Turbocharger Guide

Turbo & turbocharger

Below we have given answers to some of the most common questions on how to install a turbo and on what often causes a defective turbo.

The oil inlet and return on my turbo are not adjusted correctly

If you are fitting a universal turbo and you can't get the return and oil access to fit, you can always rotate the middle part of the turbo. You can also turn exhaust parts and the pressure housing. You just have to loosen the bolts on the pressure housing and the exhaust housing. Then you can freely turn all 3 parts separately. 

Installation of water and oil on universal turbo

Many people ask: How should I connect oil and water to my turbo? Most of the universal turbochargers we sell have both water and oil connections. 

It is often like this: 
Oil return is a flange where there are 2 bolt holes with 41 or 51mm. in between. where there is a hole in the middle for oil return.
Oil inlet is a flange with 38 mm. between each bolt hole or a 12mm. banjo bolt (Garrett often with UNF 7/16-20 found)
Water is often with 1/4 NPT found. 

ALWAYS remember that the inlet must come vertically into the turbo with max. 10 degree slope. Return run must be min. 14 mm. internal diameter.

Defective turbo - Why does my turbocharger break?

There are several possibilities for why a turbo breaks. 

The nut has fallen off on the pressure side of the turbo

The reason why the nut on a tuboloader can fall off or become loose is due to a lack of lubrication pressure. What happens is that the turbine runs at a very high number of revolutions (Typically over 30,000 revolutions per minute). When it then lacks lubrication pressure, the shaft quickly becomes very hot and burns itself stuck in the bearing - Stops immediately and thereby the nut comes loose. 

Lack of oil pressure to the turbo can be because the hose to the turbo is blocked or dirt has gotten into the turbo's oil inlet via the oil hose. If this has happened, it is very important to clean the engine 100% through so that there is absolutely no dirt left in the engine when you install a new turbocharger. We recommend completely disassembling the engine to make sure that there is no dirt left in the engine. If you don't do that, you can use engine cleaner / engine flush which is poured into the engine and let it run with it in, together with new engine oil. Further instructions are on the bottle. 

This is what a turbocharger looks like when the nut is loose:

Slack in the shaft and the vanes go against the turbo housing

When there is a slack in the shaft of a turbo, it is often because there have been impurities in the oil. This puts a lot of wear and tear on the shaft and bushing. After some time has passed, the slack becomes so large that it goes against the turbo housing. If it does get to that, it will be much more expensive to repair the turbocharger.