GimpyAccord

Turbo is a Precision SC5031E, purchased in December and it has about 3200 miles on it.

Before I begin, I'd just like to say that (not that it matters) I run this turbo at 7psi, and most of the time I'm just cruising in my car. It's my dd and I honestly don't beat on it too much.

I was just cruising around today, got on it.. and suddenly I wasn't making boost anymore. I pulled over to the side of the road, and I heard what sounded like an exhaust leak (assumed my WG had failed or something) and saw this:






I've seen a lot of turbochargers fail, but never like this. I inspect my engine bay regularly and I saw no warning signs. As you can see, most of the bolts SHEERED off (both of the clamp/bands are AWOL). The only bolt that doesnt appear to have sheered off is the bottom. It's still sitting there at the proper height for the clamps.

I was out in the middle of nowhere, and used some safety wire (ugh) to put hold the center section into the exhaust housing long enough to get me home.

Anyone have any ideas? Also, this is probobly a STUPID question but do you think Precision will stand behind any of this? As I've said, never seen a turbo fail like this... operationally it was fine. The only thing I can think is it sheered to the the hotside charge pipe, but those are on a-typical silicone couplers + tbolts... it has flex. I also have motor mount inserts, thus elimination most engine movement.

g2turbo

send this link to precision tommorrow or call them. They will take care of you Im sure.


Did the bolt actually break off or completely back out?
How many bolts total hold the center section to the turbine housing? My PT has 4 holding it.

Turbogixxer

I have had this happen on a precision turbo, but we found it out before a lot damage was done. Precision left the bolts loose and the kid that installed it never checked them (he said he never clocked the turbo). Precision warrantied it, but it told a lot of convincing.

Best thing is to do is call precision and send it in.

GimpyAccord

It appears to be 6 holding it to the housing, 5 of them snapped/sheared and one is left (still there). I can't see a couple on the backside but I assume they also sheared.

I DID clock the turbo, but I swear on my fathers grave I tightened them. I didn't CRANK them down either, just a nice solid tug like I have on my other 3-4 turbochargers. I would guess around 20-25 ft lbs (which seemed resonable for a 7 ish mm bolt)

I planned on calling PTE tomorrow and seeing what they said. Also sent a PM to the dealer who sold me the turbocharger. This is my daily driver / only "running" car right now... so talk about a kick in the *****.

Obviously I'm adult/man enough not to sit here and bash PTE. That gets you nowhere fast, and no closer to a resolution. So hope to nip that in the bud

Joseph Davis

Holy ****, Andrew, that sucks.

B18C1CYA

I would call precision and let them know about this , I have seen this b4 on there turbos , but there customer service is , but sense it is your DD might be faster to take it off and go to a machine shop and have them fix it for you ,

THEDirtyDseriesWOOT

did you use the bolts that came with it...

ive seen this happen on antoher my buddys sc61 but he caught it in time not to tear the turbine up.

GimpyAccord

Yep, used the same bolts that came with it.

I believe some housing contact has occured, but I haven't had the turbo off yet to confirm.

I'm attempting to locate a stock/whatever header around me so I can remove the turbo this weekend.

eg crunkmonster

I tore up my compressor wheel like that with only less than 1000 miles on it. I got tuned, went home, drove it around a few days then i noticed no boost, looked at the turbo and was like expletive . i notice that "c" clip and the bolts were missing, i guess i forgot to tighten it back up.



luckily, i called precision, and yes their customer service is great, and sent it in. they called me when it got there and told me the bill. surprisingly it was only ~$210ish with return shipping to replace the compressor wheel and put in new bearings (they said they might as well change it, plus it was like $30? if i remember correctly to change them)

so take off the turbo and see if its messed up.

SCRev

Ask for a refund and then go get a turbonetics turbo.

KooK

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SCRev &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ask for a refund and then go get a turbonetics turbo. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Eh, I've had a Turbonetics turbo, nothing really went wrong, but they kind of fail to impress me. Personally I'd still rather have a Precision over a Turbonetics.

Joseph Davis

So running the exact same Garrett internals with a different turbine casting really makes such a huge difference in performance?

That's nice.

Finland

looks like heat killed those bolts. I would look at EGTs just to make sure you're not burning fuel in the manifold (due to excessive retard) for some reason just as a sanity check. Just go get some good quality replacement ones..and put it back together.

KooK

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Joseph Davis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So running the exact same Garrett internals with a different turbine casting really makes such a huge difference in performance?

That's nice.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Hell no, it's the name itself that gives you more power.

Alright, if Turbonetics and Garrett are the same thing, then find me the Turbo that matches the specs of my compressor wheel (Should be easy to come up with).

Turbonetics 62-1 TO4B:
Id compressor : 2.441" - 62mm
Ex compressor : 3" - 76.2mm

Which is weird because, I can't find a Turbo on Garretts site with these same compressor wheel specs. The closest I can come up with is...

Garrett GT3582R:
Id compressor : 2.419" - 61.4mm
Ex compressor : 3.231" - 82.0mm

Or

Garrett GT4088R:
Id compressor : 2.502" - 63.5mm
Ex compressor : 3.467" - 88.0mm

Or lets go to Precisions site here...

Closest they make also is:

Id compressor : 2.416" - 61mm
Ex compressor : 3.227" - 82mm

Or

Id compressor : 2.476" - 63mm
Ex compressor : 3.310" - 84mm

That is, unless when you're talking about Internals, you're saying the shaft housing, which I can't really disprove that in any way; nor can I understand relevance when talking about flow charts in the given situation.

Information provide in part by :
http://www.turbobygarrett.com/....html (Official Garrett site)
http://64.225.76.178/catalog/t60.html (Direct link from Turbonetics site)
http://www.precisionturbo.net/...s.php (Precisions site)

Sorry to get off topic.


Modified by KooK at 11:19 AM 4/19/2007

agrn93ls

FIRST OFF dont label that a turbo failure thats like sayin your damn wheels are defective if the lug nuts came loose. ( gives people the impression that was the turbo's fault ).

the bolts either vibrated out or broke. one of my bolts broke i replaced it.

that is a bolt failure or incorrect tightening/maintenance. remember that area easily sees 1000 degrees+ metal expands and contracts and can loosen things. its up to you to keep them tight.

dont get me wrong i feel your pain but the "turbo" didnt fail

PTE Harry

Looks like a heat / vibration /bolt problem. It looks kinda strange, but I have seen it before even on old Garrett Diesel applications . If you purchased this just last December, it will more than likely be repaired under warranty. Typically we would use a replacement bolt that is less sensitative to harmonics and it fixes the problem. I do not think this is anything you could have done wrong.

Regards
Harry Hruska

GimpyAccord

agrn93ls, That's fine and I can somewhat understand that. I'll play the semantics game with you and say "these 5 bolts failed".

HOWEVER I've owned about 10-15 different "aftermarket" turbochargers over the years and this has never happened to me. I've never had to check the tightness of the center cartridge -&gt; turbine housing bolts on any sort of regular basis. I will also admit that 98% of those turbos I've owned were on DSM's, very different cars. I also don't recall tightening of these bolts as regular maint. on vehicles like SVO Mustangs, TurboCoupe's and every other bolt+band coupled turbocharger equiped car I can think of.

I concur, its a HOT area!!! The car also regularly sees 8500+ RPM when I'm feeling frisky (it has the valve train, why the heck not?). Timings pretty solid, running 16* BTDC base and about 23ish degrees @ 7psi.

Once again, loud and clear... I don't think PTE sold me junk, sells junk or anything else you usually see on this site when something breaks.

---

PTE Harry, thanks for the reply. I'm out of town on business now, but I'll be calling tomorrow and figuring out the return/RMA process with PTE. I'd welcome a bolt that resists harmonics/vibration

The turbo was purchased December 14th from Rogue Works, and ... not that it matters wasn't ran until I'd say Feb 1st. I know this because my woman left me, and I had to get this car running ... since she took off with the beater.

BUT, alas I'll call tomorrow

agrn93ls

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GimpyAccord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">agrn93ls, That's fine and I can somewhat understand that. I'll play the semantics game with you and say "these 5 bolts failed".

HOWEVER I've owned about 10-15 different "aftermarket" turbochargers over the years and this has never happened to me. I've never had to check the tightness of the center cartridge -&gt; turbine housing bolts on any sort of regular basis. I will also admit that 98% of those turbos I've owned were on DSM's, very different cars. I also don't recall tightening of these bolts as regular maint. on vehicles like SVO Mustangs, TurboCoupe's and every other bolt+band coupled turbocharger equiped car I can think of.

I concur, its a HOT area!!! The car also regularly sees 8500+ RPM when I'm feeling frisky (it has the valve train, why the heck not?). Timings pretty solid, running 16* BTDC base and about 23ish degrees @ 7psi.

Once again, loud and clear... I don't think PTE sold me junk, sells junk or anything else you usually see on this site when something breaks.

---

PTE Harry, thanks for the reply. I'm out of town on business now, but I'll be calling tomorrow and figuring out the return/RMA process with PTE. I'd welcome a bolt that resists harmonics/vibration

The turbo was purchased December 14th from Rogue Works, and ... not that it matters wasn't ran until I'd say Feb 1st. I know this because my woman left me, and I had to get this car running ... since she took off with the beater.

BUT, alas I'll call tomorrow </TD></TR></TABLE>


only reason i said anything is i read "turbo failure" and the pic shows "bolt failure" and some people seeing that wont realize the difference. i know you werent bad mouthing but like i said some people dont read between the lines.


i also completely agree with you. goin back over this i started thinking more about the life expectancy that there should be of those bolts. if they broke thats one thing but if they came loose thats not really the turbo's fault. that was my point. one of my bolts on my turbo broke, same one's as yours, from heat etc.. i had to drill and replace it. so i've been there but 5 of them..... Crap.

i should have implied the comparisson to say your down pipe and/or waste gate bolts. on my car and many others i know with turbo honda's they sometime work loose and you have to periodically tighten them.... "maintenance"

but apparently you have a quality company to come on here and immediately offer help

by the way i run a Precision SC44, which i absolutely love.

to precision

sbiggi

I posted about this a year ago. Happened with mine and my brothers.

Seems they use shitty bolts on some turbos untill you have a problem with them. Then they give you the good ones.

93CX

This is why I'd rather buy 5 ssauto turbos over one brand name turbo. Everything breaks eventually

GimpyAccord

Haha, I'm not to that point yet... but I did think to myself "for what I paid, I could've had 3-4 bullshit turbos and swap them every 3 months".

Talked to them on the phone today, and they said ship it in (duh). So we'll see what happens. Hopefully I get the non shitty bolts this time too!

I'm going to be bumming rides and **** it looks like until this is fixed. I have a stock header laying around, but I'd have to totally change my catback to make it work... and I'm not feeling that.

KooK

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GimpyAccord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I'm going to be bumming rides and **** it looks like until this is fixed.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sportin the Danger Ranger again!

GimpyAccord

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KooK &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Sportin the Danger Ranger again! </TD></TR></TABLE>

I love this truck

GimpyAccord

Removed the turbocharger today.

Indeed, 5 of 6 bolts failed/sheared off. I also have a tiny bit of turbine wheel -&gt; housing contact That's no good.. ugh. Shipping this bad-boy in tomorrow

On the plus side, the thing has like.. zero play! hehe.

Kyle R

iTrader: (1)

I have seen it happen where those bolts backed out, but never sheared off. That is crazy.