2nd Generation Specific (1986-1992) 1986-1992 Discussion including performance modifications and technical support sections.
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Old 08-15-07, 02:49 PM
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my FC of "doom"

i bought a pretty clean S5 Turbo back in december '06. the engine was in fairly good condition, had about 80k with some minor upgrades (HKS PFC F-CON unit, downpipe, cat-back exhaust). it drove strong, turbo pulled hard (11-12 psi) and had no smoke.

for about a month i drove the car through touge and did a little bit of parking lot drifting. now, before i got this car i was always used to torquer engines like 240s, so i am not the type that shifts at a very high rev... that and i just don't like to abuse engines.

then one night i was messing around with a friend who had a 2nd gen integra on a clear street. i went from 5th gear to 3rd (matched the rev real smooth too) going around 45 - 50mph, smashed on the petal a little and took it in to 4th at 6,000, then in to 5th at 5,000, feathered on the petal for like 2 seconds, took it in to neutral and just coasted down the road.

the result of that left me a blown seal on the back rotor. my guess was it was a cold night and the car was only 75 - 80% warmed up, which might have lead to a boost spike. this lead to a bittered $2900 rebuild. i finally get the car back yesterday after being in the slowest and laziest rotary specialist shop in the world for 3 months that always gave me these lame excuses for why my car wasnt finished yet. so i finally got it back, the car drives great just like before. the shop did a clean job but... now my turbo might be leaking oil, it smokes (gray color/ smells kinda like a charcoal bbq grill) like hell during idle. no smoke ones the car gets going.

anyone know what might have cause this? could this have happened during the same night when i blew the apex seals? or could have got my good turbo jacked by the shop?

all in all... i still need to fix this cause its just too much smoke. if a pig lights me up i'll probably get a ref-ticket. anyone know where i can get a deal on a stock rebuild turbo for the s5 engine (i am in So-Cal)? any suggestions or opinion are welcome... please advise!
Old 08-15-07, 03:04 PM
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check the for sale section. they are always for sale.

Although, you'd probobly be better off rebuilding the turbo. That way you know it's a good turbo.
Turblown rebuilds em, as do many shops. Think it cost about 300. Might as well have the wastegate ported at the same time. Only takes a minute

If you buy a used one, you may have to rebuild it anyway.

PS: 3 months is great turn-around time for a rebuild. Check out how long mine took (link under sig)
Old 08-15-07, 03:14 PM
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there's a good chance when you blew a seal that the exiting seal damaged the turbo. I've heard of it happening before, apparently you're really lucky if you blow a seal and your turbo doesn't take damage.
Old 08-15-07, 03:14 PM
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PS: 3 months is great turn-around time for a rebuild. Check out how long mine took (link under sig)
No. It's not. It's shitty. I'm thinkin like a week would be good turnaround - It's a day of removal/dissassembly, a day of cleaning, a day of inspection, 2 more days of cleaning, a day of assembly, a day of installation.

Is the smoke coming from the turbo itself or just out the exhaust? Sounds like a OMP problem to me.. It runs fine at low AND high RPM's?
Old 08-15-07, 03:16 PM
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BNR rebuild and stage 1 upgrade with a massive wastegate port job
Old 08-15-07, 03:21 PM
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Oh, and speedoflife is right - it's rare to not eff the compressor wheel up (think about it - a big chunk of metal is passing through a tiny impeller). One way to tell is when the turbo spools, if it kinda sounds like a procharger (odd whine that sounds like a bad bearing), you need a turbo rebuild. This means the impeller has play in it, which is bad when it's spinning at 100 g's or so
Then again.. That's like a few hours worth of work and like $75. Don't waste your money on a used turbo that might be about to blow anyway.
Old 08-15-07, 04:22 PM
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Originally Posted by powrdby13B
No. It's not. It's shitty. I'm thinkin like a week would be good turnaround - It's a day of removal/dissassembly, a day of cleaning, a day of inspection, 2 more days of cleaning, a day of assembly, a day of installation.

Is the smoke coming from the turbo itself or just out the exhaust? Sounds like a OMP problem to me.. It runs fine at low AND high RPM's?
the smoke is only comming from the exhaust and it runs perfect at low AND high RPM....

but i've only gone up to 5,000 at the highest like only one time since i got the car back due to the break-in period and i don't want to break again. i been just reving it up to 4,000 at the highest for now. but so far i've already driven it on the freeway, local streets/ parking lots and touge and everything seems perfectly normal. except for the cloud of smoke my car is leaving behind during idle and start from a dead stop.
Old 08-15-07, 04:29 PM
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Originally Posted by powrdby13B
Oh, and speedoflife is right - it's rare to not eff the compressor wheel up (think about it - a big chunk of metal is passing through a tiny impeller). One way to tell is when the turbo spools, if it kinda sounds like a procharger (odd whine that sounds like a bad bearing), you need a turbo rebuild. This means the impeller has play in it, which is bad when it's spinning at 100 g's or so
Then again.. That's like a few hours worth of work and like $75. Don't waste your money on a used turbo that might be about to blow anyway.

so your saying if theres play on the impeller that can cause the turbo to leak oil? if thats true your saying my problem will be solved with a few hours of work and 75 bucks?
Old 08-15-07, 04:58 PM
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Originally Posted by stylEmon
check the for sale section. they are always for sale.

Although, you'd probobly be better off rebuilding the turbo. That way you know it's a good turbo.
Turblown rebuilds em, as do many shops. Think it cost about 300. Might as well have the wastegate ported at the same time. Only takes a minute

If you buy a used one, you may have to rebuild it anyway.

PS: 3 months is great turn-around time for a rebuild. Check out how long mine took (link under sig)
thanks, but i rather go with someone local. i don't want to deal with shipping.

yeap the wastegate has already been ported.

PS: thats different tho, your car is all rebuild inside and out... your engine got a lot of mods too. my car was just sent in for a simple rebuild. that should not take more then 3 months for any reason.... hell, it shouldn't take more then 1 month if anything.
Old 08-15-07, 05:23 PM
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2 Rotors, 1 Turbo

 
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My engine had a blown rear seal on it when I pulled it from the donor car, and compressor wheel looks just fine. But I think my seal was just chipped, I can't recall.
Old 08-15-07, 05:50 PM
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No. It's not. It's shitty. I'm thinkin like a week would be good turnaround - It's a day of removal/dissassembly, a day of cleaning, a day of inspection, 2 more days of cleaning, a day of assembly, a day of installation.
ok smart guy, so how many fresh rotor housings do you have laying around? What about balanced assemblys and coated engine/turbo parts? rebuild kits? bearings? plug wires/plus? fluids? oil lines? clean oil cooler? ... need i go on?

What about all the porting and milling? only a couple of hours right?!!?

I understand you may be looking for a "fix what's broken" rebuild, but I GAURANTEE you'll blow that motor quickly and do it all over again.

To the OP: Like I said, lots of shops rebuild turbos. You can even buy a kit and try it yourself.

Last edited by stylEmon; 08-15-07 at 06:03 PM.
Old 08-15-07, 06:24 PM
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To the OP: Like I said, lots of shops rebuild turbos. You can even buy a kit and try it yourself.[/QUOTE]

where can I get a rebuild kit from?
Old 08-15-07, 07:21 PM
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I think Garrett, or possibly www.atpturbo.com (courtesy of KL)
Old 08-15-07, 07:28 PM
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Originally Posted by stylEmon
ok smart guy, so how many fresh rotor housings do you have laying around? What about balanced assemblys and coated engine/turbo parts? rebuild kits? bearings? plug wires/plus? fluids? oil lines? clean oil cooler? ... need i go on?

What about all the porting and milling? only a couple of hours right?!!?

I understand you may be looking for a "fix what's broken" rebuild, but I GAURANTEE you'll blow that motor quickly and do it all over again.

To the OP: Like I said, lots of shops rebuild turbos. You can even buy a kit and try it yourself.
even with everything that removing and rebuilding a TII motor needs, 3 months is retarded 1 month max....not every motor needs all that **** like milling and coating.
Old 08-15-07, 08:10 PM
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if your doing the 'fix what's broken' special, sure... 3 months is about all you need.

We have very different opinions on what a motor 'needs' when you take it apart.
EVERY (turbo'd) motor needs milling and porting, and every rotary needs coating... most people don't want to put that kind of time and money into a 20 year old car.
Old 08-15-07, 10:34 PM
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damn, my bad. i just checked my calender.... it was actcally a total of 63 days which is a little over 2 months. yeah, last 2 months felt like a mighty long time.... since the day my car broke down i got pretty sad. so i been just drinking and toking every night and day until i got it back. but i still think a little over 2 months is still a long time just to do a simple rebuild. thats my 2 cent.
Old 08-15-07, 11:31 PM
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My engine took a while, but I didn't give a flip. I'd rather it take longer and work better than be built super quick and explode in transit to my house.

I think we got off topic anyway.

It's probably a bad seal inside the turbo. My friend's 240 had a bad seal on the cold side and it shot oil through the whole intake, making it a smokey bastard. Replaced the turbo (he got a slammin deal on a bigger, brand new turbo) and the problem was gone. You could put in a used turbo off another 7, but you may run into the same problem, or you could have your unit rebuilt. I'm not sure what the rates are on it or how much a kit costs, so you'd have to look around.
Old 08-15-07, 11:33 PM
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lol i'll agree i've seen a rotary specialist rebuild the entire motor clean port polish and do reassembly in about a week i thought that was pretty good . but i've also heard of people waiting longer than 3 months . go figure just depends on who you get i guess .
Old 08-16-07, 04:05 AM
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Usually long extended waits for a rebuild are because the rebuilder has other work to do.
Old 08-16-07, 05:43 AM
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^ shops usually aren't sitting around waiting for someone to bring them a car. Usually they have several other cars when you bring yours in. And it takes longer than a week to rebuild an engine. Removal, disassembly, inspecting, replace broken parts (You may have a broken part the shop doesn't have), cleaning (HUGE PITA since the shop I know cleans all the parts by hand and doesn't use power tools which eat off the zinv coating and such), porting (hey the motors apart...might as well), reassembly, then there's always little quirks and troubles...I've seen several engines being rebuilt and they usually have a few problems that arise since all the parts/electronics are old...which sometimes is the cause of the engine going in the first place.
Old 08-27-07, 06:37 AM
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well.... i finally swapped in a rebuilt turbo that has a slightly bigger housing and a HKS adjustable actuator (set at stock boost).

after a day of work.. the car still smokes during idle and at parking lot speed. does anyone have a clue of whats going on? the car still drives perfect and pulls hard.

could my setting be wrong on the PFC-FCON unit (note: setting has never been change since the car was bought, which had always ran fine before the engine blew)? i thought that only comes in to affect during boost anways.

or do i just need to drive the car around more? i have only put about 15 to 20 freeway miles on it since i swapped the turbo.

anyways please help... this really sucks.
Old 08-27-07, 08:37 AM
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There could be residual oil clinging to the tubing in your intercooler which hasn't cleared out yet. I would drive it another couple weeks before condemning the engine. Let's hope the rebuilder installed the oil control ring springs correctly. If not, the ring will spin on the rotor, which will burn it up pretty quickly, causing smoking, but not just at idle, at all speeds. Also the vacuum/ vent hoses should be checked to be sure they are connected to the right ports.
Old 08-27-07, 08:40 AM
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whats going on?

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yeh. get it rebuilt dude. or it could be the oil seal in your engine womp womp.
Old 08-27-07, 12:08 PM
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