How much play is Too much play

[Joryn]

Hey all, currently still in the process of tearing down and cleaning all my engine parts and whilst i was doing that discovered that ive got some play in my turbo shaft that is a bit scary.

Not sure of the exact distance of travel but its got probably close to a mm of side to side and a bit of in/out play. the in/out is strange though its like spring action, in other words you pull it out a tiny bit and it pops back into place.

Now i konw that any in/out is bad but am really hoping that im just getting paranoid and its not a big deal. This turbo was rebuilt (albeit by a not so trustworthy source) just 2 years ago and has not had more then 5k miles put on it.

I just need some input as to whether this turbo is toast and should look into a rebuild or getting a new one or whether i can get away with it as is. If a rebuild is the only choice im unsure of who in town could do a reliable job so options in that area would be appreciated as well.

thanks for the input guys, hopefully (barring any MORE problems heh) my 600 will be up and running at the latest by august. wish me luck

Joe McDonald
1985 Dodge 600 converted TII
BEST ET: 14.659@91 MPH

[Joryn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris W Some side to side play is acceptable as long as blades do not contact compressor housing. In and out play is not acceptable. The best way to avoid in and out play is to use a performance blow off valve. Your turbo should be rebuilt soon before too much damage occurs which will only cost you more money to repair.

As i suspected, and i had been using a BOV for quite some time, for as long as ive had the car intercooled and running 10+psi of boost. it is simply a talon unit though and perhaps is not suited for the 19 PSI that i had been using last year.

I have already perused TU fairly extensively and was seriously considering getting a rebuild done by your shop, but am worried about the additional down time this may cause. I am not sure as to how much work you have done for customers north of the border, but do you have any estimates as to a rebuild job on a turbo such as this? While its in i would probably be interested in getting some small upgrades as well, ie: exhaust wheel clipping, larger swingvalve etc.

there is one other concern i noticed and that was that there seems to be a crack in the exhaust turbine housing near the exhaust bypass port. hard to tell its size without taking the SV off, but is this a serious problem?

Thanks for your time. Please let me know what you can as soon as possible.

Joe McDonald

[Garret]

hey joe I got a good when pulled turbo off of my old Turbo Z, if you want it it's yours for very little bling plus shipping, but only cause you're a fellow canadian

[89daytonaTII]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garret hey joe I got a good when pulled turbo off of my old Turbo Z, if you want it it's yours for very little bling plus shipping, but only cause you're a fellow canadian

always there to supply us sask TD'ers with parts hey Garret

[Garret]

well I mean someone has got too, all the TDs usually just roll thru your province... what with the flat lands and all... us manitobans just break them

[Joryn]

Well I tore the turbo down to see what kind of damage i was looking at. the bearings didnt look toast but from what i saw it looksl ike the oil seal had blown on the exhaust side though. the entire chamber on that side was filled with carbonny black gunk. Not the turbine chamber mind you but just before that in the actual cartridge.

I'm not sure how difficult it would be to rebuild but the shaft definitely needs rebalancing and i dont know who would do that in town here. anyone konw what a rebuild kit goes for on these things? also how hard it would be to diy.

i might grab some pictures and post them up so you can see what im talking about later

Joe

[Joryn]

Thanks for the info Chris, I will keep it in mind here as i try to figure out what my next step is.

I decided to tear down the turbo to see what i could find out as to the reason for the play, and did not discover anything of significant notice, except for a lot of oil/carbon build up right behind the exhaust turbine. From the looks of things i was blowing oil out the exhaust, unless this kind of buildup is normal. It was pretty much sludge in there heh.

Also took a closer look at the cracks in the exhaust housing and noticed its about 1" on either side of the bypass hole in the housing. Not wide cracks but something i would think could cause some leakage potentially.

Oh while i've got a few of you here anyone know how much ring gap is too much gap?? i got a new set of rings and it looks like ive got .015" on the top ring and near .020" on the second ring. any ideas as to whether this is too much?

Thanks for the input

Joe