Barely 4K on new turbo and may already be blown?

[rob-2]

but I have had a similar issue as of late. Last year a friend borrowed my car and when it came back, it had no power, puffin smoke and a rattle from the engine compartment. My fear was of course the turbo and as I did not have the funds to even have it looked at, so it sat. Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, I got the car looked at, blown turbo, replaced and 300 miles later.....blown turbo number 2.

 

The shop did a whole laundry list of other things while replacing the turbo such as water pump, timing belt, etc. And fortunately they warranty their work so they replaced for free. Problem is, it sounds just like the last one (which did not sound like the stock turbo) and I have a feeling under boost and/or heat this one is gonna crap out too.

 

Both turbos have been ordered from Subaru directly so I dont know who is doing the rebuild on them, but there is a bigger issue going on and the turbos are going to continue to get blown out. The shop is already out a grand for the turbo they had to replace and dont know if they are going to be reimbursed by Subaru or not, but Im thinking about taking it back in to them to try and troubleshoot the cause. Im hoping they are up for that so they dont have to incur the cost of another turbo under their warranty program.

 

But I have to ask, am I wasting my time, energy, and funds trying to restore the glory to my 05 LGT? With $5000 into it already, Im fairly certain for 3 or 4 grand more i could have put in a new engine. So Im not sure what direction to go with this.

 

I truly love my LGT but now Im afraid to even drive the damn thing in this condition. When boost is applied, it sounds like.....well I dont know what the heck it sounds like. All I can say is that my stock turbo didn't make a peep. It just thru ya back in the seat and went. This turbo (and the last) sound like there is something wrong with them, which I dismissed as waste gate noise from a possibly different design on the replacement turbo. But I now have serious doubts and figure it's only a matter of time before this one takes a dump on me as well.

 

Thoughts? Advice?

 

Thanks,

Nathan

Turbo's typically go because of lack of oil or in subi's case a lack of coolant flow. I'd start looking there.

 

The pros/cons of new motor vs. rebuild are debatable.

 

When buy my local shop picking up the car, there was a guy putting $9K of 'motor' into an 05 LGT (same year as mine) and the car only books at $13K. In my books that's a waste of money.

 

You have a real question on your hand...

 

1. Let the shop who did the work stand behind it and fix it.

2. Dump the car on dealer trade in to avoid future problems yourself.

 

I tend to like option 1 because I think ethically it's something I could live with. I'd probably be asking for an extension on their warranty if things keep failing.

[Max Capacity]

but I have had a similar issue as of late. Last year a friend borrowed my car and when it came back, it had no power, puffin smoke and a rattle from the engine compartment. My fear was of course the turbo and as I did not have the funds to even have it looked at, so it sat. Fast forward to 3 weeks ago, I got the car looked at, blown turbo, replaced and 300 miles later.....blown turbo number 2.

 

The shop did a whole laundry list of other things while replacing the turbo such as water pump, timing belt, etc. And fortunately they warranty their work so they replaced for free. Problem is, it sounds just like the last one (which did not sound like the stock turbo) and I have a feeling under boost and/or heat this one is gonna crap out too.

 

Both turbos have been ordered from Subaru directly so I dont know who is doing the rebuild on them, but there is a bigger issue going on and the turbos are going to continue to get blown out. The shop is already out a grand for the turbo they had to replace and dont know if they are going to be reimbursed by Subaru or not, but Im thinking about taking it back in to them to try and troubleshoot the cause. Im hoping they are up for that so they dont have to incur the cost of another turbo under their warranty program.

 

But I have to ask, am I wasting my time, energy, and funds trying to restore the glory to my 05 LGT? With $5000 into it already, Im fairly certain for 3 or 4 grand more i could have put in a new engine. So Im not sure what direction to go with this.

 

I truly love my LGT but now Im afraid to even drive the damn thing in this condition. When boost is applied, it sounds like.....well I dont know what the heck it sounds like. All I can say is that my stock turbo didn't make a peep. It just thru ya back in the seat and went. This turbo (and the last) sound like there is something wrong with them, which I dismissed as waste gate noise from a possibly different design on the replacement turbo. But I now have serious doubts and figure it's only a matter of time before this one takes a dump on me as well.

 

Thoughts? Advice?

 

Thanks,

Nathan

 

Welcome to the forum Nathan, you might want to start your own thread unless you happen to live close to the OP.

 

There are some basic steps that must be done if the turbo blows while driving the car. If thoses are not done, the new turbo is in for a short life.

 

Short story, I had the P0011 and P0021 CEL. My trusted mechanic pulled the first banjo filter, I flushed the oil system with motor flush, that was at 141K, I drove the car another 1000 miles, the turbo was whining during that time, One morning on my DD to work the turbo whistled, I was 1/2 mile from home, i turned around parked the car in the drive way, ordered a vf52, installed it the next day, that turbo has over 30k on it now.

 

I caught mine before it blew and put metal into the oil pan and system. If these blow, your best bet is to rebuild the engine and heads, to be safe.

 

BTW I still have that banjo filter here at my desk over 2 years later. I have the other one removed too.