RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

... Why do most turbo companies take the piss? They NEVER honor their warranties, and always come up with some bollocks excuse ...

Just a few examples,

I fitted a BRAND NEW T34.48 (upgraded from a perfect T25 turbo that had been on the car for ages, and was still going strong!) to my Escort Cossie a couple of years ago, at the same time I did an oil and filter change and fitted a new feed pipe, primed the turbo bearings with oil, and made sure there was oil in the feed tube before refitting. My car drove from my mates unit, to home, which is about 7 miles, then from Birmingham to Blackpool, which is exactly 132 miles door to door, all off boost as the car was not mapped for a T34 yet, and was a nice gentle saturday drive.

On the Monday, the mapping began, and the first time the turbo came on boost properly, it shit itself, totally ruining the bearings, and destroying the exhaust wheel etc, and filled the exhaust full of oil. Now bear in mind, this turbo had been fitted by me and a mate (I'm an aircraft engineer, my mate runs his own garage and workshop!), so we know what we are doing, and 200 miles later a "Brand New" T34 was in 1000 peices ... On sending the turbo back, the verdict came back from the Turbo supplier that it was not under warranty due to " Metal contamination in the oil" ) ..... What a load of bollocks, so in 200 miles a turbo will die being fitted to a perfect engine, with a new oil filter and new oil?? ...

Thankfully the guy who sold me the turbo, and the tuner I was using both stuck up for me and managed to get me a new unit under warranty from the turbo building company, as less than 200 miles was a piss take IMHO, but some people are not so lucky, as I will telll you now!


My Mate Jamie, who is mentioned in the story above, has a saff cossie running 450 ish BHP. His GT30 runs only 26psi, and has a number of special mods to fit a one off intercooler, and external wastegate and turbo damper etc.

A few months ago, for no reason, his turbo died. It siezed solid, yet there was a perfect oil feed to it, and the return etc was clear. The car has a 5 bar oil pump, and also runs a turbo prefilter. We checked the filter for any debris, and it was perfectly clear, so to be on the safe side my mate replaced the filter elemnt just to make sure. Assuming that it was just "one of those things", with no obvious causes of the seizure, he sent the turbo off to Turbo Technics to be sorted out. He sent the turbo complete with all the fixings, all the turbo damper brackets etc, and waited for his new unit.

The new unit arrived, but all the brackets etc had been lost , and Turbo technics were useless, and made no effort to track them down or pay for replacement items, or even just apologise for the fuck up ...

So, after making all the new brackets we needed, the turbo was replaced onto the car, again with an oil and filter change, and a turbo pre-filter change just to be on the safe side. All the usual steps were taken, prime the turbo, prime the lines etc, and all seemed good in the world .

Now, this got fitted two days before the RSOC day at Castle coombe. On the Saturday we drove down from Birmingham, which is less than 100 miles, and had a good day at Coombe. On the way back, at about J9 of the M5, my mate put his foot down to give the car a squirt of boost to keep alongside the car me and another mate are in (bearing in mind, his wife and 2 kids are in the car so he isn't going mental, we are talking 75-90 Mph , about 3 secs of boost max!!!), and almost instantly, he drops back. The phone rings, and it is his mrs on the phone saying pull into the services, we have no boost ...

Well, at J8 services (So about 150 miles max distance since the new turbo has been fitted?) , we pull the bonnet up expecting to find a boost hose popped off, but unfortunatly the turbo is seized solid again .....

So we recover the car home, and a few days later my mate rips the turbo off, and sends it back to Turbo Technics, who inspect it for a warranty claim....

Lo and behold, they refuse to pay out on the warranty due to " A large peice of rubber blocking the oil feed to the bearings" .....

Again, what a load of Bollocks, how did a peice of rubber get into the bearing housing? It hasn't gone through 2 filters in the engine, and it certainly hasn't got in there during installation?


I just get the impression Turbo companies will try and wriggle out of any form of warranty claim, even when it is blatently thier fault ... And that is from two different companies, so not even an isolated incident!

tabetha

I did a turbo years ago that had failed, done by turbocentre, it was 7 months out of warranty, but they still did free(apart from postage) warranty repair, as it had done so few miles, and they said they were not sure why it failed, but did confirm it was not due to abuse/neglect.
tabetha

Mr RS500

iTrader: (6)

I have had the same " failed due to oil contamination " bollocks from 2 turbo companies

Realy fucking pisses me of as how come the old turbo lasted x amount of years with serious abuse if it has oil contamination

They say this because we " the customer " cant prove anything

To be fair CR Turbos sent me a new T34 about 3 years ago that run great for about 10 mins then started to go tight ( i only had the car in the workshop testing so never put it under load ) i rang them and they said try it on the road and if it shits itself they will rebuild it , it did turn out ok after a thrash , lol

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Sadly most turbos that go back ARE fucked due to incorrect fitting or misuse, so the turbo companies are used to people taking the piss.

The problem though is that when the bearing fails in the turbo, it puts metal into the oil, so of COURSE there is always contamination, the question though is if that caused the failure or if the failure caused the contamination, which is all but impossible to decide I would imagine, so they just default to telling you that its your fault

Chip

iTrader: (3)

CR are very good IME as well.
I sent a turbo back with blown seals, I was totally honest about why, my mate kinked his oil return and this over pressurised it so I already knew it wasnt a faulty trubo but misuse. But as it was brand new and we were honest with them they just popped some new seals in it and sent it back to him FOC as a good will gesture,and it been running great ever since now he has a proper return on it that cant kink (I got him to get a metal one made instead of rubber like he was using as its got a tight bend in it).

RS500/364

I had no problem with the company i used when the turbo packed up within 800 miles just the cost of fitting

GUZZLER

iTrader: (3)

the problem with turbo's is that it can take only a small amount of swarf to start damaging the bearing (they are only bronze) when they start to go there then normally like a time bomb.
Will, Technics don't normally rebuild garrett GT roller bearing units, unless they just replaced the whole core.

although as Will points out, i find most companys try to get out of the warranty untill you start a big argument with them

xr4x4rs

iTrader: (5)

i bought a brand new t35, it lasted less than 1k before it failed, was told oil contamination and warranty was void they said i should of used a pre filter

so bought another and a oil filter off them, this time it last 50 miles no joke and i never even went on boost as i had just fitted compression struts and tyres were rubbing on bumper due to wrong settings lol

well the turbo seized solid, they said my car had ran lean and caused the turbo to overheat!!, but my car hadnt ran lean and it never even used the turbo ffs

so they did one at a lot better price this time and that one was fine, but i stripped the car and sold everything as i was pissed off with all the problems ater the turbos

RWD_cossie_wil

iTrader: (9)

My mates turbo got sent to Turbo Technics, who then sent it to Owen Developments, who are the sole UK garrett approved dealer as far as I am aware?

R4N SS

iTrader: (6)

I have only ever used CR Turbos and can safely they are great.