Sounds like a dumb question, but it isn't.

I looked at my turbo and there is a little bit of play in the shaft. I'm bolting it on, what are the potential problems with it? If I drive around with it, will something terrible happen? I read about some people that have oil leaks and other problems like that with their turbine, what is the harm in doing so?

thanks.

DAM CAR IS STILL IN THE SHOP!

 

Any shaft play and you're going to want to get that fixed. You could possibly disrupt the flow of the air or even maybe cause a backup and your engine would most certainly not appreciate that. A lot of things can go wrong so just get that turbine worked on.

 

there should be no in and out movement. Normal side to side play is at most 11 thousandths of an inch.

 

there is no in and out movement... but 11 thousands of an inch, are you being serious or just sarcastic. I would say that there is little play side to side. I hope that there are no problems...

 

I'm not being sarcastic. There should be only a tiny bit of play side to side. If its more it means your turbine piston ring may be wearing prematurely. Thats what happened to me because it was most likely not balanced properly from the get go. If I am wrong on my specs please someone correct me. I got my info from both Turbonetics and Kevin at Majestic who is very helpful and knowledgeable!