hey i am new to forced induction. a guy i know is selling me a D15B turbo with roughly 40K miles on it. is there anything i should look/listen/feel for when inspecting it, and test riding it in the civic its in. the only thing i can think of is shaft play. but it should not have any since the turbo is only 5K miles old i would imagine. any help would be great.

 

Typical stuff...just look for any major oil leakage, fluid leakage from the lines in and out of the turbo. Pay close attention to how the car feels. If you feel it breaking up or smoking like a freight train those should be red flags for you. Ask him if it has been tuned professionally or not. If not, just ask him how and by whom. Other than that just take an overall look at the install. If it looks shotty and unreliable, it most likely will be.

If you want, take some various pics and post them up. Also get the basic info like turbo type, and the manufacturer of various components and post it up.

 

i think i did this right i have never posted pictures before. here are some pics of the turbo and the engine setup. the turbo is a turbonetics T3/T3E. he did get it tuned professionally. and i think he is running about 210whp @ 8 psi.

 

the WG line is disturbing. hanging near the exhaust and using a "T" for boost control


is it tuned? thats the question i'd ask first. with that "boost controller" i would think not but?