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.

14b turbo rebuild; will it be reliable?

jepherz

Staff member
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
7,877
Location
KC, Missouri
The 14b on my completely stock vr4 is leaking oil pretty bad. There are drips appearing from underneath the compressor housing and I'm going through about a quart of oil every 500 miles. I guess I have a few options:
1-buy a brand new turbo, the $500 evoIII is about as cheap as it gets.
2-throw on a questionable used turbo. 14b's are even hard to find, let alone with low miles from a trustable seller.
3-rebuild the 14b that I have on there.

I don't care to get any more power by doing this; this is my daily driver and I just want to be able to drive it for 100,000 more miles. I guess rebuilding the 14b is the best option. For those of you that have rebuilt a mitsubishi turbo, did you have good or bad luck with the rebuild? I don't want to sacrifice the reliability of my car and get stranded somewhere, but if the chances are good that everything goes well with the rebuild, I'd like to give it a shot.

Thanks for any tips!
 

Terry Posten

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
9,009
Location
Davenport, Iowa USA
Give Turbo Auto in Nashville a call.

They rebiult a MHI EIII turbo for me for less than $150.

click

Curtis knows him and he did great work for me. (also where I got my PTE6251R).
 

jepherz

Staff member
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
7,877
Location
KC, Missouri
Wow, that sounds like a heck of a deal. Only problem with that is I really want to fix it ASAP cause I'm wasting so much oil, so I wouldn't be able to have the car down long enough to get that done... Hmm....
 

Terry Posten

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
9,009
Location
Davenport, Iowa USA
He had my EIII back to me in about a week. Fully balenced and tested.

Does suck to have it down though.

I will call a friend of mine here in town tomorrow to see if he has a good one or maybe a core if you want.
 

Terry Posten

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
9,009
Location
Davenport, Iowa USA
Also, if you stay with a 14b, leave the hot side in the car and just remove the center and comp housing. That way the removal is super simple and you don't have to break the mani seal or risk breaking a bolt.

He does not need the hot side to do his work.
 

jepherz

Staff member
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
7,877
Location
KC, Missouri
Well, in that build thread, he's saying that the turbos are possibly only balanced as individual parts. That's good news. However, I swear the nut on the turbine side is balanced which I would think the whole assembly is balanced.

Have you used OEM vs. not OEM rebuild kits? Is it worth paying $120 for actual mitsubishi parts?
 

grocery_getter

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 20, 2004
Messages
1,225
Location
Kent - industrial suburbs of Seattle, WA
Chinese made one: click

Looks like something that can be build yourself with a pair of V blocks, a DC motor, small belt drive, a preload system of some sort for the belt, and a strobe light to see the bouncing pattern on the marked blade. Not sure how close of a balance can be achieved with this method. Not even a close precision balance to the turbotechnics VSR machine. How does the guy that charge $150 to rebuild turbos can afford the proper balancing tool? Or is that shop just winging it as well just like a DIY guy at home?
 

Terry Posten

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 16, 2003
Messages
9,009
Location
Davenport, Iowa USA
That price was a few years ago and I had already spent $1500 on a new PTE setup. I had also installed a full rebiuld kit in the EIII but it was still leaking oil into the comp housing.

He took it in and fixed it. If I recall correctly, he charged me around $125 with return shipping. He did say it was out of balence be just a fraction and fixed it.

I do not know what tools he has but his products, service, and support were great.
 

iceman69510

Turn Right Racing
Staff member
Joined
Mar 5, 2001
Messages
10,964
Location
Michigan
Jeff. I have various parts of 14b turbos lying around if you need any parts or want something to send it to get rebuilt.
 

jepherz

Staff member
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Messages
7,877
Location
KC, Missouri
Well, I bought a rebuild kit from ebay for around $120. I splurged for the "OEM" kit for sanity's sake. There were many more parts in this kit than in the other mom and pop shop kits, partially why it was more money. I'm confused though, all of the parts bags had Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on them, and although none of them were typical Mitsubishi part numbers, even stuff like the turbo drain gasket didn't look like the one's you typically get from the dealer? Maybe Mitsubishi Heavy Industries really is that much different from Mitsubishi, I don't know.

Anyways, I rebuilt the turbo in a night a few weekends ago and replaced everything except for the two snaprings on the inner side of the main shaft bearings within the center section. They were just too small and far inside the center section to get out. I marked the location of the compressor wheel on the turbine shaft to get it close to balanced as possible (if these turbos are even balanced as a unit...). I have about 500 miles on the rebuild with no problems, and my oil consumption seems to have gone way down, although it's very hard to tell not going on a long trip. It hopefully fixed the fact that my oil was getting super dirty too.
 

raptorWagon

Well-known member
Joined
May 17, 2007
Messages
2,827
Location
Oak Harbor, WA
Quoting jepherz:
Only problem with that is I really want to fix it ASAP cause I'm wasting so much oil,



It's not wasting oil, think of it as flushing out your oil system /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif. If you had sticky lifters before, you won't by the time you get done flushing it and your oil will be clear every time you check it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif.

I know your pain though, I went through a lot of oil when I moved from the east coast to the west losing about the same amount of oil. Then it got too the point where if I got on it too hard, it would be just about out in a hour, that's when I said it was time for a new one.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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