Poisoned Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 Hey all, this is my first post on the forums but I have probably spent 80% of my time on the internet the past 3 weeks reading endless amounts of information here and for that thank you for being such an awesome group of people- you've answered a bunch of questions for me already. Here's the deal- I have a friend who bought a red flag(non working) 06 Outback XT 5-speed. The turbo had been bipassed after it was blown(dont ask me because i have no idea what they were thinking..) a snapped axle, broken 02 sensor and reverse in the 5-speed transmission was gone. Now we have successfully replaced the turbo(50k miles), axle, 02 sensor, transmission(60k miles). The rest of the car has 144k, no maaaaajor rust, exterior is in good shape and the interior is mint. Everything seems to be working fine as of now. I'm now looking to buy it(hopefully). What things should I be looking out for so i'm not SOL down the line here. I plan to do a compression/leakdown test already. As far as mods i plan to do right away, it would all mainly be suspension. Any tips, links to threads i should read, concerns or really anything are welcome! Thanks for reading! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators BarManBean Posted October 10, 2013 Moderators Share Posted October 10, 2013 If you've done all of this work on the car already you know more about it than anyone here is going to be able to tell you. At this point anything could go wrong simply due to the mileage, but it sounds like the transmission should be in good working order at least. I would worry about the health of the shortblock due to the blown turbo and the condition of the oiling system (have you checked the banjo bolt). How many miles are on the car since you've had it back up and running with the turbo? Any sort of tune on the car? "Bullet-proof" your OEM TMIC! <<Buy your kit here>> Not currently in stock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmedic Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 How does one go about bypassing a turbo? Did they throw a NA Y-pipe on it or just gut the turbo and unhook the oil/coolant lines? Seems like it would be a lot more work than just replacing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poisoned Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 The car is on the stock tune, the turbo has 50k miles on it and all lines to the turbo including that banjo bolt are straight from the dealer. As far as we can tell, all standard maintenance was done by previous owner, head gaskets and clutch so on. The turbo failed because of the internal wastegate- instead of replacing the turbo itself they just bypassed it completely. We dont know how long they ran it like that but my guess is the ecu would have made any changes to make the car run safe in the absence of such an essential part. The car isnt registered insured nor has state tags so its been up and down our road once or twice- ran fine idle was what youd expect from an ecu reset, new to the car parts and actually running for the first time in quite a while. Literally just finished the rebuild so to speak last night at 7. I plan down the road to do engine mods so at some point im sure ill rebuild the engine and throw some stuff in there to start making good power but my main concerns are that something significant(expensive) will fail before im ready to do the build i.e dont have the money to fund it yet haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poisoned Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 It seems very counter productive so Im not going to being to ask the question WHY as to the turbo. They gutted it iirc. The turbo was replaced in a day within my friend buying it so I wasnt a part of it at that point in time unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmedic Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 If the only issue with the original turbo was the wastegate, I'd say you probably don't have much to worry about. If the turbo grenaded itself and flooded the engine oil with bearing debris. . . yeah. . . that's no bueno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poisoned Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 Thankfully I do know it didnt explode. But as far as engine mileage anything i should be worried about at this age? Even if we assume regular maintenance wasnt completed? Thanks for all the feedback guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsaro Posted October 10, 2013 Share Posted October 10, 2013 I am in a similar position to you having just bought a 2006 MT XT with a previous blown turbo and dubious history (and it's red!!). My mileage is lower at 115K but my turbo blew to a clogged banjo bolt. Most of the repairs done at a Subaru dealer including new turbo and timing belt. The car was still running rough after the turbo change and the the previous owner off loaded it to a ford dealer. They put on new head gaskets, valves, coil packs and plugs before I bought it. Like you I now have a car I am unsure of, especially as I keep finding small problems from sloppy workmanship (see other thread). I am just hoping the big things have been done properly. However, these cars are quite rare (in MT form at least) so I am prepared to take the gamble, especially since the body / interior is in good shape like yours. The last Legacy I owned was a 1992 2.0 turbo saloon, decatted with a hybrid turbo and competition actuator (this was all done when I bought it). The boost used to peak off the scale of my 30-PSI gauge and it used to shoot flames out of the back on downshifts! It had 188K when I bought it and 220K when I sold it a few years later to buy an newer Impreza. It was one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned, apart from noisy valve lifters common with that vintage I didn't have any problems at all. Hopefully these later 2.5 turbos are just as reliable if serviced regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poisoned Posted November 5, 2013 Author Share Posted November 5, 2013 SO! I ended up selling my Saab to buy the outback and some guy beat me to the punch- offered more cash and didnt care what condition it was so he didnt get it tested compression or leakdown before buying so i couldnt blame my friend for selling it to him. No risk of him losing any more profit! Funny story. The kid bought it, filled it with a full tank of 87oct and beat on it then came crying back to my friend(seller) that the engine needed a rebuild even after signing bill of sale stating the vehicles current condition. *sigh* some people.. Thanks for the replies though and the help! - I always seem to find better answers and more willing-to-help users on here than nasioc(unfortunately) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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