Where Do I Go From Here?

[AzzurrA]

Well, i've lunched the turbo on my RB20 on the way to work today...

It was the compressor blades that broke (not exhaust like normal) and there is fine metallic dust through the intake, and it appears to be on the tops of the pistons as well... Now, i found larger chunks of metal through the intake, i just don't know if any of those made it into the engine....

Now, the choices i have are:

Put another turbo on and hope for the best

Buy a wreckers engine and hope for the best

Get my current engine rebuilt

Now, there are pros and cons of each.....

Pros for putting another turbo on....

Cheapest option

Cons for putting another turbo on....

Could spend money/time putting it on only to find the engine is fubar, and be in exactly the same situation

Pros for buying a wreckers engine....

'relatively' cheap option

Cons for buying a wreckers engine....

don't know past history, it could have been thrashed, on the verge of death etc... could only last a month or 2 before it dies and then i'm back in exactly the same situation

Pros for rebuilding the engine....

Will be a brand new engine, you know exactly whats done to it, how its been treated, should last for years and years to come (i'm looking to keep the car for a fair while hopefully, as it owes me too much money to sell), the engine has 190000km on it anyway, so its just about due for a rebuild...

Cons for rebuilding the engine....

Is the most expensive option

What would you do in this situation?

Keep in mind that i need the car for work, but i could probably get away without it for a week or 2....

[Thunderbolt]

I very much doubt that your engine has sustained damage. Reason I say that is that any metal pieces would have to make their way through the intercooler before ending up in the engine. This alone would probably ensure that only the finest particles would end up in the engine. It is possible that the engine is damaged, but as you are going to have to replace the turbo anyway then I would do that first and then see what happens from there.

[Triskillion]

well said thunderbolt

[Guilt-Toy]

i would take all the piping out and the intercooler and even the inlet manifold and clean it all as much as you can that way if there is nothing in the intake to destroy your engine if its not allready destroyed if you put a new turbo on then your home free.

Last thing you want is having to put the turbo back on and it run great for 2 weeks then the engine spits it.... take the time and work out where your at first before inspecting the bank account for a rebuild.