purchasing it.
And that's mostly why. The "forum egg spurt" that built the turbo MX5 I bought (yes, I should have known better) used what awfully looked like a fake ebay special Garrett (it was quite obvious that it wasn't the real thing when compared to the real thing). it survived half a track day before the turbo started smoking badly. Further investigation pointed at the need for a new turbo as it wasn't really worth attempting to rebuild a knock-ff turbo.
I've been working late shift and also been on call for the last 7 days. More fool me. Last week I rounded a turbo/manifold bolt so work has stalled. I have bought a drill in anticipation of drilling the bugger out.
Overton is an option for a used turbo suitable for recon if mine is goosed. Might keep my eyes open for a 1.8T Passat at Persley too, perhaps turbo access is easier on the Londitudinal version. Cheers for the heads up.
Can anyone reccommend any of the multitude of 'send your broken turbo away and get it back shiny' outfits advertising on the t'internet?
I've got a couple of days off this week so will endeavour to get the turbo off by Sunday. Once it's off I plan to see if I can find 'a man wot knows' to give me some advice.
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