Stay away from turbo's Insy!

Think you might be right Matt. Despite all the appeal of the power, reading this thread and Proccy's I'm thinking that my decision to stay with the 20V chariot was a wise one.

Nevertheless, the draw of the turbos is always strong, so I can fully understand where you're coming from.

Still cant believe this Matt.....
As for the turbo situation,they are a very basic design and 9 times out of 10 a failure is due to oil starvation.
However unusually in this case,the shaft has seized solid.
Great oil pressure as measured in 10 minutes of idling direct from the block,4 bar on idle rising when rpm raised,and 40-45psi measured after the restrictor pipe.

Rang Cr turbos and spoke to Mark who i use all the time for blowers.He said seizure is never due to oil starvation.
The bearings always collapse and cause excessive play followed by the blade to casing noise and smoke then no power.
I will remove the turbo in the week and Cr will take it away for an inspection and give me a full report.This will not void any warranty as they can do it without touching any fixings on the turbo.

A failure so soon would indicate in his opinion incorectly adjusted tolerances,balancing issue or a distorted shaft.

This for me is a concern as i have just purchased a turbo from the same source.So im hoping that these are genuine Garrett Blowers and not some cheap Chineese junk.

So we will see what hes got to say warranty wise first.
But not all is lost Matt,you did get to try your hands at some spannering,followed by a home cooked dinner and a drive home in a supercar....
Chin up mate,i will sort it for you.

what a bummer for the both of you....im sorry to hear it matt ,i know that sick feeling! it must be even worse when you go from happy excitement at the coming map results to the pit of dispair! im sure john will get to the bottom of it... as for the warrenty ;i know the said supplier will not want a bad name on the forum , particularly when continued business is only as good as your good name..if you see what i mean... so i cant see him not doing something..john has done loads of turbos and everyone knows he knows his stuff so there is only one course of action open to supplier really particularly when the oil pressures good and its looking like a fault from the way its given up...so dont worry it'll come good im sure....i hope you get it all sorted soon gents (particularly with my car is sat waiting!:))

and john dont be swapping turbos on me!

I can't believe this Matt! So soon after your bad luck with the belts!! Still its looking positive for your warranty claim, best of luck with that!!

Sorry to hear about this Matt - I hope that you manage to get this sorted under warranty - but as you say depending on where you got it from it could be difficult....

Not again

not again Matt

me dude, and i thought i had bad luck !!! I would not take no for an answer with ther builders of the turbo tbh mate, really hope it works out ok for you...

Really sorry to here about this Matt, After all you have been though and all the work thats gone in I cant honestly blame you for being a little upset!

I cant offer any advice so I just send my best wishes and hope for a speedy reply from the turbo specialist. The last thing you deserve is another fight

Good luck with this Matt,i go away for a couple of days and its all tits up for you again.Very sorry to read this bad news.

This car when running really is a beast.

I hate to adnmit it, but the kick in the back when coming on boost when Matt took me out at curborough was scary. A properly fast coupe.

Or was that just Matts driving?
Some say, he has birth mark shaped like the Pininfarina "F" on places you really dont want to see!

Matt.....keep with it mate......Just look at it!

Bad Bad news arrived today.

C R turbos have inspected my recently seized turbo, and their conclusion is that "It's a 100% oil feed issue".

The oil feed was pressure tested before the new turbo was installed. It was also tested, just after the turbo seized. It gave good results at 4bar on idle and around 8-9 when under revs.

So this leads us to believe that either;

1) The oil feed got blocked and starved the turbo of oil

2) There is an issue with the engine. Perhaps it's losing pressure at very high revs. Or there may be an issue with the 5th cylinder.

As the car has now destroyed 2 good turbos, i think it's probably the engine.

I cannot afford another new block, i cannot afford a rebuild of any kind.

Or do i risk it, get the turbo refurbed, and hope it was a blocked oil feed??

I think this car may be going to the big coupe scrap yard in the sky.

Any advice or ideas would be most welcome.

have you found any type of block in the oil feed to cause this?

have you found any reason for the 5th cyclinder to lose pressure?
(comp test or somthing like that?)

over all mate is a poop situation.

No, not found any blockage, there was a tiny bit of swarf when we took the feed off but not enough to block it.

Compression is fine. Must be something thats happening at high revs.

Think i'm going to get rid, had enough of this now

There comes a point..... Matt, I think this is yours mate.

Ill know ill get stood on for this but just take the LE back to almost standard, sell of the bits, get some of the money back and find another way to spend epic amounts of money, go take your self on a holiday bud, you deserve it

Matt - so very sorry to hear this.

What you have to decide is if you persevere will you have confidence in the car again?

Can you get to the bottom of the oil feed issue - and KNOW that you can sort it out?

If it's going to be off the road for a while then why dont you go and test drive a few possible coupe replacements and see if that process just brings you back to the 20VT - you may find that you think that it is time for a change?

I really feel for you - I've been through this when my 20vt engine died (though that was my fault), and now the RX has popped (despite me getting everything on the car spot on.)

If it's any consolation owning a high power 20VT is a lot less expensive than the Jap equivalent when things go wrong - but regardless you need to have a far higher maintenance budget than you would for a standard car.

Your LE is wonderful - and I hope it's not broken down and sold off in bits, but you have to think about what is the most practical solution for you.

Good luck and dont make a hasty decision.

Matt why don't you just get a second hand normal turbo for peanuts of some one from here. Bolt it on and run the car for a month or more. That should be a cheap way of trying to get some confidence back. If that turbo craps itself as well then clearly there is a problem and you have not spent several more hundred pounds finding out the really expensive way again.

Thanks people.

I think you have a very valid point suba. I don't think any amount of money can restore my confidence in this car. I would never be able to drive it again without worrying about it blowing up.

I have been looking at other cars a lot recently and cant really find anything within budget that ticks the same boxes the coop does.

My initial thoughts are to try and get hold of a mechanicaly sound coop with crap body work for around 1-1.5k. A hybrid turbo, few choice mods, stripped out with roll cage. All i use the car for is fun/track work.

Stevo, my downpipe and exhaust is custom made with a 5 stud flange for gt series turbos. So it would involve getting a new exhaust too. Good idea though and worth some thought

MattM the high oil pressure is to blame blocked valve (oil pump). Picture can help you http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/5825/oilpumpc.jpg .

That green one of your dads was a good one Matt! This car seems to be a bit of a cursed coop for you. Maybe getting it back to running well at standard and passing it on would be the best option, but only you can decide that. I'm still up in the air about what to do with mine to be honest, although everytime I come home and see it on the drive, I struggle to see how I could sell it.

I hope whatever you decide to do works out well, you've put a lot of effort into the car, it's a tough call either way.

Gareth

Who sold you the engien? If there is a problem with the oil feed or indeed the engien, can you not recover the cost of the work *and* the tubos against the parties involved.

With two mashed turbos, a report to say oil starvation its clear something isnt right with one of the parts you have been supplied.

Its not a nice job to have to pull people up on goods sold or work done, but it may be your only recourse

The engine was sold with no guarantee from a forum member.

The work was completed by John, but as he didn't know the engine, he can't guarantee it.

I'm pretty much screwed

Thanks for the info Kaci, but could too much oil pressure cause the turbo to seize?

Were you running the standard oil feed line Matt ?

Matt as you know i dont know much about the coupe,but is there some way of putting this engine on a stand still test to see what/where the oil problem is.Also what sort of job is it to change the oil pump? Good luck with this mate.
Here is a coop that looks promising.imo.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1997-FIAT-COUPE-20...=item3359c6965c