so i recently picked up a 98 gsr motor with a turbo on it, and i noticed a bolt loose on the exhaust mani. so i took off the mani, turbo and whatnot, and a bit of water came out of the manifold. so i took it all apart, and found that when you look down into the turbo where the mani bolts to it, there was some water sitting in there and started to rust... is there any way to clean out the inside of a turbo without messing up the internals? i have some rust dissolver gel stuff, but im not so sure i want to put it inside my turbo.. i was just gonna use it to clean off the outside.. any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

Why would you want to clean it on the inside? Nobody is gonna see it and its cast iron anyways, plus its gonna rust anways, soot just covers it up. I'd look why there was water in there, if its a watercooled turbo is the CHRA cracked and letting water into the turbine side or if its just condensation.

 

wouldnt i have to worry about the rust messing with the turbine? and how can i tell if its water cooled? CHRA? im sorry im a bit of a newb in turbos... im reading the faq as quickly as possible.. but theres a lot to learn..

 

Post pictures of the turbo. Also, it may not be a bad idea to clean it AS LONG AS you do it the correct way. Generally rust isn't going to build up inside the turbine housing with enough mass to really worry about it. Surface rust is not a big deal.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wouldnt i have to worry about the rust messing with the turbine?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Nope... As if its watercooled, does it have hoses going on the sides (not oil hoses)? CHRA = Center Housing Rotating Assembly.

 

so here are some pics of what im talking about..
im pretty sure the water got in there from the exhaust manifold being loose


down the intake part of the turbo

the exhaust port


not sure what this is... coolant?

 

It's not watercooled, you can always take off the turbine housing and have it sandblasted...

 

Thats really rusty, shouldnt be an issue tho, besides it would most likely burn out when you hit boost.
I have a turbo from the late 80's (I think 87 as thats what its stamped) and its not nearly as rusty as that.

 

so if its not water cooled, whats cooling it? oil? is that what that pipe on the bottom is?.


once i clean the rusties off the outside, ill prolly be able to tell who makes it and what kind it is..

 

That is an oil cool turbo. And that pipe is your oil return line. On the other side is your oil feed line. Oil goes to the oil feed inlet on top of the turbo and exit down the bottom of the turbo as shown with that pipe. Than return the oil back into the oil pan.

 

so the silver an line goin in the top is the oil feed line... gotcha