Turbo Woes

[MKIIINA]

Hey guys. I've been wracking my brain these past few days and still don't have a good answer as to whats going on.

I have go through 5 turbos in about a year and a half. No turbo has lasted longer than 6-8 months with a downward trend for this last one of 2-3weeks.

The turbo is a bolton SP61GT that has been rebuilt a few times by SP and most recently by Majastic Turbo in Dallas. (The most recent rebuild included drilling out the housing and putting a bigger bearing and shaft in.) When I got the turbo back from MT it was perfect. balanced across the whole rotating assembly to .25 of a gram

I primed the turbo by leaving the oil sending line off and cranking (in 15-25 sec incriments) until oil came out into a water bottle. There wasnt much oil to my suprise and also it trickled out more than gushed.

I finished installing the turbo fixed a minor oil leak on the drain side (didn't tighten one of the bolts enough) and drove away.

I babied the turbo for the past 2 weeks (where I dove about 300 miles). I had checked the turbo when I made it out to school (200 miles) and there was ZERO shaft play. Checked it a week later and the impeller was almost hitting the wall. Boosted on tuesday and was fine until bam I check my rearview and theres a cloud.

I run Mobil 1 full synth and it was just changed about 1000 miles ago if that. I have good oil pressure across the whole rpm range (20psi at idle ~60psi at 3k cruise)


Whats killing my turbos and how do I fix it! Out of ideas here guys!

 

[starscream5000]

Oil starvation? Or too much oil being fed to the turbo. It could be getting choked up with oil. Are the turbo "seals" blowing each time?

 

[suprashy]

What -AN size SS line are you using for the supply?

SupraShy

 

[MKIIINA]

It appears that the rear seal is usually what goes out (hence the spyhuner like smoke screen) but i dont think it is because of high oil pressure but of lack of oil supply.

heres a shot of the turbo side of my engine. i am worried that the feedline is bent down and toward the rear of the engine and from there it dips down and comes back up to supply the turbo.

this is the standard sp61gt oiling kit. i think -3

 

[yankiwi]

If it was just trickling out of your supply line, I think you may have found the problem. I primed my turbo a similar way and had a good flow of oil coming out.

You may be starving the turbo of oil.

 

[MKIIINA]

Ok now the next question. If the feed line is ok then that means the blockage is somewhere in the block. Ideas on how to fix this? I don't think the TSRM covers this situation

 

[yankiwi]

You are currently using the stock feed port right?

 

[MKIIINA]

correct. the kit comes with an adaptor for what im pretty sure is a -3an fitting

 

[yankiwi]

My only suggestion is to use a different feed source.

I use a tee fitting off the oil pressure sender as I have an NA block. The pressure sender screws on the tee as does the feed line. Mine is -4an.

Maybe you have an obstuction in the stock GTE feed port somehow? You could stick a plug in there and try different source. You must be damn sick of killing these turbo's........

 

[MKIIINA]

just pulled the turbo and theres alot of oil..... in the dp there are actualy bits of what look like sludge. the oil in the return line looks fine. there was little or no oil in the sending line. i forgot how low on the block the sending line is, i may switch to another feed if i can get the damn thing off!

 

[hottscennessey]

Sorry Joe

..I really hope this isn't my problem. Joe knows, but I also had an SP61GT crap out on me "spyhunter" like.

 

[suprashy]

I don't know anything about N/A blocks. I assume other N/A-T conversions are using the same oil supply source as you are. Having said that:

Before ckg. other oil sources from the block, why not remove the supply line, pour some oil through there and see if it comes out flowing on the other end. This will eliminate a possible blocked -AN line, (weird I know, but tape maybe stuck in there while the SS hose was being installed in the fittings, or something like that). If your line is good, you can focus on the block supply source. U noted above that: "there was little or no oil in the sending line." I would ck. the line for flow first. Good luck HTH!


SupraShy

 

[MKIIINA]

Thanks man I'll check into that. The only thing I'm worried about that this method wont test will be the pressure in the line. Flow may be ok but pressure may be an issue.

Or I may be just worrying over nothing, been wracking my brain for a while on this problem.

Heres a link to a thread on SF about the exact same problem. Interesting....

http://supraforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=393377

 

[bensn8]

Just got my SP61gt back from Sound performance. It also crapped out on me two times within a one year period, each time I spoke to Tim he would tell me that they found small metal flakes inside. This time around I opted for the B.B. upgrade which cost me $1200.00 on top of what I already paid for the turbo to begin with. Any how, they upgraded the oil lines from a -3AN to a -4AN, I think this was the whole problem with the design of the turbo to begin with (lack of oil.) The 61GTBB is holding up well so far and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I won't blow this one again. The last time I got it back before the upgade, it only lasted 3 days and I only boosted to 15 psi twice. For the record, Sound Performance cutomer service sucks.

 

[twinturbozs]

Just got my SP61gt back from Sound performance. It also crapped out on me two times within a one year period, each time I spoke to Tim he would tell me that they found small metal flakes inside. This time around I opted for the B.B. upgrade which cost me $1200.00 on top of what I already paid for the turbo to begin with. Any how, they upgraded the oil lines from a -3AN to a -4AN, I think this was the whole problem with the design of the turbo to begin with (lack of oil.) The 61GTBB is holding up well so far and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I won't blow this one again. The last time I got it back before the upgade, it only lasted 3 days and I only boosted to 15 psi twice. For the record, Sound Performance cutomer service sucks.

keep us posted, im suspecting mine just let go with about 3000 miles. ill be checking it out later this week when i get some time. seems to me a few people are experiencing problems with these turbos now, that they have some miles on them.

 

[bensn8]

twinturbozs, got your pm and replied.

Well so far so good. Three weeks and counting but then again I have only boosted to 15psi three times so far. I guess I am holding back because I don't want this turbo to crap out on me. I hope to start boosting to 25psi soon so we'll see how that goes. As far as the performance and spool of the turbo goes, I am really happy with the power that it makes and as far as I can tell it starts to spool at around 2500rpm with full spool to 15psi at around 4200 - 4500 RPM. I really don't know if there is any improvement over the old SP61GT because it has spent more time being repaired than it has working so I just can't recall. Right now I am just happy to be able to drive the car.

 

[MKIIINA]

Guys I'm thinking it has to do with some sort of oiling issue. I'm going to sink some money into this I think and have a Garrett CHRA installed this time around thats oil and water cooled. I'll update this thread after I hear back for sure what killed this turbo.

Agreed SP cust service sucks!

 

[starscream5000]

Lipp makes another bolt on kit, the BOSS, is there any know issues with it like there is with the SP61? The reason I ask this is because that's the kit I'd like to have.

 

[MKIIINA]

its still a fairly new turbo on the market. i do know of one instance here in the dfw area where one blew (ryan) but im not sure what the circumstances, pressure, model etc were. the sp61 has just been around longer and most of them have miles on them where the boss series is alot newer.

 

[starscream5000]

Are the SP's water cooled like the stock CT and BOSS? I dunno if they are or not. My work comp hates to display pictures for some reason, so I can never tell on here.