Turbo cartridge replacement

[Swedge]

I have a cdti 16v and the turbo is making the police siren noise which is now annoying

i can see there are new cartridges on eBay which are a fair bit cheaper than a new turbo or rerefurb anyone ever done this?

Ive rebuilt a few engines before and built my nova so have a good bit knowledge on cars

[Z80]

I still have mine to be done (no time yet), but refurbishing kits come whith new bronze sleeves, rubber seal rings, and some screws and bolts that can get worn out.

The steel axle isn't included though, so you'll have to check yours hasn't been worn too much.

The problem generally comes from a lack of oil pressure, and the bronze sleeves wear before the steel axle, of course, so changing just them should be enough. As they wear, they leak more and more oil, worsening the problem. You have to react before the axle begins to spins off axis and you break the turbines blades...

[Cheech]

Would probably need to be properly balanced.

[Z80]

That's indeed a problem. The whole turbine assembly is tightened by a single bolt on the axle tip, and at least one turbine has to be removed to allow removing the bronze sleeves and fitting the new ones.

If the turbine isn't refitted exactly the way it originally was, I guess it will unbalance the whole assembly...

There are companies here able to refurbish turbos and balance turbines, but they charge more than the price of a new imported turbo... That's why I ordered a new one, actutally. With a cheap refurbishing kit to try doing myself and have a spare one handy, for the years to come...

[Swedge]

The cartridge comes already built up and balanced

[AntSSSS]

@nutron is the man to ask re the actual build up of the turbo... I've just changed a turbo on a z19dth for a chap this weekend - but was a complete turbo replacement.

[Swedge]

Is the turbo easy enough removed?

Radiators off undo the exhaust then undo the manifold?

[AntSSSS]

Is the turbo easy enough removed?

Radiators off undo the exhaust then undo the manifold?

Its not the nicest of jobs TBH. Bumper off, crash bar off, RAD pack off, removal of various pipes, heat shield, split exhaust / precat, oil feed pipes off, un-bolt turbo from head and replace!

[Swedge]

Cheers I might get myself a cheap nackered turbo and fit the new cartridge to that then as soon as I get the old 1 off I can fit the replacent straight away

[Caveman_nige]

they do come balanced as stated, but please beware of cheap Chinese clones as they are not known to last; some of the units from Taiwan and then sold in Japan can be ok but it depends on whose you buy.. As with most stuff that comes out of China though most of it is utter crap, just cheap fakes made from substandard manfacturing and substandard quality control..

If you want it just to last a short time so you can seel the car you will be ok but if you want to keep the car then you run the risk of having to replace it again in a year or two..

When i was doing a lot of reading about turbo upgrades and mods on my signum a year or so back and I ran into many examples on other owner/tuning forums where people had blown chinese turbos. The CHRA (the cartridge) is the most important part of a turbo as it contains all the moving parts (impellers, bearings etc etc).