Hey Guys,
I am having my engine replaced in my '09 WRX Hatch. The rings are going and I am getting a new short block and having the heads sent out to get them refinished. My question is, should i replace my turbo as well? engine has 100k on it. I realize that if there is any shaft play or if the seals are gone it needs to be replaced but I didnt't know if i should be concerned about any metal shavings or anything else up in there that could potentially effect my new engine. any thoughts would be much appreciated!
Are you asking in terms of reliability: engine blew, is my turbo ok?
Or are you asking whether you should get a better turbo while you're in there.
What are your mods?
It all depends on where you're going with your car. You should have the shop inspect the turbo and determine if it's needed. I blew my motor, and there was literally molten aluminum caked on the exhaust turbine.... I took some time and wire brushed it out and chipped the little splatter away and wiped everything down and clean... I didn't get all of it, turbo's fine.
What are your goals with the car?
If you plan on boosting power, then an aftermarket turbo will cost as much as an OEM one to put on BUT you need supporting mods depending on the turbo.. but the 09 is not set up too bad other than that intercooler. You will need a tuning interface and a tune of course if you did that.
Basically i am just worried if i use the old turbo will metal from that go back into my engine and cause things to go wrong again? I plan on getting the stock turbo again as i don't want to deal with the whole tuning process at the moment.
My Mods are:
Grimmspeed Catless down pipe
Process west top mount verticooler
Cobb intake
Stage 2 Clutch of some sort
Cobb Access port w/ Stage 2 +SF Intake 91 tune (safe tuned?)
STI Stainless steel exhaust
depends how bad your failure was. if you had metal shavings in the oil YES YOU SHOULD REPLACE YOUR TURBO because there are metal shavings in your oil passages and they will just be sent into your new motor causing damage. it needs to be completely cleaned and rebuilt which can sometimes cost the same as a good used turbo.
what happened when your motor failed? more info is needed for a proper answer.
The turbo does 2 things:
1). Pulls outside air, through compressor side, into motor.
2). Uses exhaust from engine to spin the turbine, exiting out the exhaust.
Engine blowing only affects #2... if there's any metal particles, they will go out of the exhaust. Since you're catless, they'll just pass.
Motor shavings cannot go from exhaust into the engine again unless the turbo blows up itself into little pieces... even then you have the intercooler in the way as a filter almost.
Try to spin it by hand and see if there's anything resisting. Clean it as best you can. You'll be fine.
From what i am getting for information right now it is my ring lands that are gone in cylinder 2. The engine hasn't been pulled out or torn apart yet to see if there are any metal shavings or anything. I am just trying to get a good idea on which route i should go and how much money i should plan on spending.
Rule of thumb, if you blew a motor and you ran it for any length of time after the gnine failed then yea swapping the turbo is a good call. Honestly there are pleanty of performance companies out there that make great drop in replacements its almost worth it to have a new turbo installed before you go have it tuned for the new engine.
Just my .02
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