Turbo Woes.

Doesn't this look like a mountain of fun? It actually was pretty fun. Today I took off the turbo, which required a lot of shit to be taken off. It took me around 2 hours to actually get the thing off, and about 45 minutes to figure out how to take it apart. After some minor disassembly I knew that things had gone awry. The shaft didn't spin freely, and required a bit of force to spin. There was also a considerable amount of oil in the turbine housing. This is the turbine housing, and it should be completely dry. Notice that it's not. Yeah, something isn't right.

This is the rear oil seal. It sits on the rear of the center section, between the turbine wheel and the main body. Notice that there is a bunch of gunk in there. Yeah, it's not supposed to be in there.
Here is the center section, where the seal mates up with the body. Notice the gunk, once AGAIN. This is where all of the oil is leaking from. I believe there may have been some sort of seal in there which is no longer functioning.
Here is the turbine wheel, which is completely covered in oil. This thing was leaking REAL bad. I don't know if the whole thing is junk yet, but I kinda hope it's not. Another used turbo is only about $150-$200, but I could run the risk of this happening again. But then again, I know I could have it out and back in within the span of a day, so it wouldn't be that bad if it failed again. But I wouldn't want pieces of the compressor wheel breaking off and flying into my engine.
Here is a photo of my car as it sits right now. Yes, that is our lift. We've had it for about two months now. It makes life REALLY easy when it comes to working on things. If I didn't have the lift, the turbo job would have taken AGES. Luckily, it only took me two hours.


I'm going to Mazmart on Tuesday to see how much a used turbo is. If it's not too much, then I'll just get another one. If it's too much, a seal kit is only $110. A used turbo could be in the car within the day, whereas a seal kit would take about a week to arrive. I first need to find out if the turbo is salvageable.