Rebuilding a Turbo as preventive maintainance worthwhile?
 

Fellow Diesel Enthusiasts:
I hope I do not get in trouble for posting a non diesel question here, but I only trust my fellow Diesel Heads for advice.. This turbo is on my Volvo 940 1991 Turbo (Gas) with a 170,000 miles on it..I bought the car at 155K for $1200 with a bad engine which I rebuilt. Is it smart to rebuild the Turbo now, before it fails?
I am afraid if I wait too long, the coked bearings will ultimately lead to its demise. I dont want to buy a new one later, that would be $800.00 and it would mean I would be smarter to junk the car.
If i rebuild my present Turbo while its still living, i could buy one of those kits and do it for $300 or less...

Thank you, sorry again for a non diesel post
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/snow7ice/BENZ.html

Hmmm
 

Yes, if you plan to keep the car for 3 - 5 years.

Re: Rebuilding a Turbo as preventive maintainance worthwhile?
 

Which turbo is it? If you can get me a model/make, etc., I'll see if I can get parts locally. Complete rebuild parts for the Garrett cost me about $48. Worth doing if you want to keep the car and not destroy your rebuilt engine. Simple and easy to rebuild, NOT so easy to get on an off.

Yes, on a gas engine.... not until they fail on a MB Diesel... run cooler, very low failure rate...

TomJ
 

Don't you have to balance the impellers on an expensive machine?

Not sure which engine you have, but my 85 760 turbo, B230, 8 valve four cylinder, ran 309K before I sold it and the turbo always worked normally.

I'm curious, what was the reason for the need to rebuild your engine? Did you hear a rap coming from the engine? The reason I ask might astound you!

Re: TomJ
 

Why? The impellers were balanced at assy, so no reason to "re-balance" since no parts in the rotating assy are replaced, just bearings. Important thing though, mark the impeller and shaft before dis-assy so they go back together the same way!

The turbo's on the 740 and 940 series run rather hot. With the kind of mileage you have, you are probably due. Did you post a message at brickboard.com or turbobricks.com for this same question.

Sooty: I got 438K on my original 300D trans, but I got lucky. The heat generated from my water cooled 87 740 turbo cooked lots of things under the hood in under 135,000. It was totaled while parked so I didn't get a chance to see how long the turbo would last. I wasn't holding my breath.

I have a '90 760 turbo and yes they do run hot! If I had it torn down for an engine rebuild I would absolutely rebuild the turbo while it was off.

Of course for me... with a new engine... I would not want any "weak links" as the boost gauge climbed towards the red zone:D

Rap coming from the engine?
 

I'm curious, what was the reason for the need to rebuild your engine? Did you hear a rap coming from the engine? The reason I ask might astound you!

I should clarify this. I rebuilt the Head and had it ported when I planned to put in the Turbo Cam. When the better half wanted this car, I dropped my plans to put in the Cam.

Turbo Parts
 

Which turbo is it? If you can get me a model/make, etc., I'll see if I can get parts locally. Complete rebuild parts for the Garrett cost me about $48. Worth doing if you want to keep the car and not destroy your rebuilt engine. Simple and easy to rebuild, NOT so easy to get on an off.

If you can ID a supplier that would be great. A website would be greater!

Re: Turbo Parts
 

I have their card somewhere, will be going near the place in a while, down in Broomfield off Federal (outskirts of Denver.)

They deal in turbo parts, injection parts and industrial stuff.

Will try to post when I find the info.

Here's a website that has performance turbos... if you look around they also have parts and rebuild kits. http://www.forcedperformance.net/

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Follow that and you'll never go wrong

Right!...., Well..., at least until the turbo blows chunks and takes the engine with it.