Buying a Chinese turbo

[DavidB]

Is this a good idea to save on a couple of hundred pounds? Bearing in mind the genuine BMW turbos failed miserably (but after about 70,000 miles) - not sure if this was down to poor servicing.
They seem to range between £199 - £300, are these recon (like the ones you can get in this country), or newly manufactured? I'd be more suspect of the newly manufactured ones.

Has anyone had one go? Why are they so bad (casting? etc)

[dodgerover]

A friend bought 2 for his compound charged MGF as he expected to kill one before getting it right and the first one died due to lubrication issues (due to the set up not the turbo itself) the 2nd is still ok once the lubrication system has been sorted. I can find out who/ what website he got them from if you want.

[sb]

Look up bone marrow by hot rod garage, they built a twin turbo big block with cheap Chinese turbos and had no issues

[zippyobrien]

Lots of people buy them, then rebuild them straight away with genuine bearings.

[hario]

Jul 26, 2016 18:21:58 GMT zippyobrien said:

Lots of people buy them, then rebuild them straight away with genuine bearings.

I can tell you from experience on the Chinese Holset clones a genuine Holset bearing rebuild kit fits

[Adey]

Jul 26, 2016 18:21:58 GMT zippyobrien said:

Lots of people buy them, then rebuild them straight away with genuine bearings.

I have a pair of used and working fine Chinese ko4's for my audi b5 s4. I plan to do the same before fitting them. plenty of people in the states who build hybrids do this and a fair few uk folk are starting to do the same. the issue comes with finding a company willing to do it as some wont work with non genuine parts

[chodjinn]

Personally I have no experience, but have heard things about poor bearings, poor quality castings etc. For the sake of a few hundred quid, just buy a proper holset/BorgWarner/schwitzer. They are very cheap for what they are (more than half the price of the equivalent garrett etc) you just need to know where to look. Cheap, genuine borgs can be had from tractor autoparts. Tuners put massive markups on them, e.g. S300 turbo I have seen for up to about a grand, but you can get them for less than half that new.

By the time you buy a Chinese turbo, replace the bearings, you've saved literally a few quid. SOME people MAY have had success with them, but there isn't much come back/guarantee if it does go wrong. Not worth it.

[tim124]

I've used them several times, at the moment I have a GT27R copy (plain bearings) been on my bike 40K+ miles at up to 26psi still running sweet.....

[countvauxalot]

I see lots of horrible cheap copy stuff all the time, almost always in for rebuild after premature failure. I wouldn't touch it myself.

[Paul Y]

The general opinion from the American forums is that they are a lot better than they used to be.

A disassemble, clean (to remove the casting/machining residue) and careful reassembly seems to cure most faults. One3 have got a good reputation with the LS and Mustang crowd.

I am going to use one on my truck when I finally can spend some time/money on it!

P.

[claymore]

I use two on my Volvo, the general issue with them seems to be too high oil pressure because they don't come with a restrictor, I used a pop rivet in my first Chinese turbo without any issues and the turbo has gone through two owners since and is still fine four years later.

[DavidB]

6 months later and about 10,000 miles later the Chinese turbo is still running OK.
The original turbo was fine, the oil pressure circulation filter was clogged solid and forcing oil out through the seals. Ah well.

[fad]

Chinese turbos used to be like a Chinese meal... Satisfying at first but you find yourself needing another one shortly afterwards.

The historical reason for the price difference is also the metal used in the castings. Your detonated BMW turbo there held all the bits inside when it went. The trouble is, the material used in the cheaper castings is not designed to contain a turbo burst, and so *IF* your turbo grenades, that is where you will "feel" the price difference. In terms of functionality etc they are likely pretty much identical.

This is an (old) video of a turbo burst being contained. It's why turbo housings seem expensive for what they are when you buy genuine ones.




Here is a video of a direct comparison between a genuine and copy turbo:





I have NO recent experience of Chinese turbos. I'm using a genuine garret T3 on my Volksrod running carbon shaft seals, I'm proper old skool LOL

[DavidB]

The original turbo didn't detonate, there was nothing wrong with it apart from maybe seals needing replacing.
The new turbo was £250, I did check on a genuine one from BMW Chester but it was just too expensive, I bought everything else from there amounting to just under £300.

[fad]

Why the shattered compressor wheel then?

[Rich]

Feb 20, 2017 12:09:06 GMT fad said:

Why the shattered compressor wheel then?

I get the feeling that they were photos to keep the thread interesting

We only use CHRA turbo cores at work and my tweaked 300TDi landrover is running one with no ongoing issue, original turbo failed on mileage (248000!) and previous experience with CHRA units proved good enough to warrant it. Means keeping the OE castings, so safety-wise, ace, and I've not had one fail, whereas I have had 'cheap' UK sourced complete turbochargers fail quite alarmingly quickly.

[DavidB]

Feb 20, 2017 12:09:06 GMT fad said:

Why the shattered compressor wheel then?

Sorry, they were just reference pics for Chinese turbo failures.

[fad]

Aahh I see.

Keep in mind these thing spin fast. F*cking fast. Any imbalance, imperfection etc is game over.

I used to work for Borg Warner machining and balancing compressor wheels. Tolerances were SO tight. About 15% of wheels were scrapped owed to tiny casting blemishes, imbalances etc that could not be machined out. Crazy tolerances!

[Hillmanjames]

I run one on my v8 volvo, works great, been on around 5000 miles so far and they haven't been easy ones on it!

This is the same one as what i bought. Considerably cheaper than a genuine one. Helps keep it fun if i blow up a cheap turbo rather than an expensive one!

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/T70-Turbo-Turbocharger-T3-V-band-Flange-70-A-R-Oil-Drain-Return-FEED-Line-Kit-/361056856393?hash=item5410aa6949

[coyote]

says it all.