Is my turbo blown out?

[Mudman]

Hey my name is Zach and I'm 17 posting for the first time, I have an '89 shelby lancer. and there was tons of oil and some metal shards in my intercooler! Now I'm not an expert on turbos but that sounds bad so can anyone tell me what's probably gone wrong? and how expensive of a fix it is? thanks, Zach

[puppet]

Hey Zach ... take your intake hose,the one from the air filter box, off the turbo inlet. You can get a pretty good look at the turbo's compressor wheel now ... a mirror might help. Look closely at the blades on the compressor wheel.

My guess is that one or more are gone ... might be what you found in the IC.
Let us know what you see here and we'll go from there.

[Mudman]

ok, dinner was ready so that's why it took so long, all I can see is a little fan, and it looks fine

[puppet]

OK ... either way a lot of oil isn't good. While your near the compressor wheel, check the shaft for play. Next guess would be that the comp. wheel struck the housing and shaved some metal off of it. If the shaft will move that much to the side, the turbo bearings are done.

Either FWDP or TurbosUnleashed can advise you on a rebuild route. They're both vendors to our community.

Got any pictures of the metal?

[Mudman]

of the shards I found? no...and it does have a bit of play...dang, looks like I'm spending another $300 on it. but the good news is, I've checked all the compression and the engine itself runs like a champ lol. and I got the whole car for $250!!! so even with this, it's still a steal. thanks for your help man ^_^