I finally got around to replacing the turbo cartridge in my 2006 2.5 turbo. I bought the car with 167k on it with a noisy turbo. The guy I bought it from sold it cheap because he said he was pretty sure it needed a turbo and knew that it was an expensive job. It had a nasty howl when cold and although it ran ok it was down on power. There seemed to be quite a bit of oil in the turbo piping so I did a full PCV replacement but it was actually in good shape so the noise was definitely the turbo.
Seeing how many people are using ebay turbos to make 1,000 hp with a clapped out LS motor I figured I'd try that route with this car. I bought a turbo cartridge from maxspeedingrods that came with a 2 year warranty for $94. This is how it showed up:
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It was in a clear plastic bag inside a loose-fitting Styrofoam surround. The Styrofoam wasn't even that snug in the cardboard box. The blades looked straight enough though so I guess it worked.
I put the car on ramps and pulled the belly pan and that stupid skid plate to get at the radiator drain. The skidplate is held on with three 13mm head bolts per side which come out easy enough but the way that the skidplate is wedged up inside the bumper makes removing it way harder than it needs to be. I found that sliding it off the driver's side first then rotating it forward and out works the best. Then put a short length of 3/8" hose on the drain nipple and loosen it to drain the coolant into a jug. You have to unthread that quite far to make it drain. Like 10 turns. You should get about 1 gallon of coolant out. Then you can pull off the crossmember and upper engine mount. Now unbolt the upper heat shield over the turbo. It is held on by three 10mm bolts. I only had to undo the two bolts on the engine because the third one off the manifold had rotted through the shield. Take off the over-the-engine pipe and the inlet tube. The clamps use a 7mm socket. Then slide under the car and loosen the coolant banjo bolts on the turbo using a 17mm socket. I have a flex-head ratchet with 96 pt engagement which worked great for this. Be prepared with a drain pan and enjoy the feeling of coolant pouring down your arm inside your sleeve. While you are under there, loosen up the clamp that holds the oil return line to the oil feed line. It is an 8mm bolt head and a 10mm nut. Loosen it until it is almost off then slide it toward the block where you can pop it off the lines. Or take the nut all of the way off like me and drop it somewhere never to be seen again. Then loosen the two t27 torx bolts holding the oil drain line to the bottom of the turbo. Tight fit for these. I used a 1/4" ratchet with the torx bit. Remove the return line. Mine was stuck in the block so I pulled it out from the top after I pulled the turbo but. Now head back up top and unclip the wastegate and unbolt it from the turbo. It is held on with two 12mm bolts. Pull the wastegate off to the side, disconnect the hose and remove it. Now you can loosen the oil feed line from the top of the turbo using a 17mm socket. Next, loosen the v-band clamp holding the turbo cartridge to the exhaust housing. It is a 10mm nut. I strongly recommend stuffing rags under the manifold and on top of the angle gear for this. As soon as I got the nut off and tried to pull out the bolt I dropped it and it plunged way down deep in the space between the angle gear, block and transmission and being a high-grade stainless steel it isn't magnetic so I can't get it back. Now you can give the turbo a little hit with a hammer to loosen it. Once a gap opens up you can pry it apart and twist it to begin lifting it out. The hoses to the CBV and the turbine housing are now easily disconnected and you can take it out of the car. It wouldn't fit between the firewall and the engine without removing the wastegate. Here's what came out:
![Image]()
I was told that this is what happens when the bearing wears enough that the turbine hits the housing. Fortunately the bits that came off of this ended up in the exhaust and not the engine. Looks like I found the source of the noise.
Now you have to get the cartridge out of the compressor housing. It is held in with a big c-clip. Being that it is a steel clip holding a cast iron lump in an aluminum housing there is plenty of dissimilar metal action going on at this connection. I have a set of crappy Harbor Freight c-clip pliers that I bought a while ago that look to be up to the job but they aren't. I used a chisel to break the clip free, then went to work with the c-clip pliers but they flexed and distorted so much that I had to add a pair of vise grips to the mix along with a small screwdriver. After what took way too long I managed to get the clip out and popped off the housing. It looked like this:
![Image]()
Way better than I was expecting considering the condition of the exhaust side. It looks like the wheel only touched it once or twice. I cleaned out the mounting grove with a pick and a screwdriver and cleaned up the c-clip with a pad on my little air buffer and popped it back together using the o-ring that came with the turbo cartridge. There is an alignment pin on the cartridge that keeps you from clocking it incorrectly. Be sure to get that lined up properly when putting the c-clip back in. The c-clip has a bevel on one side which faces outward. While this is out, use a vacuum pump to make sure the CBV holds a vacuum and that you can hear it functioning. Now cover the outlet with tape or a glove and thread the oil banjo bolt into the inlet to cap it and put the turbo back in. Be sure to connect the hoses on the CBV and turbine before lowering it into place. Pop the turbo into the exhaust housing and rotate it until the pin lines up and then get the v-band clamp in place. Install the bolt and start snugging it up. On mine, I found that the position of the clamp made getting the oil lines back on difficult so make sure it goes back in where it came off. It's worth snapping a picture of it before you unbolt it to save the hassle. Of course my upper bolt is now a bit longer than stock because I had to use whatever I had on hand to replace the one I dropped. Now you can crawl under the car again and install the oil return. MAKE SURE THE HOLE IN THE BLOCK IS CLEAR OF CORROSION. I have never replaced one of these before so I thought it felt clean enough and then had to fight to install the line. I couldn't see the lower seal sticking out at all so I thought I was all set. I wasn't and ended up coating the bottom of the car with oil before I got to do it again the next day. Use a screwdriver to scrape out the hole and some emery cloth. The lower seal should slide in pretty easily. On the redo, I coated it up with a little grease and then using a long prybar threaded up next to the downpipe and against the pipe at the flange I was able to push the seal in by tapping on the prybar with my palm. Then install the upper gasket and the torx bolts. They don't need to be too tight so don't go nuts. Now you can install the banjo bolts on the coolant lines along with new copper crush washers (part No. 11994 - you need 4 but get at least 6). Snug these down using a ratchet and some force. Tough balance here because they will break but they also leak. I found that the leaking stopped once it felt like they were tight but one more tug deformed the washers. Next, go back up top and install the oil feed line. These washers are part no. 947282. Get 3. Before I put the line on, I filled the inlet with clean engine oil using a syringe. Crawl back under the car and reinstall the clamp between the two oil lines. Optionally you can forget and then do it later after the exhaust is hot when you find it laying under the car. Next, reinstall the wastegate. Attach the hose then bolt it up. Check to see that the rod is about 1/2 a hole over from dropping on to the pin with the wastegate closed. Plenty of info online about setting the wastegate and ultimately mine dropped right on with about 4 psi of pressure but it was also about 1/2 hole with no pressure. If you car ran well before then you probably don't need to mess with it. Put the rod on and install the pin. Reinstall the heat shield, inlet pipe and the over-the-engine pipe. Fill the coolant reservoir and then start the car. Add coolant as needed. Check for leaks. Reinstall the skidplate and belly pan and go out for a drive in your car with a quiet, frighteningly cheap ebay turbo. On my initial drive I had crazy problems with mine spiking to 15 psi and then not boosting at all which after way too much effort I determined was the result of debris in the tcv. The tcv in my car had about 5,000 miles on it but with all of the messing around I must have loosened some scale from inside the hose which got lodged in the tcv. I sprayed it with MAF cleaner and blew it out with compressed air while cycling the valve using a 9 volt battery and now it works perfectly. Spools right up to 10 psi and stays there.
Seeing how many people are using ebay turbos to make 1,000 hp with a clapped out LS motor I figured I'd try that route with this car. I bought a turbo cartridge from maxspeedingrods that came with a 2 year warranty for $94. This is how it showed up:
It was in a clear plastic bag inside a loose-fitting Styrofoam surround. The Styrofoam wasn't even that snug in the cardboard box. The blades looked straight enough though so I guess it worked.
I put the car on ramps and pulled the belly pan and that stupid skid plate to get at the radiator drain. The skidplate is held on with three 13mm head bolts per side which come out easy enough but the way that the skidplate is wedged up inside the bumper makes removing it way harder than it needs to be. I found that sliding it off the driver's side first then rotating it forward and out works the best. Then put a short length of 3/8" hose on the drain nipple and loosen it to drain the coolant into a jug. You have to unthread that quite far to make it drain. Like 10 turns. You should get about 1 gallon of coolant out. Then you can pull off the crossmember and upper engine mount. Now unbolt the upper heat shield over the turbo. It is held on by three 10mm bolts. I only had to undo the two bolts on the engine because the third one off the manifold had rotted through the shield. Take off the over-the-engine pipe and the inlet tube. The clamps use a 7mm socket. Then slide under the car and loosen the coolant banjo bolts on the turbo using a 17mm socket. I have a flex-head ratchet with 96 pt engagement which worked great for this. Be prepared with a drain pan and enjoy the feeling of coolant pouring down your arm inside your sleeve. While you are under there, loosen up the clamp that holds the oil return line to the oil feed line. It is an 8mm bolt head and a 10mm nut. Loosen it until it is almost off then slide it toward the block where you can pop it off the lines. Or take the nut all of the way off like me and drop it somewhere never to be seen again. Then loosen the two t27 torx bolts holding the oil drain line to the bottom of the turbo. Tight fit for these. I used a 1/4" ratchet with the torx bit. Remove the return line. Mine was stuck in the block so I pulled it out from the top after I pulled the turbo but. Now head back up top and unclip the wastegate and unbolt it from the turbo. It is held on with two 12mm bolts. Pull the wastegate off to the side, disconnect the hose and remove it. Now you can loosen the oil feed line from the top of the turbo using a 17mm socket. Next, loosen the v-band clamp holding the turbo cartridge to the exhaust housing. It is a 10mm nut. I strongly recommend stuffing rags under the manifold and on top of the angle gear for this. As soon as I got the nut off and tried to pull out the bolt I dropped it and it plunged way down deep in the space between the angle gear, block and transmission and being a high-grade stainless steel it isn't magnetic so I can't get it back. Now you can give the turbo a little hit with a hammer to loosen it. Once a gap opens up you can pry it apart and twist it to begin lifting it out. The hoses to the CBV and the turbine housing are now easily disconnected and you can take it out of the car. It wouldn't fit between the firewall and the engine without removing the wastegate. Here's what came out:
I was told that this is what happens when the bearing wears enough that the turbine hits the housing. Fortunately the bits that came off of this ended up in the exhaust and not the engine. Looks like I found the source of the noise.
Now you have to get the cartridge out of the compressor housing. It is held in with a big c-clip. Being that it is a steel clip holding a cast iron lump in an aluminum housing there is plenty of dissimilar metal action going on at this connection. I have a set of crappy Harbor Freight c-clip pliers that I bought a while ago that look to be up to the job but they aren't. I used a chisel to break the clip free, then went to work with the c-clip pliers but they flexed and distorted so much that I had to add a pair of vise grips to the mix along with a small screwdriver. After what took way too long I managed to get the clip out and popped off the housing. It looked like this:
Way better than I was expecting considering the condition of the exhaust side. It looks like the wheel only touched it once or twice. I cleaned out the mounting grove with a pick and a screwdriver and cleaned up the c-clip with a pad on my little air buffer and popped it back together using the o-ring that came with the turbo cartridge. There is an alignment pin on the cartridge that keeps you from clocking it incorrectly. Be sure to get that lined up properly when putting the c-clip back in. The c-clip has a bevel on one side which faces outward. While this is out, use a vacuum pump to make sure the CBV holds a vacuum and that you can hear it functioning. Now cover the outlet with tape or a glove and thread the oil banjo bolt into the inlet to cap it and put the turbo back in. Be sure to connect the hoses on the CBV and turbine before lowering it into place. Pop the turbo into the exhaust housing and rotate it until the pin lines up and then get the v-band clamp in place. Install the bolt and start snugging it up. On mine, I found that the position of the clamp made getting the oil lines back on difficult so make sure it goes back in where it came off. It's worth snapping a picture of it before you unbolt it to save the hassle. Of course my upper bolt is now a bit longer than stock because I had to use whatever I had on hand to replace the one I dropped. Now you can crawl under the car again and install the oil return. MAKE SURE THE HOLE IN THE BLOCK IS CLEAR OF CORROSION. I have never replaced one of these before so I thought it felt clean enough and then had to fight to install the line. I couldn't see the lower seal sticking out at all so I thought I was all set. I wasn't and ended up coating the bottom of the car with oil before I got to do it again the next day. Use a screwdriver to scrape out the hole and some emery cloth. The lower seal should slide in pretty easily. On the redo, I coated it up with a little grease and then using a long prybar threaded up next to the downpipe and against the pipe at the flange I was able to push the seal in by tapping on the prybar with my palm. Then install the upper gasket and the torx bolts. They don't need to be too tight so don't go nuts. Now you can install the banjo bolts on the coolant lines along with new copper crush washers (part No. 11994 - you need 4 but get at least 6). Snug these down using a ratchet and some force. Tough balance here because they will break but they also leak. I found that the leaking stopped once it felt like they were tight but one more tug deformed the washers. Next, go back up top and install the oil feed line. These washers are part no. 947282. Get 3. Before I put the line on, I filled the inlet with clean engine oil using a syringe. Crawl back under the car and reinstall the clamp between the two oil lines. Optionally you can forget and then do it later after the exhaust is hot when you find it laying under the car. Next, reinstall the wastegate. Attach the hose then bolt it up. Check to see that the rod is about 1/2 a hole over from dropping on to the pin with the wastegate closed. Plenty of info online about setting the wastegate and ultimately mine dropped right on with about 4 psi of pressure but it was also about 1/2 hole with no pressure. If you car ran well before then you probably don't need to mess with it. Put the rod on and install the pin. Reinstall the heat shield, inlet pipe and the over-the-engine pipe. Fill the coolant reservoir and then start the car. Add coolant as needed. Check for leaks. Reinstall the skidplate and belly pan and go out for a drive in your car with a quiet, frighteningly cheap ebay turbo. On my initial drive I had crazy problems with mine spiking to 15 psi and then not boosting at all which after way too much effort I determined was the result of debris in the tcv. The tcv in my car had about 5,000 miles on it but with all of the messing around I must have loosened some scale from inside the hose which got lodged in the tcv. I sprayed it with MAF cleaner and blew it out with compressed air while cycling the valve using a 9 volt battery and now it works perfectly. Spools right up to 10 psi and stays there.
