# EBay turbo tear down



## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

EBay got you here. 

EMUSA is the brand name. After a couple thousand miles max... Hard driven... Max 20psi my emusa turbo.. You guessed it.. **** the bed on me. 
Thank god I bought this as a learning experience which served me great purpose. 










Ok so you see the groove that was dug into the brass causing the in and out shaft play.  left to right shaft play was minimal. 
In fact I did not notice any problems from this turbo. I couldn't safely boost over 15psi or it would spit and sputter... The turbo was running/ acting fine.

My question is... What the hell is the black stuff in the picture. It seems like plastic. It was stuck in the oil return outlet... ?

Now for the kicker. This turbo/kit had a oil restrictor on which I believe was the culprit. It was a pinhole and hard to blow through. I didn't think much of it. But info believe this was the problem.


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

Anybody?


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## waabaah (Jun 24, 2006)

I would say burnt oil.

What's your shutdown procedure?


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

Let it idle for at least a minute after hard pulls, the restrictor is like needle small... .030 max? Size of my welding wire for reference...
Feels like plastic?

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## planbmatt1 (Mar 26, 2013)

shut it down too fast and oil burned? like they said how do you shut down?


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

planbmatt1 said:


> shut it down too fast and oil burned? like they said how do you shut down?


Always let the car idle for a while after hard runs. If I ***** foot it home from 1 mile down the road ID let it run about 30 seconds before killing. I pull up to my garage... Get out.. Open door.. Pull in... Turn off radio. Unplug phone. Roll up windows and kill it 

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## PjS860ct (Dec 22, 2002)

.030 is smaller that the restrictors for a ball bearing turbo... try .065 or a little bigger with ebay turbos...


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## planbmatt1 (Mar 26, 2013)

I bought a godspeed t3/t4 and I just had it rebuilt with all new Garrett parts for $100 because of this lol thanks for the motivation. Plus ill be running more then 20psi


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

It's funny the turbo gave me no problems I'm 90% sure this was caused by oil starvation. 


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## planbmatt1 (Mar 26, 2013)

yea emusa has gotten better. I just read that they dont last as long. Barely read them hittin 20k miles.


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

planbmatt1 said:


> yea emusa has gotten better. I just read that they dont last as long. Barely read them hittin 20k miles.


20k would have been nice. I planned on using this turbo on a different project. 

I bought a precision 67mm and was waiting for the emusa to blow. Now I'm in the middle of building a short runner.

When oil cokes will it basically turn into plastic? Does a emusa turbo have any plastic internally? 
I understand plastic is made from oil...


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## waabaah (Jun 24, 2006)

Turbos reach anywhere from 500-1200 degrees. Not a lot of plastics can withstand those temps. I think the only plastic that can hold that temp plus another 1k degrees would be thermoplastics. And I doubt that turbo has any thermoplastics in it. 

Turbo parts consist of metal, brass, steel, aluminum etc.. Would you build an engine block with plastic parts? Would you build an exhaust manifold out of plastic? 

So it really comes down to oils. What oil are you using? How often do you change it? Are your shutdown procedures adequate enough? 

Restrictor size shouldn't be an issue here but I suppose we can overthink it. If the oil isn't draining, the turbo seals would leak and burn (smoke) from the heat. If restrictor is small, the turbo would show increased wear on moving parts (grooves like you mentioned). If your not getting enough oil then the turbo is creating more heat then is necessary and the oil will cake on over time once it touched the metal parts. Idk

Does this "plastic" break easily when you bend it? Is it chunks or is it layered? 

Take a better pic of those pieces if you want but we all know it's oil.


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

The drain was adequate. Shutdown was adequate I used 5-30 synthetic mobile 1


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

I looked at the oil restrictor on the precision turbo and compared to the emusa turbo... Night and day difference. I'll take a picture. Also some discoloration on the turbine shaft.
Oil seems burnt...


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## G60 Carat (May 14, 2004)

PjS860ct said:


> .030 is smaller that the restrictors for a ball bearing turbo... try .065 or a little bigger with ebay turbos...



*Exactly this ^ *

That restrictor is much, MUCH too small for any journal bearing turbo, doesn't mater who made the turbo. A 0.030" restrictor is for Ball Bearing turbos only! Some OEM journal bearing turbos run a restrictor, these are always at least 0.060" to 0.080" or 1.5mm - 2mm hole. Some people don't realize this, because it's simply the size of the hole in a banjo bolt. But some high school math tells us the .060" restrictor with double the diamater will have a flow rate of 4x the 0.030" restrictor. * Simply put, this turbo died from oil starvation.*


I assume the adapter was for a -4AN line? -4AN lines do require a restrictor on ebay turbo's for sure, and even a name brand like Garrett can puke oil depends if it's dynamic or carbon seal, and what that cars oil pressure is, where you tap it from, etc. 
Garrett states: 


> "Journal-bearings function similarly to rod or crank bearings in an engine - oil pressure is required to keep components separated. An oil restrictor is generally not needed except for oil-pressure-induced leakage. These bearings require enough oil pressure to keep the components separated by a hydrodynamic film. If the oil pressure is too low, the metal components will come in contact causing premature wear and ultimately failure. The recommended oil feed for journal bearing turbochargers is -4AN or hose/tubing with an ID of approximately 0.25



Some people say to run -3AN line and no restrictor (On EMUSA, God Speed, etc. turbos). I measured a -3AN feed line I have in the garage with drill bits and I can fit a 5/64 bit in, but not a 3/32, so that tells a 3AN line itself acts like a restrictor somewhere between 0.078" and 0.094" (3AN hose is 0.122" inner diameter, but the fitting goes inside that) Which is probably why you can run -3AN lines without blowing oil past the seals, and -4AN's will push oil past the seal. Basically if you're not sure, best bet is to run a Journal bearing without any restrictor, and if it pushes oil past the seal, install the biggest restrictor you can (or switch to 3AN if you're using 4AN) and work you're way down until it stops pushing oil past the seal. :thumbup:


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

.040 the smallest drill bit I own would not go in, .030 weld wire would slide in fairly easy.

The precision turbo has the fitting on already which a .10 bit would slide into 

I cannot blame emusa for the fault, the fitting that went onto the feed side of the turbo came with the kit. 
I already messages the guy about the turbo failing. About to let the seller know. I have already let him know the kit was complete crap. This puts the topping on the cake.


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## waabaah (Jun 24, 2006)

I would just let it go without contacting the seller. 

Sellers job is to get the merchandise to your door and be as truthful and honest with his listing. 

Buyers job is to do the research and know what he is purchasing. 

Going after someone for eBay quality (parts or services) is quite comical in my eyes.

Maybe I'm completely wrong but From what I assume and gather from this post is...seller was piecing together a kit for himself on a build. Decided to abandon his project. Put a listing out that caught your eye for price. You thought it was a good deal and you jump on the kit regardless of what people tell you on forums about eBay turbos. You installed the kit yourself and assuming maybe 6mos to a year later your car wouldn't boost past 15psi. Upon inspection you noticed burnt oil chunks. You assume it's from restrictor size being wrong since that's what forum people say (the sane forum people you didn't listen to from buying an eBay turbo). The seller gave you the restrictor in the kit so therefor 
You feel the seller should be held responsible for a new turbo all because of this restrictor. 

Is this close to what's going on?


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

From the start your assuming is false and not necessary. 

This was a brand new kit titled to fit a 12v vr6

From day one it was a hassle.

I owned this kit for almost a year. 

Never daily driven.

If installed correctly these emusa turbos are really not that bad. 

The guy is still selling the exact kit.

If I had a pallet of brand new laptops and sold them as brand new laptops and none of them worked is the buyer at fault?

I didn't expect $$$$ quality, I did expect fitment. This thread is not about he kit it was simply a rant about the kit containing a restrictor to be installed.... Everybody wonders why these turbos fail well here is a possible answer. 

I won't be the last person to purchase a emusa turbo in fact I will most likely purchase again.






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## G60 Carat (May 14, 2004)

Well yeah, we certainly can't blame EMUSA for this one. Any journal bearing turbo would have died with that restrictor in place.

I can see why you would be upset though, whoever sold that kit included a wrong restrictor. And if it comes in the kit, it's natural to assume it would be correct for that turbo. 


However going after an ebay vendor is nearly futile, unless maybe he can work you out a discount on a replacement turbo? Best bet is to replace the turbo with the same EMUSA turbo (Cheap fix), and run a 0.060 restrictor, or just switch to a -3AN feed line (the problem with this is though if you switch to a -3AN feed line, and the new turbo puffs oil, -3AN restrictor fittings are hard to find, but if you're clever, you can cut the top of a normal 3AN fitting short, reem the hole a bit and drop in a nitrous jet, which are -3AN taper, and come in any size you can dream up for about $5) 

A high end turbo like a Garrett or Turbonetic shouldn't need any restrictor in place (unless it's a ball bearing), and don't use one on them unless you have oil seeping past the CHRA (shows up as oil burning), only then install one.


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

He did offer to rebuild or replace at a discounted price. I just want the guy to know that the complete kit as a whole is trash. Getting off topic here but the exhaust manifold needed drilling out 2 holes a half inch off. And drilling out all holes a tad bigger. Down pipe required cutting off the waste gate inlet, drilling out its holes to mount to he turbo... Inter cooler pipe was pre bent for ..?? Oil feed was too short. 
The ebay kits worth a turd do not come with a down pipe! Word to the wise. 

From what I can tell the shaft might have been balanced separate from the turbine blade. The notching is out of the backside which you would have to take it off to do... I may rebuild myself for fun and put it on a different car. 


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## G60 Carat (May 14, 2004)

Sort of....
You can replace just the damaged parts and technically the moving parts are pre-balanced, but the turbo (especially a lower priced unit) would have to be CHRA balanced again. The problem with taking them apart is, it's a bit luck of the draw. Both parts could be within acceptable balance, but when assembling them you could create a "stacked" imbalance. If you ended up with both "heavy sides" on the same side. High end companies tend to balance each individual component to even finer tolerance, so as to help negate any stacked imbalance.

A local turbo/diesel specialists should be able to assemble the turbine shaft with compressor wheel, and then they balance it by grinding away even more material. Then they mark the compressor for alignment, take it off and reassemble in the CHRA using the mark. Brand new EMUSA turbo's are CHRA balanced, that's why they have a black alignment line from the center shaft to the compressor wheel.


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

The first image looks dangerous!!
Very helpful information. I will check for those marks.


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## Deezy (Jan 3, 2009)

It has the marks  might be giving the emusa turbo a second shot at at life.


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## G60 Carat (May 14, 2004)

For the GSP/EMUSA stuff, I'm not even sure you can buy replacement parts for them? But that doesn't matter much as the whole turbo costs as much as just a real Garrett compressor wheel or housing.


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## mk3dubbed (Oct 19, 2013)

*eBay turbo rebuild*

I have rebuilt a eBay turbo t4 60-1 for a friend and used a gpop rebuild kit ( the best in my opinion) and he's running 30 psi and has ruffly 20k on it and still running strong, I have a Audi 5 cyl 20v with a precision 6262 journal bearing that I had to put a restrictor in (.65) without one turbo smokes, restictors are nessesary on journal turbos are nessesary if running high oil pressure. But gpop rebuild kits all day


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