What's the experience by Brickboarders with turbocharger longevity? How long can they last? I have a '90 765T, (Mitsubishi TD04) turbo with 162K miles. I've changed oil and filter at 3K intervals and idle after high-speed runs prior to shutting engine off. Turbo vane show little or no wobble, and only a little spooge-oil (tablespoon?) emits from intercooler drain when checked. I'm trimming the car fleet and need to decide whether to sell the 765T or 244, taking into account future maintenance issues like a turbo replacement ($$$). thanks for any feedback,
chris in vermont

203+k on the original on my '91 ... still fine. Previous owner was religious on maintenance (2500-4k oil change intervals), and replacement parts were OEM stuff.

I've been running Mobil 1 ... 3k filter changes, 6k oil changes. Lab results suggested I could even go longer, but for ease, I stuck at round intervals.

-- Kane ... who's being lazy, and still haven't changed the clutch yet. It's still original. :)
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Blossom II - '91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles - '74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup - '86 245GL/AW70 ... The Wayback Machine - '64 P220/M40

Hi Chris,

It sounds like you have treated your turbo well. I would say that it's most likely in good shape and probably has lots of life left in it. No one can say for sure though.....My '91 745T has the Mitsu TD05 and as far as my mechanic and I can tell, it's original. I bought the car with about 241K km (~150K mi) on the odo and it now has just over 286K km (~179K mi) on it. I don't think the previous owners took very good care of it as the records show inconsistant oil changes and the engine showed signs of that when I bought it. My mechanic rebuilt the engine for me at just over 260K km (due to leaks and bad piston slap) and at the time all we did to the turbo was clean it and adjust the wastegate (had sagged over time/heat). My mechanic turned up the boost a little (maybe 1-2 psi over stock) and bolted the turbo to the fresh engine. I switched the engine to synthetic oil (Amsoil) about 7K km later so the trubo had it's first taste of synthetic oil after about 268K km with no complications. So anyway, my point is that my turbo still appears to be doing well with more mileage then your's and it probably hasn't been as well taken care of as your's (until I bought it). So hopefully that's a sign that your's has lots of time left. But, as I said before, there's no real way of knowing for sure, but it should last a lot longer with that kind of care. I'd pick the car out of the two that you like the most and keep that. Personally, I'm partial to the 700/900 series, but that's my preference, the 200s are certainly good cars. I hope this helps!
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '91 745Ti, 286K km and '91 745 NA, 358K km.

I sorry, my Volvo has the TD04 like your's. I got a little confused for a second. Yeah, so it's the same turbo.
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Chris. Halifax N.S. '91 745Ti, 286K km and '91 745 NA, 358K km.

My 87 745 with the Mitsu turbo is still going with Almost 360,000. I did however do a seal replacement a couple years ago. I use Shell Rotella 15-40 and change between 3000-3500 mi. If the original engine hadn't had so much blowby I think it would have never needed the seal job. Crankcase pressure forced oil past the seal, coked up, forced the heat shield into the turbine wheel and began to sing. Probably should have replaced those parts but it's going just fine. Maybe at 400,000 I'll replace the center section?

My 87 745T original turbo which also had 3,000 mile dino oil changes seized at 247,000 miles.

Also the cost of my new Mitsu Turbo from the dealer was $674.00. List was $749.00 minus my 10% discount came to $674.00.