Replace Turbo

[drumwagon]

Hey guys,

Just hit 240000kms and need to replace my turbo. (VQ25DET)

I've enjoyed my Stagea for 7 years now and I'm not that keen to get rid of her just yet or spend mega $$$

I'm located in Sydney, does anyone have and recommendations or has been down this road? 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

[GTSBoy]

These things have a weaksauce exhaust housing that's unique to the VQs.  There aren't too many easy upgrades.  I'm sure that Hypergear (Melbourne) would be able to make it new & better for you.  You could probably get it rebuilt in Sydney too, but given the usual suspects in Syd, I'd still talk to Hypergear first.

[KiwiRS4T]

4 hours ago, drumwagon said:

Hey guys,

Just hit 240000kms and need to replace my turbo. (VQ25DET)

I've enjoyed my Stagea for 7 years now and I'm not that keen to get rid of her just yet or spend mega $$$

I'm located in Sydney, does anyone have and recommendations or has been down this road? 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Its getting the turbo off without removing the engine. Can be done ...have a search there are a few tips  (no I haven't done it).

[admS15]

Its getting the turbo off without removing the engine. Can be done ...have a search there are a few tips  (no I haven't done it).

Yes, it can be done. Not the easiest of turbo removals. Need to unbolt gearbox cross member, disconnect shifter and lower box to gain access to dump pipe bolts. You will need some long extensions and swivel joints to reach in. For me, getting the heat shield off the turbo to gain access to the flange bolts was a bastard. I cut down a 10mm socket and welded it onto a small spanner to get the last nut off the shield.

Just about every bolt is a prick to undo and remove. Everything is accessible, just. You have to get a bit crafty with extensions. One good cheat is too use brake hose clamps on the rubber coolant hoses going into the turbo, this allows you to not have to drain the coolant.

As far as turbo rebuilding or highflowing, you can talk to Scotty's customs or hypergear. They both have good options.

To get a mechanic to remove and replace, you're probably looking at around 700 to 1200 in labour alone.

[drumwagon]

Thanks admS15 (and everyone else)

I'm pretty bummed out, My mechanic has told me to have a good think about (I'm not set up at the moment to do it myself and realistcally I'm only good with old cars) at 240000kms I probably need to change the gearbox and I'm pretty sure I need new front CV shafts too. Looks like this is going to be much more expensive exercise than I anticipated or another Stagea! Such a shame It's been such a good car. I'm probably looking at a few grand at least to keep it right?

[admS15]

Is the turbo definitely gone? Does it still boost. Is it making funny noises?

I dont see any reason to replace a transmission if it's not presenting any problems, just give it a service and should be good for another 50k km.

[GTofuS-T]

Yea, sounds like you want to replace due to an arbitrary number?

[drumwagon]

Thanks guys, another 50000kms would be nice!

No funny noises, (using a bit of oil and apparently leaking oil from the backplate of turbo)

Car struggles completely with power up hills. (cans till manually swift back gears but doesn't get the car moving) 

Boost guage has never really worked so that's not telling anything, engine light although usually alway on funnily enough was at the time. (engine is no back on again)

Have recently changed Cam sensors, oxygen sensor, coil pack etc, had a pretty crap summer with almost overheating up hill on every over 30 degree day.

Having said all that I'd probably to change the AFM and replace turbo if that solved most of my issues.

Is there someone in Sydney, how's pretty good with the m35 turbos?

 Cheers

[admS15]

Sounds like the turbo is still ok to me. If it was gone, it would a) be making horrible grinding noises b) turbine wheel snapped off and consequently car would have no power at all.

If the car still pulls then the turbo is not your problem. Overheating does not sound good, is that going off the stock temp gauge? I would be checking the thermostat and replacing the radiator. 

You said engine light was on? Did you get the codes read? 

Here is how you can read the error codes. 

 

[drumwagon]

Thanks again adms15,

No unusual noises, but definitely no pull, I'll check the error code out tonight.

Cheers

 

[admS15]

Does the turbo still spool? If not, could be a broken off turbine. If this is the case it will be very very very sluggish.

[drumwagon]

Super sluggish, turbo not spooling, once I hit a hit a hill I'm slowing down dramatically, even shifting right down to first doesn't do much.

Tried the ECU fault code method without a reader and it didn't work. However the interesting this is the engine light didn't come back on for quite few days after the problem occurred. 

The car has been suffering violent engine shuttering when you put you foot for some time.

As I mentioned I have recently changed Cam sensors, oxygen sensor, coil pack etc.

I spoke to Hypergear a turbo service/overhaul is around $1250, is that the typical going rate?

Edited March 15, 2018 by drumwagon

[admS15]

Sounds like the turbo is toast. Yes that is the going rate for a ball bearing highflow. If i was you i would go for the smallest one to work with oem ecu otherwise you will need to spend a heap of more cash on engine management and supporting mods.

The fault code procedure does work but the timing needs to be spot on, use of a stopwatch helps, it took me ages to get it to work the first time. If the engine light is now off, it's unlikely that a code will still show up, may or may not. If you replaced all those sensors and the light has not come back on since, then all is well in that department. If the light is still coming on, then you really need to read the code and figure out what is triggering it.

To replace that turbo will cost you around  $2000-$2500 parts and labour including turbo. Unfortunately im not sure which shops in Sydney have experience with vq25 stags, hopefully someone else can chime in a point you in the right direction. 

When i was in your position, i managed to find a good second hand oem turbo and used that. I did the labour myself, cost me $400 all up with new braided oil feed and dump and flange gaskets. 2nd hand turbos are like the lottery, on that occasion i won, it's travelled 20k km since and is still going strong and relatively quiet for a stock vq turbo. If it goes again i will be going for a small high flow for sure.

[karter]

Try Precision Turbos at Wetherill Park - I think Dale ran one - not sure if they do the install.  Ours died at about 245k and we decided on the Intense Billet - Scott did the install in Melbourne.  Very happy with it.

[drumwagon]

Okay so I've had another go tonight with the ECU fault codes and it's coming up with 1136 which I think relates to Intake Valve Timing Control.

Could this be related to my troubles? 

I noticed my turbo gauge (which almost never works) moved for about a second yesterday so I haven't given up hope just yet!

I've reset the codes so let's see what happens in the morning...

Any advice on the topic would be appreciated :-)

Although my car has been absolutely terrific with close to no problems in the last seven years I'm clutching at straws now as I don't really get rid of it because I love it so much but I don't know if I can justify spending much on it as 240000km Stagea is probably worth next to nothing. 

By the way all you guys have been awesome!!!!

[Jetwreck]

Haven' t been here in a while. Whats the latest quotes in Sydney for turbo changes.

[KiwiRS4T]

On 3/16/2018 at 1:19 AM, drumwagon said:

I noticed my turbo gauge (which almost never works) moved for about a second yesterday so I haven't given up hope just yet!

I'

 

Try to borrow (or even buy) a mechanical boost gauge and run the pipe through your window or door to check if you are actually making boost.