Help replacing turbo

[Craig09]

hey guys,utes been off the road for few weeks now for repairs,onto my last thing now which is the turbo,it has 10mm of movement so it need replacing BAD!!!i have never had diesel or turbo so my question is is it worth getting a mechanic to do it?they say its about 4hrs work so im just wondering is it just time consuming or is there more detsiled stuff like alighning fan blades or testing pressure or something?im fairly good mechanicly wise just want to make sure its not one of those things better left to a diesel mechanic who does turbos.from what i understand its just a matter of unbolting old turbo,new gaskets and bolt on new turbo,is this correct?if so i will do it myself so if anyone can give me a quick run down on how to do it that would be great,cheers.
btw ive just pulled my torsion bars changed wheel bearing upper and lower control arm bushings swapped rear leaf springs out idler arm and brace new drag link and tie rod end to give you an idea of what im capable off.
cheers

 

[Old.Tony]

It's almost as simple as you describe. There are also oil lines so make sure you have new seals for those as well (may as well!).

10mm of play on the shaft is a LOT. How'd it get that bad? Are you shutting the engine down early, without letting the turbo cool at idle after a hard run?

 

[Lawry]

Yes in theory its a simply job. But don't be fooled, i just replaced mine (2 days back), took about a day. Due to frozen studs, stripped nuts (soft), oil return required heating and stretching..(for some reason), exhaust needed moving and
Waste-gate needed modifying (over boosting).

All im saying is, leave more than enough time. you never know, sometimes the simplest jobs can be pain staking.
I was just less lucky than others.

 

[Craig09]

Awsome,cheers mate.yea i dont think it would off made another km before it disintergrated into the engine.well for a while now my missus has been the main driver as im only driveing it when i go hunting atm so i asked her the other day and she said it has been makeing noises and she cuts the turbo timer everytime she stops the car (not happy!!!)
she knows not to do it now,just lucky that it didnt do the engine in.i think ill be getting an intercooler and do the catch can and EGR mod after the turbo.been paying to much attention to the outside of the ute.

 

[Craig09]

cheers Lawry,i know what you mean,i got poly bushes for my control arms but the stock ones have an outer crush sleeve that over time has become fused to the arm so that turned a couple hr job into a couple days and a busted finger after hitting it with a 2kg mallet.did you replace with a genuine turbo?im useing 1 from injectors express in brisbane because it was half the price with 12 month warrenty

 

[Craig09]

reason i ask weather its genuine is im curious why you had to move exhaust,or is it an aftermarket 1?

 

[Lawry]

Arnt cars fun!! :/
funnily enough its one from injector express... They seem like a good turbo, however im just about to ring then to explain one issue i had with the turbo.
Bare with me as i'll explain.....

when yours arrives, take the wastegate off FIRST THING, very simply just a sir-clip and two 10mm bolts. what you should note is if the actuator (the lever on top of the turbo that the wastegate arm connect to) ANGLE isn't right, it wont face the top corner of the large triangular turbo exhaust plate (where the turbo bolts to the exhaust manifold). If it doesn't line up when its closed off then the the SPRING in the waste gate will be stretched when it is re-bolted to the turbo (by the 2x 10mm bolts). This will be valid if the wastegate is designed exactly the same (dimensions) as the original one (which mine was).

The end result will be... that the waste gate spring already has approx 1cm of compression while the actuator is at its closed resting state = BAD. When you approach the 15psi of boost (factory zd30) it simple wont press the actuator open as the spring will require say..... a further 25+ psi to move at al (guesstimate) as it is already compressed slightly. Remember springs are exponential....


RESULTING IN OVERBOOSTING!!!! BANG!

If this happens to you.. return the turbo OR if you were as unfortunate to already install the turbo.. then go to bunnings and grab a packet of the same tread bolts (high tensile) but 10mm longer and a set of washers (around 10)

And space the waste gate off the turbo body so the waste gate arm doesn't have to reach/stretch as far to connect to move the actuator when under boost. Cost 5 buck to fix.

I managed to tune mine to exactly 15 psi depends on how many washers you use.

FINGERS CROSSED yous isn't like mine as it just add a little frustration.

There are other ways of doing this, by make the waste gate arm longer (welding a plate with a new hole)..


On a positive note, the turbo performs perfectly now!!

 

[Craig09]

haha yep there just a bag full of suprises.
so what did injector express say when you called them back?
so to test it the wastegate has to be off the turbo? and if its pointing at the corner its all good if its not then space it out.so if it is pointing at the corner (how far off if it is incorrect?) then you just bolt the waste gate back on and away you go?
also i dont have a boost guage yet so is there any other way i can tell if ive got it on the right boost?at least the turbo works well when its sorted haha
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TURBOCHA...=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a779cae5d
this the 1 you got?also is the reason you had to move your exhaust because its not a stock exhaust or something else?

 

[Lawry]

Lining up the actuator lever is just a guide. The ONE thing you should look for is if the waste gate is being stretch (AKA spring/diaphragm is being compressed) when at rest (actuator closed/ no boost). It can have a small amount of tension to take up the slack but it should not be stretched, the more tension on the diaphragm the harder it will be to move further- therefore more psi/boost required.

All you have to do is unbolt it and keep the waste gate arm on the actuator and see how far the flat mounting plat is way from the turbo body. Do the bolts easily reach? If the waste gate is harder to put back on that it was to take off then its being stretched.

I am yet to call them as i was busy today but i will very soon. I have a 2.5 turbo back. Mine has a mount on the dump pipe which connects to the engine block mount. It now doesn't line up causing a small annoying vibration at low revs. Im going to get an oxy torch and remove it and make another mount.

And yes that's the turbo.

 

[Craig09]

ok no worries,will look at it when it gets here tommorow and see how i go.ok so it should be fine with a stock exhaust.thanks for your help,might get a hold of you again if i cant figure it out but im sure when i have the thing in hand it will be much easier to understand.

 

[Lawry]

Yup no worries i can take pictures of even a video if your are unsure.
All the best

Cheers Matt

 

[Craig09]

cheers,will let you know how i go.
Cheers Toby

 

[Craig09]

got the turbo,it was very poorly packed and the actuator arm is a little bent which pisses me off but from what i can tell it still works fine and i need the ute back on the road so ill have to let that 1 go,in regards to the mounting late once i have unbolted those two bolts it is 4-5mm away from the turbo body at each bolt hole.is this too much?is that about how far apart yours were?if so how many spacer washes did you need??cheers mate

 

[Craig09]

these are the pics of the gap (my finger is just holding it inline with bolt hole) and also a pic of the bent actuator arm (should i be worried about that?)