toddk911

3 or 4 blades on one side of the compressor are hitting the houseing and the shaft has a bit of "run out" wabble.

ilikemy944

special tool

Uh- oh.... wait till NZ sees this.....

Sorry about your turbo, man.

toddk911

Is there any way to flow/bench test a turbo before hand?

I guess though even a bench test won't be secure as it ran and boosted fine for the few days I had it running, which means on a bench it would have tested fine??

Laust Pedersen

Sorry to hear about your turbo trouble.
There are a number of things to watch out for during a turbo rebuilt. The shaft needs to be very straight, the wheel assembly certainly needs to be balanced and that process is kind of a bench test. The nut should be tightened with a T-handle tool in order not to bend the shaft and be tightened to the appropriate torque (with thread-locker applied), since it can snap or weaken the shaft enough so it snaps during operation.
Let us know maybe with pictures what actually happened.

What was the highest boost you had after the rebuilt and before it went bad?

Laust

toddk911

Hey Laust, thanks for the info.

I was only running 15psi when the first one got eaten due to a boost leak. The rubber stopper in the stock AFM, broke loose and got sucked in.

Fixed the leak and was back to the 18psi my chips are mapped for. Ran really strong for the few days I had it out.

NZ951

Todd, that sucks. Sorry to hear that. Lindsey Racing should be rebuilding it for free so dont worry, I am sure they will look after you.

EDIT: I have warned people enough about their products. Its no surprise you dont see many Lindsey Racing turbo's in signatures. Last one I heard about engine blew up on the 3rd lap. I often see Vitesse or K27/6 of 60-1 though.

hosrom_951

Why are you people jumping to conclusions?

toddk911

Hey NZ, I got your pm but your box was full for me to reply.

toddk911

Who else on the boards is running a Lindsey turbo??

NZ951

Hey mate,

I just cleared my inbox last week too! Try again, sorry.

toddk911

Well Lindsey should be getting my turbo today, AGAIN.

Hopefully they will get it broken down today so I can find out what happened.

hosrom_951

So it was a faulty turbocharger??????????

Danno

"3 or 4 blades on one side of the compressor are hitting the houseing and the shaft has a bit of "run out" wabble."

Not faulty turbo, more likely improperly balanced. There are people who are building turbos on their own and not using new bearings and seals. A previous retailer was doing this and this lead to the rumor that hybrid turbos leak oil and smoke, thus requiring an oil-restrictor. That's a mistaken "fix" for the wrong problem. If you've got worn-out bearings and seals, you don't reduce oil-supply to it in order to "fix" the smoking problem, you replace the bearings and seals with new ones! A properly-built Garrett or Turbonetics turbo will not smoke and leak oil into the housings and will work with the stock oil-restrictor in the balance-shaft bearing cap.

A properly built turbo, done by an approved retailer, will have new seals and bearings as well as proper balancing. What most likely happened in Todd's turbo is improper balancing, or not done at all. The wobbling eventually bends the axle and/or wears out the bearings, allowing enough slop for the blades to touch the housing. That's the sound you were hearing, it wasn't the turbo spooling up, it was the blades touching the housing.