Salguod

Hello Everyone,

I was wondering what the typical life expentancy of the stock twins are? I searched around trying to find a thread along this line, but I didn't really find one.

What is it that typically fails? Do the housings crack, or is it just the seals that fail?

I also was wondering if there really are places that do a great job of rebuilding them, or should I just start saving up for a new set (or single) when the day arrives for mine to be rebuilt?

Thanks

Salguod

Anyone.... Please.....

Nathan Kwok

I had a seal fail at 40k miles and they started leaking externally. There were no cracks in the housing so I got them rebuilt. I think this is shorter than average, I'd put average life at 60k miles based on other reports. Once the mileage gets higher the housings start to crack and at a certain point they become unrebuildable or the lifetime of the rebuild is severely shortened.

*edit* Oh and I had the rebuild's done through Mazdatrix, who outsources them to Turbo City. I'm not going to recommend them (Turbo City that is) though because they have somewhat of a bad rep, so I'm crossing my fingers that mine last.

GsrSol

Don't know about Mazda but most companies recommend that STOCK turbos be rebuilt every 60k miles. They can defiantly go longer then that though. To get the max life out of them make sure you have a downpipe, don't let hot oil sit in them, and you should already be keeping an eye on coolant temps.

The manifold and seals both fail quite often. Don't know about rebuilding them but when my time comes I will probably just go with high flow upgraded twins.

artguy

my first set lasted 70k...were cracked to bits but did not leak....I got a rebuilt set (turbo city) and they leaked immediately....I then had them rebuilt by Performance Techniques (the company that owns turbonetics.com so they get turbonetics customers)....the second set failed within a thousand miles...though I drove them about 3k before tossing them in the junk pile (perf tech failed to warrantee their work). I am now M2...will see how long they last.


jason

ps...I will never rebuild stock junk again.

Salguod

Thanks for the responses,

So what does a set of "high flow upgraded twins" cost these days (roughly), and who makes them?

mightyslash

143k miles. Still working.

GsrSol

high flow or upgraded twins can cost anywhere from $1500-$3300.

I meant to put a slash in the first post.

djantlive

I've heard that it's pretty easy to rebuilt a turbo yourself. I'd recommend that you do that if you are keeping it stock.

My stock FD is at 82k mi. Turbos were taken out bc of other work on the Lower Intake Manifold. They were in good condition so they went back in.

I think some ppl are selling new turbos (not rebuilt) w/ very little mileage on them on this forum. If you want to spend less than $1k, get a lo mi new turbo from someone or have yours rebuilt. If you have more than $1k, get the M2.

There was a post that said which company makes and rebuilts M2's turbos. I can't remember. Maybe that's a good route if you want to rebuild yours.

billvp

a friend of mine's '93 had new turbos at 40k and now again at 85k

TailHappy

I can't beat mightyslash, but to back him up I have 117k on my stock turbos. They still boost consistantly at 12psi and don't smoke. I think the key is that I'm absolutely religous about driving EXTREMELY easy until the car warms up, and I ALWAYS drive easy before turning the car off (but in between I drive the hell out of 'em!). After watching my friends I'd be willing to bet their driving habits are the cause of their turbo failures. But I'm really trying to milk these for all they're worth....

R1 POWR

90k on the original engine & original turbos but then i don't drag or auto-x, so it probably doesn't get driven nearly as hard as most everyone elses 7. i'm just hoping they'll last well into the 100k+ miles they boost fine & aren't leaking or smoking (that i've noticed)

djantlive

Yeah, cooling the turbo is absolutely critical. If you can't remember to let the turbos run for 30 sec and take it easy a couple of miles before arriving to destination, get a turbo timer.

rynberg

My turbos are still going strong with no problems at 55k. I always drive it for a few miles before using boost at all and TRY to drive a few miles gently after boosting. But after a long or hard drive, I always let the car sit for a couple of minutes with the hood up before turning it off. I then leave the car for a couple of minutes before shutting the hood. Even with a downpipe, the underhood temps get pretty crazy with FDs.

artguy

a note on the hi flow set.....

according to an unnamed source at pettit...it is a waste of money because the power gains are not worth the extra dough.....thats why I went with the m2 ball bearings.

regardless...of all the used sets I have looked at, not one set, regardless of miles, did not have some sort of oil residue in the snails (drippy smoking turbos suck)....twice I had rebuilds fail. I would not reccomend doing either.

j

TailHappy

One side note on turbo timers. The previous owner of my car had one, and it resulted in a popped engine. An extremely freak case, but while the car was idling unattended, a hose popped off, dumped the coolant and overheated and destroyed the engine. Needless to say it was ripped out of the car and never used again. Something to consider....

GsrSol

Something else you can do is to pop the hood once you get into your residental streets and stay below 25mph. I pull the lever right before my street and get about 25mph winds cooling the exterior engine for about a minute, then turbo time it.

spooledUP7

I do the same thing if it's warm out, or if I have been spirited. I also run the heater to help cool it down, plus it kicks on the fan sooner. I normally shut the car off as soon as I stop if I have popped the hood since I have found that the engine begins to heat soak at idle.

GsrSol

LOL I always crank up the heater on "fresh" too. Every little bit helps with these cars.

ziftar

iTrader: (1)

From what I've read it's the cracking that causes the problems. It seems your more likely to blow out your gasket between the manifold and the Turbo if you have developed cracks. I think this has happend to my FD. I will find out when I get my turbos pulled off.

** Almost forgot 69K on this set.

93TTRX7

I got 55k miles on mine and I think it's starting to smoke and smell after hard driving. It's either from the turbo or a leak in the Y pipe/IC pipe

kwikrx7

I got 77K out of mine - secondary is still strong but my primary has a bad carbon seal in - not leaking or smoking, just not spinning - I've been running 13 psi for a while

shaqhammer

120K & STILL GOING STRONG!!

RavenRx7

Im at 96k and still boosting at 10-12psi, no visible
leaks so far. Also i would have to say the life of your turbo depends on how hard you drive it too =)

kundo

I'm at 65k and going to rebuild them myself. Secondary is leaking and I keep seeing smoke sometimes.