Here's my situation: Late last year I blew the engine of my 90 tII. In January I bought a rebuilt engine and a used turbo from a salvage place in california. I ended up not needing the turbo because my mechanic was able to rebuild the original for 80$ so i kept the one I bought as a spare. I just recently removed the original turbo and found that the compressor fins were digging a channel into the side housing so I went to replace it with my spare but it was different and wouldn't fit on the manifold. Did some research and realized that they sent me a series 4 turbo. However, the VIN number of the car the turbo allegedly came from is a 1990 number. I've got a feeling that they are not going to want to cooperate with me due to the time involved and the fact that it will cost them quite a bit to pay for shipping both ways so does anyone have any idea of how I should approach this?

 

The center section and compressor housings of both the early and late turbos are identical. The only differences between the turbos themselves is the turbine housing and the extra nipple in the metal line going to the wastegate diaphragm - that's it, save the oil/water lines.

So, all you need to do is unbolt the turbine housing from the bad turbo and bolt the center section of the good turbo on. If you need a better breakdown on how to take apart and put together turbos, let me know - it's REALLY easy.

Back to the original matter, I'm assuming the engine you got was, in fact, an '89-91 engine, and the turbo you got wasn't attached. The difference between the early and late turbos would probably be tricky for a junkyard to spot, especially if they just went by the HT-18 on the front.

Dale

 

I have to say, the guys on this forum are unbelievable.
9 minutes, perfeect answer. Wish I knew.

 

Thanks for the help. I was thinking about doing that but wasn't sure if it would work. Are you sure that the waste gate valves are the same? The one on the s5 looks a little bigger and is mounted at an angle instead of being perpindicular to the turbo and the arm has a bend in it. Is this normal? I could take that one off and mount it on the other if i had to. I'll go pull the turbine housings off, hopefully i'll have a response by the time im done. thank you very much for the help

 

this might not work, the waste gate doesn't move smoothly and seems kinda loose. maybe thats why the rod is bent. i'm also having trouble getting the turbine housing off. there's not room to remove the bolts under where the coolant lines bolt on.