Brought home 82 Turbo. Replaced wrong fuel pump relay, pump under car, car now starts! After a few minutes, car starts dumping oil smoke. Occasionally, it will actually blow smoke rings...it's like something out of an old Disney cartoon.
My gut feeling tells me this is due to turbo oil seals gone out. While doing some reading, had also seen discussion on this being caused by overpressure in crankcase, or restricted oil drain line. Has anyone ever seen these problems cause the symptoms described? Seems unlikely at best.
Also, car had been sitting for I don't know how long...last inspection was 2000, but found receipts dating a couple of years ago, so...?
Would like to know experiences on rebuilding turbos yourself (caught an article on turbobricks). Also, what sort of success in pulling junkyard turbos? I guess the main thing to look for in salvage yard turbos is remove the intake hose and check to make sure the impeller turns freely and the shaft doesn't appear to have too much play..and also check for oil in piping to throttle body as well, I'm thinkin.
I know of a reputable turbo rebuilder through which I can obtain a rebuilt unit for just under $400. Comes with a 12-mth/12k mile warranty. May end up going that route, but with new-to-me car, would like to see other bricksters experiences.

Thanks!

Drop your turbo, ship it to TurboCity in Southern California and request that they rebuild the turbo for you. They do the absolute best rebuilds on Turbos. totally professional and quality work. It will cost roughly $300-$350 to rebuild it. If it is non-water cooled, then ask them to convert it to a water cooled unit and go buy the necessary equipment from the dealer for a water cooled conversion. This includes a new water reservour and hoses. That's it. I typically drop my turbo every two to three years (whether it needs it or not) and send it to Turbo City for a rebuild. Change oil and filter every 3000 miles (or earlier if the oil is dirty), let the car warm up before taking off and let it idle for about 30 seconds to one minute before you shut it off and you will not have problems.

Before anyone asks. I consider a turbo a part that eventually will fail. However, you definitely don't want this sucker to fail on you when you are a long ways from home. So it is preventive maintenance for me. It is fairly easy to drop the turbo on a 240. I have had my turbo fail on me only once. This was when it was a non-water cooled version and was at about 70k miles. I bought the car in 1983 brand new and religiously changed the oil and obeyed the idle and warm up rules. I told myself that never again will this happen and it hasn't.

The great part is that it is your turbo, not some unit that you picked up from a wrecking yard. If I were to get one from a wrecking yard, I would immediately get it rebuild anyway. How do you really know it will last more than five minutes? And this is really a part that you don't want to fail anywhere. You can't get this fixed easily by repair shops, like for example an alternator. You are going to drop your turbo anyway to replace it, right? So, ship it off and get it rebuilt by a quality rebuilder. Turbo City (look it up on the web) is the one I have used for quite some time.

enjoy

Lawren
1983 244T (296k miles, black)
1995 850T5R (89k miles, black)
1970 Plymouth Baracuda (340 Cuda, in-violet purple)

Hello,

I would assume it's like any other junkyard part... I would be set up to install it right away to mkae sure it's good. Most junkers offer a 30-day guarantee of sorts.

The problem for me locally is most junkers pick the turbo's off the cars before they go into the pick 'n' pull section...


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Happy Bricking!!! - Richard - '87 245 DL , '82 242 GLT - Half a million km between them!!!

I got a factory rebuild Garrett for $50.00 for my son's 87/740. the turbo came off of a sab??. The car was total but the turbo was clean as a pin inside.
I guess it was luck wright time wright place.His old turbo smoked so bad that when we bought the car the guy wanted $1395.00 and we got it for $600.00
The next door Guy to the man we bought the car from came running out and said that he had a water hose (I laugh all the way home) That's the truth.
Rodney