PerryB

Friends,

I am curently in the middle of replacing my oil pan gasket and noticed that there is a lot of oil leaking externally from my turbocharger down over the back of my alternator. The turbo is the stock KKK K26 #6.

I'd like to try to rebuild it myself. There is only a small (but acceptable) amount of play in the turbo shaft. I see that there are a lot of rebuild kits out there. Has anybody used one? How reasonalble is it for a home mechanic to attempt this? Are there any special tools needed? Does the turbo need to be rebalanced afterwards?

Thanks!

Perry

Van

If the oil is getting on the rack, it's probably either the upper (feed) line has a crack, or the rubber o-ring for the upper feed line is bad.

If it were leaking from the shaft seals, the oil would either go into the exhaust or the intake - but not external to the turbo charger.

PerryB

Van,

Thanks for your reply.

It looks like the oil is leaking from between the bowl shaped compressor housing and its backing plate. I assumed that the turbo is leaking internally and it is draining out through the seal between the two. It could also be that the turbo leaks internally and is draining out through a crack in the J-boot or because the J-boot to turbo connection isn't tight enough. However, I cannot find any defect in the J-boot.

It doesn't look like the oil feed or the oil drain pipes are the problem, but I could be wrong.

In any case, back to my original question: Has anyone used one of the available rebuild kits to repair a stock KKK K26 #6 turbocharger?

Thanks,

Perry

thomasmryan

it was common on the Mercedes W123 diesels for the turbo drain to get clogged up with cooked oil. i would pull the drain and check it for blockage.

944crazy

I rebuild my turbo last year when I rebuilt my engine. I used a cheap kit of ebay

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/KKK-K26-T...EAAOSw3ydVi5Q9

If you're in the US you may have access to better rebuild kits.

Pulling the turbo apart is quite easy, there are plenty of tutorials on youtube and our k26 aren't any different to most other turbos.

Give it all a good clean, then reassemble with the parts from the kit.

After that, I took mine to a local guy who re-balanced it for me.

Mine has lasted about 8000km so far, including 5 track days.

Here's an exploded view: as you can see they are pretty simple. The only tricky part is getting the exact right torque on the the front nut so that the bearing clearances aren't too loose or too tight.

If you get stuck let me know, I have a few more pics from the assembly process I can share.

PerryB

944crazy,

Thanks! I live in a remote rural area and don't always have easy access to machine shops. What is involved in re-balancing the turbo? Could a regular machine shop do it?

PerryB

944crazy

The guy who did mine had a horizontal balancing machine that he rigged my CHRA up on and then spun it with compressed air, while pumping oil through it, just as if it was attached to the car. The machine would read out how unbalanced it was, and he would grind little bits of metal off each end with a dremel until it was balanced. Not sure a regular machine shop could do this, unless they had one of those balancing machines. You might have some more luck finding a diesel shop who can do it? Or send it off to a turbo shop.

PerryB

944crazy,

Thanks. Sorry to continue on with this, but did you have to rebalance? How did you know?

Perry

944crazy

It's just a precautionary measure because if you take it apart and put it back together again it's unlikely to be perfectly balanced. It's impossible to tell though until you put it in the balance machine.

PerryB

944crazy,

Thanks! I am going to remove it and give it a try. I amy purchasing a rebuild kit from Midwest Turbos. It is about $55US and they offer a balance service for an additional $55.

Perry