Theres a guy that I know have a brand new 99 spec turbos that have 200 miles on them he wants to sell it to me, but the thing is, is that he's he blew his engine while these turbos were still on.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I read a thread not too long ago and it was saying that when your engine blew theres a chance that it could shoot apex seals or something to the turbos internal seals. But the price he quote me is way to good to let it slide.

So do you guys think turbos are still good.?? The turbos looks excellent BTW. I'll post up some pictures asap.
Just wandering what you guys think??

 

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if he blew an apex seal I can guarantee you the turbo's are toast. Well not both, depending on which rotor broke. My front rotor cracked the apex seal and my primary turbo was damaged from that.

You cant tell unless you take a mirror and turn the compressor wheel.

 

The only way I would purchase a set of turbos out of a car with a blown engine would be if I could check for shaft play personally. I know when I blew my engine it did shoot the apex seal through the turbos and ruined them. I had to have them rebuilt because it warped the shaft and bent a blade on the turbo. They would be no good to you if you had to rebuild it because for not much more than what you are paying you could probably get a nice set of BNR Stage 2's. Just my opinion. Remember you get what you pay for.

 

yeah, but how can you tell if there is any shaft play,
because when I look at the turbos there was nothing wrong with the blade and spin freely. There was no crack on the manifold or anything like that.

 

for him to know that an apex blew he has them off and should know if the turbine in damaged

 

You know you cant tell from looking at the blades unless you have one of those small mirrors (like a dental tool). put it in the turbo under the blade and slowly spin the blade. When an apex seal breaks it goes through the turbo and chips the edges off the blades. Good luck

 

ask for pics.. of all ports....

 

definitely pictures will come!!!

 

Pics arent going ot do anyone any good. The only real way to tell if it has turbine wheel damage is to pull the turbo out of the turbine housing so that you can see the entire shaft and turbine wheel. When you look thru the dp port to see the turbine wheel your only looking at the very back of it. The turbine is probably a 1" or so deep and its going to be on the front side where its damaged.

Shaft play has nothing to do with turbine wheel damage from a apex seal. These turbo's could look to be in perfect condition....unless you pull it apart and inspecs the turbine wheel. I cant remember EVER seeing a set of stock twins that made it thru a apex seal failure and I've seen a LOT of sets up a BNR. As a matter of fact most people that have all the mods but thier car doesnt perform the way it should its usually due to turbine wheel failure that they didnt know they had, there's tons of 3rd gens drivning around iwth turbine wheel damage and they dont even know it

STEPHEN

 

You should just take the exhaust housing off of the turbos and look at the wheels . If damage is done you will see it .There are only 6 bolts ( 10mm head ) on each turbo . Then you will be sure . If the seller will not let you then let them go or get them very cheap .

 

cool,
thanks for all of your help btw.
anyways his 99 spec. turbos, he wants it for $1,300.00. and another 300.00 for installation.
Had 200 miles on it when he blew the engine.
What you guys think ?

 

I think its going to cost you more $ to have them rebuilt.

Do like me and Duboisr were talking about. Remove the turbo from the turbine housing its just some 10mm bolts. If the wheel has damage you'll need to send that particular turbo off to be repaired....hopefully its just one turbo thats damaged. I'd imagine you could get one of them rebuilt for about $450 or so.

STEPHEN

 

Well concedering he didnt say a FRIEND of his, picture are better then nothing. Especially if you get the ports. I wish I could pull apart everything I want to purchase but thats not much of an option usually.

If that is an option in the case go for it, but it didnt sound like that.

 

$1300 is about what a USED set goes for, I mean does this guy have any background?

 

We just met last week. We pulled up to a coffee shop and just starting chatting about FD.

Then went to his house and he show me those 99 spec.turbos. He told me that he has a brand new engine (3mm Apex, and a heavy street port stage) with this brand new 99 spec. He blew the motor at 200 because he didn't break it in. Stupid!! So he have one of his friend took the engine out and the turbos out.

Oh yeah, btw at his new engine (stock) right now with a stock rebuilt turbos he has straight exhaust and midpipe and no main cat. Downpipe, and is boosting 14lbs. with no PFC or boost controller at all. He just told me that if you don't redline and just take it to 7 rpm then you should be okay

Great way to blow another engine
Really Dumb!

 

Well anyways thats the story of that guy.

I will be asking him for permission to open that turbo up.
But how sure are we that by blowing the motor the turbos are ruined already. Is it a guess or is it a fact that for sure that we know the turbos are shot.

What are the chances in cases like this though?

 

how about u get my brand new zero miles BNR stage 2 turbos. 1200

 

i would rather have the bnrs above.


you are wasting your money....used turbos are exactly that. USED. and you will get what you pay for.

I would not put another used set on my car. ever.


j

 

Nothing is ever 100% but from what I've seen I'd be willing to bet that its a 90% chance they have turbine wheel damage if that engine lost an apex seal....especially a 3mm car. When you bust a seal there isnt anywhere for it to go except out the exhaust. Picture this...paper thin turbine wheel blades spinning at 100,000rpms.....now force a 3mm thick hardened peice of metel thru there

Now if he just cracked a seal and it didnt actually come apart then you MIGHT be ok. If the car idles like it has a big cam forget it, dont even waste you time pulling the turbine housing off.....if it idles ok then you might have a chance

STEPHEN

 

When I blew my first engine(stock motor), the SMALLEST piece of an apex seal broke free and went thru my rear turbo. IT WAS TINY. So tiny that I did a poor man's compression test and couldn't tell that it was blown. It idled fine, started up fine....just had slightly lower compression in 2 faces of the rear rotor. That SMALL piece broke huge chunks off of my rear turbo's exhaust wheel.

Your better off buying a new set for that price.

 

SPOautos and jt-imports, thanks again for all the helpful info you gave me.

I will be opening up that turbos today, but wont get it though. Just to prove him that it was damage.

 

When I blew an apex seal my turbos remained in tact










Most likely they didn't get damaged because it blew when I turned the ignition on.

 

All this talk about shaft play. :o