Replacing a turbocharger: new or reconditioned?

[legrandefromage]

The car has just about a year of its test left to run, the turbo is knackered.

I do about 45,000m in a year

Reconditioned or OEM?

recon is £412.99

OEM is £500 - £800

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Volkswagen-Passat ... 3458wt_975


My thoughts were to go for new and then get the original reconditioned and keep it for another day.

 

[hamster]

The only stuff different in a recon one is the bearings, so as the castings of the rotor and exterior are undamaged why not get a reconditioned one?

I guess it all depends on whether you think the reconditioned one has skimped on the bearings...

 

[the great roberto]

In an honest world teh recon should be as good as new. What you are paying for are the replacement of worn parts and labour.

Buthere's the rub.

What parts are actually replaced ? What is the quality of the replacement parts ? And how are they fitted ? What testing takes place before it leaves the refurbishers ?

Now to do a quality job all costs money and none of us want to pay that. So at one extreame you get few, low quality parts replaced by a monkey. Of course all finished off with a coat of (unnecessary) paint to make it look good.

So in short, you need to understand what refurbishment means.

Sorry if this is obvious. But, I've heard too many stories of peps fitting refurbished engines/gearboxes etc in their cars and wondering why after 5000 miles something has failed. And of course it's not covered by the warrenty.
In one case, the oil pump failed.And that nackered the engine. It was not changed as part of the refurb.And not even checked to see if it was suitable for future service.In fact it ws likely that this pump contributed to the demise of the original engine.

As for the turbo...........Not sure what I'd do to be fair.You could fit the refurb and flog the car. Or get some idea of what refurb includes on this turbo.It should include new bearings and seals as a minimum.And as a maximum not much more. These are precision pieces of kit that rotate at high speed. Get it wrong...............Forget to change the seals, and your car starts to use the lubrication oil as fuel. You have no control over this what so ever. Don't bother turning the engine off via the key.It doesn't work. The engine stops when it has used up all it's oil.Then seizes.

 

[FairfaxPat]

Seems to me that the cost of a new one, if you can get it for 500 Versus 412 for rebuilt, that a new one would give more peace of mind if you can afford it, plus the new one probably comes with a better warranty.

 

[legrandefromage]

In an honest world teh recon should be as good as new. What you are paying for are the replacement of worn parts and labour.

Buthere's the rub.

What parts are actually replaced ? What is the quality of the replacement parts ? And how are they fitted ? What testing takes place before it leaves the refurbishers ?

Now to do a quality job all costs money and none of us want to pay that. So at one extreame you get few, low quality parts replaced by a monkey. Of course all finished off with a coat of (unnecessary) paint to make it look good.

So in short, you need to understand what refurbishment means.

Sorry if this is obvious. But, I've heard too many stories of peps fitting refurbished engines/gearboxes etc in their cars and wondering why after 5000 miles something has failed. And of course it's not covered by the warrenty.
In one case, the oil pump failed.And that nackered the engine. It was not changed as part of the refurb.And not even checked to see if it was suitable for future service.In fact it ws likely that this pump contributed to the demise of the original engine.

As for the turbo...........Not sure what I'd do to be fair.You could fit the refurb and flog the car. Or get some idea of what refurb includes on this turbo.It should include new bearings and seals as a minimum.And as a maximum not much more. These are precision pieces of kit that rotate at high speed. Get it wrong...............Forget to change the seals, and your car starts to use the lubrication oil as fuel. You have no control over this what so ever. Don't bother turning the engine off via the key.It doesn't work. The engine stops when it has used up all it's oil.Then seizes.

yes, have read about that, the only way to stop that would be to stall it if you can.

I think I'll suck it and go for new turbo. The car already so many long term parts replaced to extend its life into at least 200,000 miles. May as well carry on.

 

[Pickle]

Try this > http://www.247spares.co.uk/browse?make= ... 4wod9zrSOg

I reckon you'll be able to get it a lot cheaper.

I needed a new switch for my puddle light, and because the switch is it the door latch I needed a new door latch.

OEM £115. I managed to get a recon via the website for £35 posted.

 

[GT-Steve]

I've sent a good few turbo's to turbotechnics in Northamptonshire, gotta be said that they've all been high performance petrol engines, but they've all been stripped, inspected and rebuilt to exacting tolerances...

Maybe worth a try....? ?

 

[Grannygrinder]

.

Has the turbo defo gone?
We thought the one on our works Transit had gone but the inside of the connecting hose had colapsed causing total loss of boost.
Just a thought

 

[john]

When the turbo on the wife's mondeo failed I decided to replace it with a new unit (can dig out the supplier's name if you like). Did consider a refurb, think it was from turbo technics. The warranty on the refurb was longer.

When the turbo went the engine did start to run on it's own oil. Quite surpirising to pull the key out only for the car to continue running. Fortunatley stalled it so the engine seems to have escaped permenant damage (still going 20k miles later).

 

[JamesM]

You guys make it sound like stalling it would be difficult. Stick it in 6th and side step the clutch