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When Turbos Go Bang

shenronR33

By shenronR33,
in Western Australia

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Leadfoot Enthusiast

Leadfoot

Posted
Posted

I can vouch for 25GTT's advice.

Just blew my turbo. Turbo was never run any higher than 11psi.

I run a 4 stage Blitz electronic boost control setup with no boost spike.

Also run a HKS exhaust gas temperature guage with an alarm at 800 deg C to make sure mixture never goes lean.

My turbo now makes a horrible noise (very loud squeel when spooling above say quarter throttle) and is noticably noisey even at idle.

Strange thing is there is no white smoke from a blown seal. Has anyone else had this? Have I just done the bearing in and the blades are still intact?

Question to 25GTT

Very interesting that you have blown so many hiflows and that they dont like going above 16psi. Any ideas why? What happens to the turbo? As the highflow has steel wheels is it the bearing that fails?

Would be very keen to know of your experience as I am now looking for a new turbo.

Cheers

OK as Links said, I would NOT advise going over 12psi, 14psi is too much, WHY? 33gtst have a ceramic wheel in the turbo, great for low spool due to how light it is however it cracks and shatters under heat.. NO a turbo timer will not resolve the issue. Its when its at full boost etc when it gets too hot and out the exhaust pipe it goes.

In summer I would not go anywhere over 10psi, i have been through enough turbos now to advise you of this.

mine still went at 11psi from standard wheels, so now have high flows, I am now on my third high flow and i recommend not taking high flows over 16psi... sure i can put it up to 22psi but it dont last long! a general highflow of the standard turbo i would not take over 16. remember 4psi from a high flowed turbo is more than 4 psi from a standard turbo.

I have generaly paid about $1000 for my highflows. I love highflows, still the same low spool due to the same housings etc and a nice bit of boost.

By the way shenron i saw you on the freeway tonight, i was in my 1979 laser at the time so not noticable.

Before you get intercooler I would do ecu or SAFC to get air fuel mixtures sorted PLUS a dump and down pipe from your standard turbo, i managed to putt 290rwhp off standard turbo which back in the day was quite good....until it blew :-(*

25GTT Veteran

25GTT

Posted
Posted

Leadfoot-

I honestly think the last high flows werent as strong or well made, the shop is well known and the guy is actually really really good answered all my questions and really helped me.

So the first turbo went (standard) at quite a low number of psi id say due to age plus it may have been boosted before i picked up the car... hard to tell as it may have been using one of those little t pipes you put in, small mod to raise boost.

Got the first high flow rebuilt, the mechanic who tuned it was fine as well running at about 17psi lasted about 10 months then bang.

went to the same turbo place and the redid it for me very cheap as they new the mechanic who was tuning it and had no prbs, once again actually THE DAY BEFORE AUTO SALON as gtst vspec can tell you! the second one made a sound similar to yours kinda like the crowd at the fireworks Woooooooooooooooo each time i hit boost.

I then got gtstvspec to take it to turbo tech for me, have had this one for quite some time now and *touch wood* works well. runs no more than 16psi which is making 340rwhp which i think is great as a daily driver. Once you have found a good highflow they are AWESOME, i have been in many aftermarket turbod skylines and i really think there is no better bang for buck substitute, sure a GT30 with ext wastegate is something that wet dreams are made of but the price isnt.

I really have no exact reason why the last ones went only to say that i changed the workshop and this one has last the longest, maybe the balancing of the turbine wheels or maybe they just dont like going over 16psi? whatever that wooooooooo sound as though it wasnt good!

just keep in mind that i high flow on 12 psi will gain higher yields than a stock turbo on 12psi due to the larger sizes of the wheels inside.

Leadfoot Enthusiast

Leadfoot

Posted
Posted

Thats it. The wooooooooooo sound.

Oh well. Time to rebuild the turbo.

Sounds like bearing damage due to unbalanced shaft assembly due to loss of blades.

Once I inspect it I may know more.

Thanks for the info.

Leadfoot-

I really have no exact reason why the last ones went only to say that i changed the workshop and this one has last the longest, maybe the balancing of the turbine wheels or maybe they just dont like going over 16psi? whatever that wooooooooo sound as though it wasnt good!

mitchy_ Grand Master

mitchy_

Posted
Posted

my rb25 turbo sat on about 10psi until i bought it, then ive had it at 13psi for ~3 years, and it seemed to have died when my engine did, co-incidence, or something going through it im not sure.

it still boosted fine (albeit i turned it down to 10psi) but at full boost in 3rd/4th, it liked to blow a nice big puff of white smoke, as anyone who was at the sauwa drag night can vouch for. :P

bubba Grand Master

bubba

Posted
Posted

I would say the one with bars is electronic (like the apexi one that is also a boost controller) and most needle gauges are mechanical. I have a mechanical Autometer gauge and an electronic readout on my boost controller. Any known gauge brand item would be fine :)

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