I have a 1984 240 turbo station wagon with 185,000 miles on it. My turbo failed recently. I want to know if there is any danger in putting off replaceing or rebuilding the turbo for several months. Can it damage my engine or anything else? I would rather not spend the $800 - $1,000 (including the water cooled conversion) right now if I can help it.

Thanks,

Tom

Tom

best to determine if it seized or just blows oil like the other guys said.

take the intake tube off the front of turbo from the airbox and check the side play of the shaft. if it moves a lot then the bearings inside the turbo are shot.

you dont necessarily need to buy a new or rebuilt turbo.

I have a friend that put in a junkyard turbo that was good and had not shaft side play and he is running 13 psi reliably.

those can be had with manifold for $150 or so.

u could probably put it on yourself even.

message people, and place wanted ads if u want to go that route

I have never driven a 240 turbo with a shot turbo, but my valve cover leaked last night only under boost after changing the gasket the day before. it was a bear to drive, and it was very unsafe since it had no power @ all.

hope this helps

take care

luke

82 242Ti 164k miles

You don't need to spend 800-1000$. A good (I mean GOOD)rebuild shouldn't set you back more than 500! The others are correct. Don't keep driving unless it is siezed. Are the blades touching the sides of the housings? What are your symptoms?

I treat my turbo the same as any other item in my car that I know will fail eventually. I drop my turbo every two to three years and send it to Turbo City in Southern California for a rebuild. I've had a turbo blow on me while driving and I don't ever want that to happen again if I can help it. This is what I call preventive maintenance. The Turbo will eventually blow (no doubt about it), and if you are several hundred miles from the nearest volvo service center, you have a big problem. Alternators, etc. can be purchased mostly from pep boys, so if you are out of town it is no real problem. But a Turbo is.

Turbo City charges roughly $300.00 for a complete rebuild. If you can drop the turbo youself, give them (or any other competent turbo rebuild company) a call.

My Volvo service center now uses Turbo City (along with several dealers I know of). Why pay for a brand new (or rebuilt) turbo from a dealer at rediculous prices when you can get it done much cheaper.

Have fun.

You should probably be more specific when you say "failed". If you're talking compressor seals, then the oil will eventually cause problems. If the bearings have gone bye bye, then eventually the turbine or compressor vanes could break off and go shooting around in your engine or exhaust. If that happens on the compressor side, you'll be looking at a lot more than $1000 in repairs.

Do your own research on this first, but I bet you could rig up your wastegate to dump most of not all of the exhaust around the turbo instead of through it. If you did that, you'd have no power, but it might stave off the turbo replacement.

That depends on how it failed-is it seized or just blowing smoke? If the oil seals are gone, you will soon clog up your cat converter with all the oil being passed out the exhaust plus you risk damaging the engine by running low on oil. If it is seized, you will just have no power but should be OK til you can properly fix.