How Do You Clean A Turbo?

[wlspn]

Not sure if I'm posting in the right section here but anyway, I have recently purchased a secondhand R33 GCG hi-flow for my Skyline, but on close inspection have noticed there is a bit of dust & crap inside it. How could I go about cleaning it? Was going to blast it out with a solvent gun, dry it with air then squirt some oil in it but am still worried about drying out the bearings & having them fail or something silly like that. Any advice?

[SECURITY]

you can blow some air through it and it'll be fine.

you can also take the front housing off. its only 6 bolts and it comes right off. that way you can clean it properly and get rid of any big chunks of engine destroying debris.

i recommend marking with a pencil or something where the housing lines up with the cartridge so you dont have any problems with it lining back up when you put it back together.

[wlspn]

Its all oily & dust has stuck to oil so wont just blow off. The compressor wheel is clean, it is the turbine housing. So there is no seals I can damage? Thanks mate

[ULOOOK]

I used degreaser, then water than water than compressed air. Looks like new.

[SECURITY]

Its all oily & dust has stuck to oil so wont just blow off. The compressor wheel is clean, it is the turbine housing. So there is no seals I can damage? Thanks mate

there are no seals you can damage from outside the turbo mate.

were the cartridge bolt-holes exposed? if they were you will need to clean them too otherwise you'll get crap around your bearings, oil and water system.

[wlspn]

Is the rear housing as easy to take off?

[SECURITY]

on a FRESHLY built turbo it is. if its not a fresh rebuild it will more than likely be a complete bitch to get off.

when i was taking my blown turbo apart, i had to clamp the housing down then get a hammer and smack the cartridge with it till it came off. it took a fair bit of force too. i really dont recommend doing that to a turbo you're going to use as rebuilt turbos use a new cartridge anyway.

undo the bolts on it and see if it will come off is the only advice i can offer you.

[psi]

a bit of WD40 and leave a couple of days!

Clean the blades with a can of $2 supercheap degreaser!

for a really serious clean, grab your girls toothbrush! DONT BE ROUGH with it! the turbo that is!

[EVL-R33]

as above, WD40 and/or some $2 degreaser does the job well.. cleaned my old 33 turbo with these and it came out like new..

[tridentt150v]

Aerosol degreaser is usually only kerosene anyway, and kerosene [paraffin to the USA] is the cleaner of choice for a lot of mechanical parts, plus it washes up in water.

Have a look on the can and see what it is made of.

[WAN73D]

as above, WD40 and/or some $2 degreaser does the job well.. cleaned my old 33 turbo with these and it came out like new..

hey mate

so did you actually pull off the compressor section to do this or just spray in there??? could it leave a residue if u just spray in there??

i too want to clean a turbo but not very confident in unbolting the compressor cover

[EVL-R33]

hey mate

so did you actually pull off the compressor section to do this or just spray in there??? could it leave a residue if u just spray in there??

i too want to clean a turbo but not very confident in unbolting the compressor cover

i removed the front and rear housing to make sure no residue is left inside when blowing air around.. unfortunately, as mentioned above in this thread, it IS a PAIN in the ass to remove the rear housing, so BE CAREFUL when unbolting not to damage anything..

Edited June 13, 2007 by EVL-R33