popped my turbo

r3dn3ck

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09 Sedan SS with 175K hard driven miles and it's finally popped the hair dryer. Didn't expect it to go that far. Regular oil changes with Mobil 15K seems to have paid off there. In any event it's apparently blowing oil into the intercooler. I was driving like normal and went to about 5lbs boost and suddenly it sounded like a backfire and then no boost.

So I found a 0-mile factory replacement turbo from zzperf on ebay and snapped that up. I'm a decent wrench but don't have time to fiddle with it right now so I've taken it to my mechanic to deal with. He's saying there's emulsified oil in the intercooler and replacement is called for. Given the age and plastic end tanks I'm ok with replacing it as he's requested on principle. I'm about to pick up the zzperf intercooler. Do I need new piping or can I use the factory piping with that? Yes, I called ZZ but they never pick up the phone and I don't have a any time during the business day for taking phone calls that aren't scheduled in advance.

My mechanic also says the MAF is buggered. I'm guessing it's old enough to replace just on principle.

Curious to know if anyone else has had this specific failure mode and what the underlying failure actually was. I'm guessing a bearing oil seal or something similar. Any advice or tips would be appreciated. My car is absolutely bone stock, still has the factory windshield wipers. Hell it's still got the factory air filter on it (hey, it never looked dirty enough to replace). I don't really relish the idea of non-stock parts but we take 'em as we find 'em.
 

YelloEye

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Wow...original wipers? Those things probably don't work anymore.

Anyway, onto the questions.

Stock intercooler piping will work with the ZZP intercooler, I recommend replacing them with metal pipes for durability.

The oil you're seeing in the intercooler could just be from the crank case vent tube that runs between the valve cover and turbo inlet.

What you're describing happening sounds a lot more like the plastic end tanks blowing to splinters. The passenger side one is notorious for fracturing or popping holes for almost no reason.
 

r3dn3ck

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Wow...original wipers? Those things probably don't work anymore.

Anyway, onto the questions.

Stock intercooler piping will work with the ZZP intercooler, I recommend replacing them with metal pipes for durability.

The oil you're seeing in the intercooler could just be from the crank case vent tube that runs between the valve cover and turbo inlet.

What you're describing happening sounds a lot more like the plastic end tanks blowing to splinters. The passenger side one is notorious for fracturing or popping holes for almost no reason.

nailed it! yep, passenger side had a baseball sized hole in the tank. Oddly my turbo wasn't actually damaged. After they got it pulled of and cleaned I went over and there's no real sign of excessive wear. Spins freely with no wiggle. Still replacing it anyway. 175K is a lot of miles.

Wipers work fine. Air filter looks reasonably close to new.
 

r3dn3ck

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And finished. After having an o-ring stuck in Truckee on a truck the car is back running. 2200 bucks later it feels like a new car again. Seems to make more boost now. I'm seeing up to 17-18 on extended WOT runs in 3rd gear. When it was new it'd occasionally hit 16-17 but mostly sat around 14-15 for the last few years.

I don't suppose there's a useful market for rebuildable LNF turbos or brand new exhaust manifolds or intercoolers with large holes in them.
 

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