Gotta enlist the help of the 'xperts again...

When a turbo goes south, do you have to replace the whole damn thing or can one get away with just a new "center cartridge", whatever that is? How many hours of labor to do this job the right way? I'm thinking that the expense of having a shop do the work would be impractical on an old car, so I'm contemplating fixing it myself. How complicated is this? I'm hoping that it's as easy as undoing a couple of nuts 'n screws and swapping the old turbo for new, but it couldn't possibly be that simple. And least not with my luck anyway. ;-)

Rob read about the swap in Bentley.

The center cartridge is the guts. The moving parts. You slap the housing on, etc. Set the wastegate...typically not a huge deal BUT sometimes the whole thing doesn't line up and scraping/disaster happens at speed. I mean you'll know right away it the turbines are hitting when you assemble it. Happened to my neighbor. He has to remove material from the housing....but it all to together and it contacted at engine speed! But he was out only having to take the whole mess apart because he shut down at very first noise. I for this reason, the complexity factor and the fact you DON'T get a turbo waranty DO NOT recommend this route for you. People give me shit for this - so you don't have to listen to me.

What I do recommend is a Garret rebuilt turbo (or have your own rebuilt if not cracked) for under $500. Not too hard to swap turbos and you get a 12 month waranty as long as you replace the oil feed tube.

Allow your self a couple weeks of goofing around. I could do it easy over a weekend. But what's the rush? There are some parts that sorta present a hassle factor.

I recommend synthetic Amsoil motor oil to help that turbo last.

Paul I have removed three turbos form the manifold. Is there an easy way to remove the keeper from the four bolts that attach the turbo to the manifold. I took it off with a hammer and chisel. the bolts are 12 mm. but you must use a 12 point socket.

Bill D.

I just prise it off. It is not a re-use item, so destructive removal is not a problem. A new set of keepers are relatively inexpensive) Good thing I have 12 pts as well as 6 pts!! (but I thought the bolts are 13mm - I don't 'member)

Do you need those keepers?? What's the point?

I wanted to ask you, have you fixed that weird address and signiture problem on RWD? I still have to retype them every singe post!! Going slowly mad.

Rene

Well they work....those bolts are subject to tons of abuse and heat. Would be a complet bummer if one or more came loose.

The only way to fix the RWD problem is to delete all your cookies and start over. Jarrod recommended this and it worked great. He was fiddling around and us unlucky few who posted during this breif fiddling period got all hosed up.