See it to believe it . My HKS T04R
 

Last night When I took my FD out. and when I decide to do some testing. so I floor at 2 gear,WOT. Boost to 12PSI, (At this time I feel my car is not fast as before). and when I let go the GAS I hread a very strange sound front RHD side of engine bay.(I was thinking mabe the BOV's Vac hose was loose). Today. I decide to do some more testing. so I took MY FD out again. fill 5 GAL of racing GAS at 76. and find a empty street. and do another WOT 2 gear pull. this time the boost only went to 4 PSI. and car is very very slow and I heard another strange noise from RHD how ever it is different from last night . so I was think (mm.. mabe my EVC V is not function right) so I turn it off. and do another WOT pull. This time Turbo wont even boost.... and I dont even heard my Turbo's sound. This is getting worse. so I better head back to do some Dignostic. on the way back, few thing pop in my head. mabe wastegate stock open. or the vacm line etc etc.

When I head back to my house. I open my hood. and checking the waste gate . it seen to be fine. so I decide to took MY HKS filter off. I just cant believe my eye. when I took off the filter. The T04R is not turning.... it stack there the engine is still runing. so I got my light and give a better look. I can see the NUT hold down Turbin wheel on compresson wheel is missing. and the fin have a little bit of chip... and all smash against the turbo.then I start to look for the nut. I find it inside of my HKS filter. and I was checking the nut. I look around tread area. It did not strip. so what da hell it fell off... I just dont believe it. this

I know HKS tubo kit dont come with warranty. but I only have this kit for less than 2 year/ and put about 3K mile and I never boost over 14 PSI and this is hight mode. usually I did a 12 PSI and I just got retune at XS at that time not thing went wrong. so I better call HKS USA. and hope they can give a better answer

and did any of you have similar experience. or it just pure bad luck....

That bullet nut is known to come off. Mine came off on the T51R kai turbo. The good news is that T04R turbo is pretty cheap. You can get one for around $900-950 brand new. To get it rebuilt, it should cost about $500 including replacing your compressor wheel if the turbine shaft is not bent. If it's bent, you are better off just replacing the whole turbo with a new one.


Chuck Huang

wow good thing its didnt do that much damage

good luck man

t88 ????

damn sorry to hear that bro

I'm sorry, I thought you said cheap :p:

Is it known for all Singles for that nut to come loose ? Going single in a few months and wondering if it is common, what can we do to prevent this from happening other than checking that nut every time we take out the 7.

I had the same thing happen to me, in one of my twins the nut came off, lucky for the intercooler otherwise my motor would of been trashed.

I beleive you not gonna need a new turbo or a rebuild unless the shaft or the compressor wheel are bent which I strongly doubt, it looks OK, definitely worth giving it a shot, you'll need some good lock tight and put the nut back, take it for test and you'll see...

So chuck did this happend to you too?. May I know what did HKSUSA did about warranty? or did they offer you a trade in price? I am 100% sure this is not my fault. or install. I cant believe. THe bullet nut will ever got loose. since turbo spend CW wise. it should tide down the nut even harder ? And HKS is NO1 aftermarket company in japan. this should not happend. oh well we will see


YA this moring I call HKS USA, and one of kid there(Every one went to SEMA) he told me to call XS( the last shop who tune my car back in AUG/2004). Hope they can give me a better answer....

Yeah, it happened to my T51R kai turbo which uses the same bullet nut.

I had the turbo kit on the car for 3 years before this happened so it already passed the warranty period. I just got it rebuilt myself.

Chuck Huang

Loc-tite? :p:

Man, I would be pretty pissed if my $2,000 HKS turbo did that! I'm with Jim on this one, some high temp Loc-tite should be the ticket.

YA The "HKS T04R" retail about 2950 US dollor from HKS USA. It does have some advantage compare to regular T04R. I done a back to back test. and my HKS T04R just feel better? and stronger..

So I still think this should not happend. and when I look at bullet nut. I did not find any trace of loc-tide.....

Any way need to wait HKS GUY come back from SEMA show. Hope they will give me a better answer..

So any advise from you guys ?
thanks in advance

I remember when Dragon's HKS T-04R did this. Talk about carnage!

The HKS to4r is built by Garrett Japan. The US To4R is actually the same spec. There is nothing different between the two except that freaking bullet nut which comes off anyway.

You feel stronger or better on yours maybe it's because the difference in turbine housing A/R.

Don't waste your money on HKS to4r. Just buy a Garrett US one if they are not going to replace it for free. Or you can take this chance to get a T0RZ turbo which is the same spec as the To4R but ball bearing.

Chuck Huang

Thanks for posting that, I have a t51 with the same style nut, that I have not run yet, its a used turbo, but still better to do something about it first.... How is old that turbo?

I bought this turbo kit brand new back in 2002 sep from http://www.sp-power.com/. install at 2002 dec by http://www.tripointengineering.com. then first tune by XS http://www.xs-engineering.com/index....nav=subnav.jsp at 2003/ jun. and retune it at 2004/aug.

So even thought I have this turbo kit for two year. But most of time it just sit there in my engine bay. the auctural time I use is about a year mabe less. and I dont drive my FD that much(I got my other car to drive for daily)

As you guys can see, all my tuner and installer, they are one of best in the field.so they are no way they done a mistake like this. so from my understanding this is all cause by HKS T04R ? I know I already pass warranty period but hey I did not run this Turbo at hight boost( meaning 14 psi +). run with air filter. did not drive that much. and one day the stubid bullet nut just fall off from it's place and destroy my turbo.
Hope HKSUSA will give a better answer when they come back from SEMA

Loc-tite has failed, I wouldn't count on it.

So what do you recommend?

This what they said about HKS T04Z "Lock nut of shaft is counter clockwise for safety"

bump for answer.

hey chuck, how much did it cost you to rebuilt your t51r kai?

Just throwing one in the dark here, but is there a chance its compressor surge+inertia undoing the nuts?.... According to some of the papers on surge caused from the throttle plates being shut abruptly, it can momentarily stop the compressor wheel in its tracts, even from high shaft speeds...I have nver been driving with my head stuck under the hood with the air filter remove to see the effects of surge, however at a local turbo shop, I did see some T3's, K series, and some guys t04b with sheared shafts from surge..Max

Loc-tite has failed on what?

I guess it's all relative. $950 is pretty cheap compared to the $2000 HKS / Japan Garrett one. ;)

Chuck

My theory is that compressor surge causes it. During compressor surge, the compressor wheel is stopping but the nut still wants to spin. That bullet nut has higher rotational inertia than the regular small nut. That's why it came loose.

The regular nut should work just fine. Most turbo builders put lock-tite on the nut.

Chuck Huang