Turbos

[bjpeters]

hi everyone, just a newbe question. i am looking into buy a turbo skyline but im not sure if it is going to be worth the hassle of having a turbo. i hear they need to be rebuilt every 60,000 kms costing 2grand, aren't good and overheat on long trips (which i frequently do) and if they do blow up the stuff the whole engine! are these things true? has any 1 had major issues with their turbos, or is a matter if you look after it right everyting will be good? what is a good amount of kms to buy a 2nd hand gts-t?

[TTT]

none of those things you've been told are true..

[FULOCK]

hi everyone, just a newbe question. i am looking into buy a turbo skyline but im not sure if it is going to be worth the hassle of having a turbo. i hear they need to be rebuilt every 60,000 kms costing 2grand, aren't good and overheat on long trips (which i frequently do) and if they do blow up the stuff the whole engine! are these things true? has any 1 had major issues with their turbos, or is a matter if you look after it right everyting will be good? what is a good amount of kms to buy a 2nd hand gts-t?

Mate!! all these people telling you turbo's overheat, and blowup and arent reliable etc. dont know how to treat a car!!!

My R31 skyline was a bolt on turbo setup with nice size cooler, 10psi making 165rwkw, I tuned it backin 2003 I think and it did not miss a beat for a good 5 years untill I sold it!!!!

I drove that car in 40 degree heat with a full car load goin for cruises, to the beach etc. 40 mins drives at a time.

- it did not overheat!

- it did not blow up

- it was very relible!!

do your service every 5000k's, make sure your cooling system is working correctly and you shouldn't have any problems at all....

If you do donuts for 10 or so mins straight..... any engine will overheat!!!!

[grandmasterb]

hi everyone, just a newbe question. i am looking into buy a turbo skyline but im not sure if it is going to be worth the hassle of having a turbo. i hear they need to be rebuilt every 60,000 kms costing 2grand, aren't good and overheat on long trips (which i frequently do) and if they do blow up the stuff the whole engine! are these things true? has any 1 had major issues with their turbos, or is a matter if you look after it right everyting will be good? what is a good amount of kms to buy a 2nd hand gts-t?

with friends like these who needs enemies...

Best piece of advice anyone can give you is dont rush into buying the first car you see, get it checked out and spend sometime looking at EVERYTHING for yourself. If you are in over your head then get the help from a professional (mechanic or friend) and be prepared to spend a little money doing so.

My 2cents is id rather spend $100-200 on a car to find any minor/major problems first than take a punt and having it end up costing you $$$$$$$$$

[GTR-32U]

when I bought my Skyline I knew the HKS turbo was on its way out so I got it a little cheaper.However that turbo lasted almost 2 yrs before the telltale waft of smoke while sitting at the lights.I had it fully rebuilt for just under a grand..ran beautiful...Just make sure oil changes are regular and you will have years of trouble free motoring.Dont believe all that crap that you have been told

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

My 33gtst has just ticked over the 100000 (and the rest ) and is still on the stock turbo which has had 10 pounds of hard abuse shoved down her throat for 4 years. And i still havent blown... Wait, am i still even talking bout cars here?

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

Also i drove her from melbourne to sydney and back and no probs at all.

[vinnie32GTS4]

just a quick question are your mates who told you this all into V8s???

[HackerX]

My R34 GTT has:

Done the trip from Brisbane to Sydney in a day. No issues. Just spent a minute longer cooling down the engine before switching it off.

Plenty of >3hour trips.

Does 2 >1hour trips on a daily basis. Hasn't missed a beat.

Use decent oils and regular maintenance and these cars will out last most cars on the road.

[Simmo1985]

Skyline's aren't a cheap car to run by any means.. Maintenance, insurance and running costs are all higher than normal every day cars. If cheap motoring is what you're after look elsewhere. Having said that, Skyline's will be reliable if you look after them as said previously.

The stuff that you've posted is an absolute load of crap. Maybe that sort of stuff is true if you are using your car for drags / track / drift events twice a week, lol.

Over-heating on long trips lol..

[adam-__-]

just a quick question are your mates who told you this all into V8s???

LOL I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

Like everyone else has said mate, it's a load of shit. If you take care of the car, it'll last.

[redevil]

yeah mate i agree with everyone else here... provided you service them and get a reliable mechanic to do so and check over the car at the same time you won't have really any problems....

[TTT]

I see what's happened here..

Your mates have obviously confused the word TURBO with the word ROTARY.

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

vp ss's uleh

[writeoff]

One thing people haven't mentioned here is that boost levels can effect the lifespan of the turbo. Standard ceramic wheeled GTR turbos (non R34 N1) shouldn't be boosted above 15psi or 1 Bar (although there are plenty of people who have and haven't had any problems... yet). I don't know about GTS-T turbos but I imagine they have a common boost break point as well.

[Simmo1985]

I see what's happened here..

Your mates have obviously confused the word TURBO with the word ROTARY.

I was thinking the same thing haha.

[DRD-00F]

Safe GTS-T boost level is about 12psi... I keep mine at around 10 for safety reasons (overboosting on cold nights etc)

[dmr]

Use decent oils and regular maintenance and these cars will out last most cars on the road.

i agree with this wholly. skylines are made to cop a belting and will ask for more. you just have to keep high maintenance.

make sure you keep everything under/at it's limits and the car with run fine under most if not all conditions and situations..

eg: if you've got a stock fuel system and bolt on a huge turbo without a tune, you will come across problems eventually. you have to mod everything in consideration. if you go for a long drive you should make sure your turbo cools down before switching the car off. this site is a huge resource for that sort of stuff!

as DRD-00F said, GTS-t's are safe at 12psi. make sure you have an aftermarket boost guage to monitor this.

hope that helps!

Edited December 12, 2007 by dmr

[Gazzilla]

My 33gtst has just ticked over the 100000 (and the rest ) and is still on the stock turbo which has had 10 pounds of hard abuse shoved down her throat for 4 years. And i still havent blown... Wait, am i still even talking bout cars here?

hahaha... hamish u crack me up!

[zebra]

I see what's happened here..

Your mates have obviously confused the word TURBO with the word ROTARY.

I beg to Differ.

My old Series 3 Rx7 had 230,000ks on the original motor....never missed a beat.

Even drove it from Melb to the Gold Coast In December and Ran beatifully

Look after any car and you wont have any worries with it.

Preventative mantinence. Making sure nothing can go wrong is a lot easier than fixing somthing when it does.