HI all.

Just talked with my mechanic. He says due to the blue smoke,The turbo compressor mabe onit's way out. The price to replace is something like 1500.00. Way too much for me right now. I might as well get the damn thing rebuilt. Or is what htey are going to do anyway? I will know more when calls back. Any other ideas? I know that price includes the labor of taking the turbo off. Maybe i could do this myself. I mean i have never done something like this myself but if it would save me some money then I am going to need some help from anyone on the BB. I am in Chicago so anyone that lives in the area. Please shoot me an email. Iam going to need all the help i can get. What have i got myself into buying the Turbo!!!!? Too late for "if i could of,would of, should of" at this point. Thanks.

Hi,

Changing a turbo is not that big of a job. Rebuilt turbos for your car are around 400 bucks canadian here with a rebuildable core. I suspect you could do the removal/install yourself in a few hours with basic tools. A couple of points, from experience: Get your exhaust manifold planed when you do the job-I didn't and the manifold leaked shortly afterwards-just do it right the first time. It should be fairly cheap, and the place that rebuilds your turbo can do it. Also, replace the manifold studs and bolts with new ones, preferably from Volvo. Of course you should replace all gaskets as well. Just about any mechanic that replaces your turbo will be using a rebuild anyway, so save yourself a grand and do the job yourself.


Good luck,

Jeremy

First, I'd look carefully at turbo removal. Things like getting PB Blaster on some of the nuts and ordering the O-ring(O-ringS: buy several) for the return pipe, etc. The rest of it is pretty basic. A pain in the butt, but basic.

Actually, I'd rather pop out a turbo than fix unwound 240 windshield wiper cables like I had to do last night.

It does sound like the turbo is going bad, obviously the seals. If it isn't smoking too badly, you can still drive it and get an idea together of parts you'll need, and where you're going to have it rebuilt, etc. Then when it comes time you'll be geared up for having it replaced. If it's blowing tons of smoke, though, I wouldn't really drive it.

Make sure you have some good box end wrenches and a few sizes of ratchet with extensions and 6pt sockets. A little variety makes it easy. I think I've used a little 3/8" drive non-ratcheting handle for some of the reaches because it has a really low profile. They're inexpensive at Sears, and anyway, any excuse to buy new tools is a good one.


--
Chris Herbst, near Chicago.

$1500? Try $350 plus an hour of work, which is what it took me to remove, send out for rebuild, and reinstall the compressor on my kid's 940. See the FAQ for instructions.

I vote for either having your professionally rebuilt and balanced or buying a rebuilt unit - either way you do the removal and install. Under $500 total.
--
www.fidalgo.net/~brook4