What kind of things do I look for when I buy a turbo from somebody?
In particular, I’m looking at a td05 14b for my eclipse. I know of a few people with some for sale, but I don’t know what to look for.
Also, one turbo has some hairline cracks around the base of the turbine blades. Is this a problem? I would expect it to be.
Besides obvious defects like the hairline cracks or housing damage due to an out of whack shaft, there’s not really much to look for through a basic inspection. You can check the shaft for EXCESSIVE play, if the can wiggle the shaft and see that it is able to touch either side of the housings, you have too much play-this will result in slow throttle response and eventually self destruction of the turbo. The best thing is to have it inspested by a local Turbo-rebuild shop, if the seller allows you to.
Pretty much, try to buy one off of a newer car-100K miles is about the lifespan of a OEM turbo, anyway-unless it’s been really baby’d.
Only way I know all this is cause I had my Turbo inspected cause I suspected some bearing damage due to a Tow truck damaging my oil Feed. Just wanted to let you know, I’m not makin this stuff up;)