The Top Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 Resource

Join the best E39A 1991-1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 community and document your GVR4 journey.

  • Software Upgraded - Reset Your Password to Login
    In order to log in after the forum software change, you need to reset your password. If you don't have access to the email address you used to register your GVR4.org account, you won't be able to reset your password. In that case, follow the instructions here to regain access to the forum.

2 turbos in a month????

number936

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2011
Messages
21
Location
nowhere, WI
I bought my GVR4 about 2 months ago, fixed a few things and started DDing it for about 300 mi a week. Then about a month later, I replaced the downpipe with a 3" evo pipe, and before I got hangers fabbed up, I had it temporarily wired up, and it fell down once. I pulled to the side of the road and re wired it back up, took off and had absolutely no boost. didn't even make 0 vac. Before I made it to work, it was burning oil BAD.
Out came the turbo and in went a CXracing big 16g.
Ran great for another month.
Tonight after work, I started my car to let it warm up, went back inside for 15 min, came back out, smelled a little oil and saw smokey exhaust. Smelled the exhaust, and didn't smell any oil. Looked under the car and saw a little puddle and caught a drip. Drove home 10 mi, car ran fine and I didn't get an oil light.
Looking it over, I have oil puddled on top the valve cover, sprayed out on the front subframe and bottom of the radiator, and PUDDLED in my muffler, and a little in the J-pipe.

Are my seals blown again? (can't quite recall which one is the oil feed line, the on on top, or in between the block and the turbo) but where else could the high pressure oil be spraying from? If not seals, where could so much oil in the exhaust come from?


If this turbo is shot too, this car is gone. I'll buy a new turbo and pass it along to the next sucker..... Unless there's a simple, stupid reason why I keep wrecking turbos??


Any help would be appreciated. Sorry about the way this is typed, I'm just trying to avoid getting nailed by the "no swear" rule, I'm pretty pissed at this piont. Just got done buying two $90 rear brake calipers..... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif
 

Brunoboy

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
2,880
Location
San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
kinked oil return line (turbo to block), Bad PCV Valve, Excessive crank case pressure.......
 

OMFGeofffff

Well-known member
Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
867
Location
Burnsville, MN
Give it one more shot and buy a real mhi turbo. 14bs are extremely cheap nowadays. Just check it over before you buy.

The oil feed line is the one on the top of turbo. The coolant lines are on the front and back then the return is on the bottom obviously. Did you use new copper crush washers?
 

transparentdsm

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 27, 2011
Messages
3,690
Location
Cherry Hill, NJ
dont buy the cheap ebay crap, i boutht one of those cheap 16gs a while back and it lasted me like 3 weeks before i shattered the wastegate flapper. i learned through a lot of trial and error about trying to do things the cheap way. it cost you a lot more in the end...
 

IncorpoRatedX

Well-known member
Joined
May 28, 2003
Messages
5,593
Location
Arizona
Quoting number936:
I bought my GVR4 about 2 months ago, fixed a few things and started DDing it for about 300 mi a week. Then about a month later, I replaced the downpipe with a 3" evo pipe, and before I got hangers fabbed up, I had it temporarily wired up, and it fell down once. I pulled to the side of the road and re wired it back up, took off and had absolutely no boost. didn't even make 0 vac. Before I made it to work, it was burning oil BAD.
Out came the turbo and in went a CXracing big 16g.
Ran great for another month.
Tonight after work, I started my car to let it warm up, went back inside for 15 min, came back out, smelled a little oil and saw smokey exhaust. Smelled the exhaust, and didn't smell any oil. Looked under the car and saw a little puddle and caught a drip. Drove home 10 mi, car ran fine and I didn't get an oil light.
Looking it over, I have oil puddled on top the valve cover, sprayed out on the front subframe and bottom of the radiator, and PUDDLED in my muffler, and a little in the J-pipe.

Are my seals blown again? (can't quite recall which one is the oil feed line, the on on top, or in between the block and the turbo) but where else could the high pressure oil be spraying from? If not seals, where could so much oil in the exhaust come from?


If this turbo is shot too, this car is gone. I'll buy a new turbo and pass it along to the next sucker..... Unless there's a simple, stupid reason why I keep wrecking turbos??


Any help would be appreciated. Sorry about the way this is typed, I'm just trying to avoid getting nailed by the "no swear" rule, I'm pretty pissed at this piont. Just got done buying two $90 rear brake calipers..... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif




The car isnt the problem, you are. If you don't even know which side is the oil feed or return is; you might want to pass it on to the next 'sucker' in hopes that the next person actually knows what they're doing. Or there's always the option of searching on the forum and educating yourself.



Ebay turbo's are generally junk for performance, now if you're legitimately just 'trying to get by' i've run an ebay 16g at 7psi for tens of thousands of miles reliably. When you turn them up past that is when you get into trouble.
 

number936

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2011
Messages
21
Location
nowhere, WI
This is a case of somebody looking at post counts and saying "wow what a noob" and while I admit I know next to nothing about turbos (this is my first real experience with them) I'm not an idiot. No, I couldnt quite recall which particular line was oil and which were coolant, but thinking about it now, it's logical that it's the top one. And most of what I posted last night was worded out of frustration, the next "sucker" translates to someone who can actually appreciate and take care of the car if it turns out that I just can't wrap my head around a turbo....

Thanks to the rest of you for your suggestions. The turbo was installed with new gaskets and crush washers throughout. The return pipe is the factory hard line and doesn't appear to be kinked.

I'm about to get out to the shop and look at it further as I was trying to slide under it at midnight last night with a flashlight. The more I think about it though, the more I think the leak is not from the turbo. It seems much more likely that the exhaust leak is letting oil IN to the exhaust, since I don't think exhaust pressure would be enough to spray the oil out around the engine compartment like it is.
 

curtis

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2003
Messages
11,892
Location
Clarksville TN
Pull the valve cover , on the passenger side of the head you'll see a plate with 3 6mm bolts make sure thsi is torqued down and sealed. A local guy went through 3 20g's when they were the end all be all of turbos all because oil was praying out and not sealing. Also remove the bolt from the head and clean out the oil supply line it could be blocked up. If the comp side has more play than the exhaust its probably a start up supply problem and these two things could be the problem.
 

So because of your cheapness you are going to pass a problem onto some "sucker"? Sounds like you are the sucker, for buying some cheap ass eBay Chinese junk and expecting longevity and reliability from it. Or because you cant identify a fairly simple problem. People like you who pass problems along are why these old turbo mitsu cars get a bad rep, and what helps break a community down. If I had the money I'd buy your car and then have it running flawlessly in less than few weeks.

You need to make sure your oil drain tube is not kinked or blocked. Make sure the oil feed line is working properly with no blockage. Make sure your pcv valve is good. If it's not buy a new OEM one, not some cheap one. After you have checked that, check to make sure your cat is not clogged, a clogged cat can kill a turbo. Make sure your exhaust gaskets are good too.

Oil pooled in the exhaust sounds to me like it can't exit the turbo fast enough through the correct hole (drain tube) and it's being forced to find another exit.

You may need to upgrade to something like this. click

Do some investigative work.

Curtis for the win. I didn't think of the vc. I think you are talking about the valve cover breather tube, correct? It's on the passenger side. Makes sense, another area that alleviates pressure.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Barnes

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 9, 2003
Messages
6,249
Location
Richland, WA
zberto:

" And most of what I posted last night was worded out of frustration, the next "sucker" translates to someone who can actually appreciate and take care of the car if it turns out that I just can't wrap my head around a turbo...."
 

Yeah I saw his second post after I posted that so disregard. I'm here to help.
 

number936

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2011
Messages
21
Location
nowhere, WI
Well It is the turbo. Oil is dripping steadily from the flange on the downpipe where there's a slight ledge where it can puddle.

So other than it being a cheap turbo, what would cause them to fail?

I will check the plate under the valve cover, thanks.

Also, who's the best source for a new turbo?
Stealership says $1600 and it's discontinued.
 

IncorpoRatedX

Well-known member
Joined
May 28, 2003
Messages
5,593
Location
Arizona
14b's are all over the forums, even craigslist.

but, what psi were you running? Ebay turbo's last at low boost, they dont take high boost very well.


Also, check the STOCK return line to ensure it's not coked up, common killer of turbos, people dont let them cool down any, oil cokes up in the return line, turbo dies.
 

Brunoboy

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
2,880
Location
San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
all the turbos i have ever had were used. and I only switch to go bigger. Buy one thats in good condition, or one that may need a slight rebuild and rebuild it yourself.
 

IncorpoRatedX

Well-known member
Joined
May 28, 2003
Messages
5,593
Location
Arizona
Quoting number936:
Would you condone buying a used turbo?




yup, most of the ones i've ever had were used. if there's no shaft play/wobble and it spins freely, especially if it's just a stock 14b someone pulled to upgrade.
 

number936

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2011
Messages
21
Location
nowhere, WI
So at this point, my plan of attack is to pick up a used 14b from the classifieds.

Tomorrow I'll get a fitting so I can put an oil pressure gauge right on the oil feed and look for a delay on cold starts.

I'm gonna assume that the seals failed because of the insane amount of boost I was pushing through my eBay 16g (15 lbs), but I want to know what else I can do to check for underlying conditions in case it wasn't the turbos fault
 

number936

Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2011
Messages
21
Location
nowhere, WI
Decent price, but still, ouch. I think I'll try the used turbo first in case I haven't solved whatever's causing them to fail.
 

curtis

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2003
Messages
11,892
Location
Clarksville TN
Quoting zberto:


Curtis for the win. I didn't think of the vc. I think you are talking about the valve cover breather tube, correct? It's on the passenger side. Makes sense, another area that alleviates pressure.




No the pressure block thats on the head on the passenger side under the valvecover. The pump feeds the motor then the head the last thing in the car that gets oil is the turbo. If this isn't torqued down , pressure will leak and at low rpms is enough to starve the turbo
 
Support Vendors who Support the GVR-4 Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Recent Forum Posts

Top