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Ebay turbo review!!!!!

142K views 190 replies 78 participants last post by  Jp90Talon 
#1 ·
Alright guys, I have read so many conflicting reviews on this topic that I have got to put in a word...

I purchased a T3 T04E turbo kit off of ebay about 2 months ago BEFORE I found this site. I get on here and find all kinds of bad oppinions but the one thing that kept my optimism up was that everyone who said they were crap heard of a friend of a freinds friends moms brothers dad (you get the idea) who installed one and it blew.....never a first hand encounter.

So I put mine on, it took alot of little modifications....I do have supporting mods by the way so no fuse lighting. I figured that since the things are so cheap i had better refrain from going crazy till about a week or so of driving. In the end I had no chooice cus I was not getting any more then 2 lbs of boost for 2 weeks due to a few minor problems so needless to say I broke the turbo in very well BEFORE I applied any load whatsever to it and I made sure I primed my oils system for about 5 minutes before ever starting the car. I was patient and I took it easy on the turbo for a whole two weeks and then I cranked it up and damn if those friends moms dads friends werent wrong. I have pushed this thing hard for the past week and I check it everyday...ie..shaft play, listen for sounds and check for free spinning. Note: when I first got this thing it didnt spin too freely cus it was tight but now when I spin the turbin it will spin for nearly 30 seconds. I think that these turbos were never broken in or even tested and that is part of the reason why they are so cheap...a turbonetics unit is deffinitly tested and ran for atleast enough time to break in the bearings and what not. For those who have had these blow, I am assuming they just put it on and had fun the second they had the car warm.

Now I know that I have only had it boosting for a few days so I am still in the dark when it comes to turbo reliability but I am certain that my precausions helped atleast somewhat with prolonging the life of this turbo. I will take some pictures of my final setup and I will report back to show people that ignorance is the reason why any turbo blows!!!

Thanks guys
 
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#27 ·
BigBoostDSM said:
In that case, just give it a month or two and you'll change your mind. I have a buddy who used their twin turbo kit for his mustang. The compressor housing FELL OFF the turbo. Literally fell off, as in it was glued on.

But hey, if you have good luck with them more power to you. I just wish their products were a little bit higher quality.
Well then, this must be a different brand cus this turbo is certainly not glued together......I went through it to inspect for any problems before i installed it and everything was bolted down.
 
#28 ·
4g64fiero said:
I've bought the fmic and turbo and turbo manifold, wastegate, bov and fmic piping.
I'm gonna try it, I figure if it fails, whatever. I'll get forged internals and a decent turbo.
I think you will be happy, just be prepared for a somewhat not straight forward installation......I had to make a spacer for my exhaust manifold because the turbo housing was hitting my block!!! The O2 housing was fun to make as well.....Don't let this discurage you as i would buy this kit again in a heart beat. As for it possibly failing, just make sure you pay closer attention to it and check everything out now and again to prevent any serious problems.
 
#29 ·
greenstreak said:
No, you do not need to quote you original post. I read it. I am making the point that this review is worthless after a week of ownership. You recognized that a week isn't enough so why put the review up when it holds little merit?
Sorry if I made you mad but this review is not worthless.................It is an ongoing review that will take those who are interested through the stages and give them a more detailed review. Sure most reviews are posted after a year of use on an item but there is nothing wrong with the way I am doing this.

Thanks
 
#30 ·
newlitemotorist said:
I think you will be happy, just be prepared for a somewhat not straight forward installation......I had to make a spacer for my exhaust manifold because the turbo housing was hitting my block!!! The O2 housing was fun to make as well.....Don't let this discurage you as i would buy this kit again in a heart beat. As for it possibly failing, just make sure you pay closer attention to it and check everything out now and again to prevent any serious problems.


You can turn the cold side around, you didnt have to do that.
I was about to make a spacer as well but then I figured out that by unbolting the bolts around the outside of th coldside, you can turn it.
After that, I still had to grind some metal of so the hotside wouldnt hit the area of the block that houses the balance shaft. Now I have to reroute the coolant pipe that used to go behind the turbo.

Where did you get the top oil fitting?
 
#31 ·
4g64fiero said:
You can turn the cold side around, you didnt have to do that.
I was about to make a spacer as well but then I figured out that by unbolting the bolts around the outside of th coldside, you can turn it.
After that, I still had to grind some metal of so the hotside wouldnt hit the area of the block that houses the balance shaft. Now I have to reroute the coolant pipe that used to go behind the turbo.

Where did you get the top oil fitting?
It is good that in your case you did not have to make a spacer but as with everything, no two manifolds are exactly the same. My hot side was hitting enough that I could not bring myself to removing that much material so I just whipped out the plasma cutter.....Also, I know that the cold side can be adjusted as i had to position it just right to work for my application. One other thing, the center cartridge on my turbo when I got it was upside down. I didnt notice it until I got my oil feed kit cus the stock oil return line has the same size flange as the oil feed on these turbos. Be sure to flip it around so the larger hole is faceing down. I bought my oil feed kit off of ebay for 60.00 dollars. Make sure you get the good one cus there are some shouddy ones over there for like 20 bucks, I wouldnt recommend taking that chance cus it means the life of your turbo. If you must, get the cheap one...as no one recommends these turbos either.
 
#33 ·
I helped my friend AJ install a ebay t04E on his MR2 and it has worked without problems for about 7 months now, thats including a hard hot summer of 18 PSI on his 3SGTE. I will say that the turbo is a cheap mod but the install would be alot worse on a DSM (the 3S already uses the ford 5 bolt 02 housing so the turbo basically bolted right up to the MR2).

However, on the flip side a kid up the street got the cheap 16G and it did fail after only one year/15k miles. So it may be hit or miss with this stuff and thats why it is dirt cheap.
 
#34 ·
newlitemotorist said:
It is good that in your case you did not have to make a spacer but as with everything, no two manifolds are exactly the same. My hot side was hitting enough that I could not bring myself to removing that much material so I just whipped out the plasma cutter.....Also, I know that the cold side can be adjusted as i had to position it just right to work for my application. One other thing, the center cartridge on my turbo when I got it was upside down. I didnt notice it until I got my oil feed kit cus the stock oil return line has the same size flange as the oil feed on these turbos. Be sure to flip it around so the larger hole is faceing down. I bought my oil feed kit off of ebay for 60.00 dollars. Make sure you get the good one cus there are some shouddy ones over there for like 20 bucks, I wouldnt recommend taking that chance cus it means the life of your turbo. If you must, get the cheap one...as no one recommends these turbos either.

I'll probably make a spacer as well, even though it fits fine now. Theres just nowhere for the coolant lines to go around the turbo since the turbo is straight against the block.
I didnt notice the oil feed being backwards. Thats probably why so many of these fail.
 
#35 ·
Update.....Turbo is still running strong. I am having mad problems with boost leaks and am in much need of an upgraded intercooler and a FP rewire as I can hear my TRE-performance 255 winneing every now and again. Next on the list is to make my whole intake 2.5 inchs with a new front mount intercooler, build a custom air box for cold air, and a upgrade of some sort form my throttle body...either a new larger elbow flange or I was thinking since I have one laying around, maybe I could swap to a tb off of a 94 non-turbo 2.0. It has atleast a 2.75 inlet......could this work ok??? If so then all I would need would be a 45* elbow reducer to hook up to my inlet pipe.

Thanks
 
#37 · (Edited)
I know alot of people knock ebay turbo's but I can read my fair share of many vendor brand turbo's not holding up also. Just search blown turbo I could go down the list. IMO it doesn't seem that many of them hold up to the abuse as well before there rebuilding them a year or so down the line from blown FP to PTE to Holeset's/HX. Hell my PTE50trim had to be rebuilt after a few hundred miles after it surged on my buddy which wasn't his fault(guy has built many of motors for DSM for many of years) so now I'm taking a chance with it since PTE did rebuild for him. At least he got great customer service since they rebuilt it for him so not sure you can say that with ebay turbo's. Either way I hope this thread is around a year or 2 from now.
 
#41 ·
I bought a ebay Evo 3 16g turbo about a month ago, havent yet installed. I am still waiting on a engine from Japan. I can tell you that initial check over is a good idea. I tested the wastegate on it and it would not open. The rod was adjusted closed with the actuator fully open. I readjusted the actuator rod and the wastegate opens at 12 psi like it is supposed to. The shaft was kind of tight, not a real free spin. I ran oil through the turbo with a oil flush machine I have at work and it spun free afterwords. I am interested to see the quality after the turbo is installed
 
#45 ·
yes i agree, this thread was indeed pointless, even though ebay is good for somethings, i wouldnt trust it with major mechanical parts lol..
 
#46 ·
If you think it is worthless, don't post. This is bullshit. All this guy wanted to do was post some information for the people who wanted to hear it, and I am one of those. If you aren't, don't click on the thread. Or do you join this forum to bring people down and make yourself sound superior on the INTERWEBZ. I have enjoyed this thread so far; his acknowledgement that it will be of more value down the road confirms what you guys have already said A MILLION TIMES. He said he will keep it updated to make it much more valuable and information-rich. QUIT POSTING WORTHLESS REPLIES ABOUT HOW WORTHLESS THIS WORTHLESS POST IS ON HIS WORTHLESS EBAY TURBO. He doesn't want to hear it.
 
#47 ·
123212321 said:
If you think it is worthless, don't post. This is bullshit. All this guy wanted to do was post some information for the people who wanted to hear it, and I am one of those. If you aren't, don't click on the thread. Or do you join this forum to bring people down and make yourself sound superior on the INTERWEBZ. I have enjoyed this thread so far; his acknowledgement that it will be of more value down the road confirms what you guys have already said A MILLION TIMES. He said he will keep it updated to make it much more valuable and information-rich. QUIT POSTING WORTHLESS REPLIES ABOUT HOW WORTHLESS THIS WORTHLESS POST IS ON HIS WORTHLESS EBAY TURBO. He doesn't want to hear it.

+1

Its a topic alot of people talk about. I cant see how its not important.

Ebay .57 trims are just tempting!
 
#48 ·
Heh, i didnt mean that it really is worthless, but i wouldnt trust an ebay turbo..sorry but thats my opinion and im sharing it with him :)
 
#49 ·
123212321 said:
If you think it is worthless, don't post. This is bullshit. All this guy wanted to do was post some information for the people who wanted to hear it, and I am one of those. If you aren't, don't click on the thread. Or do you join this forum to bring people down and make yourself sound superior on the INTERWEBZ. I have enjoyed this thread so far; his acknowledgement that it will be of more value down the road confirms what you guys have already said A MILLION TIMES. He said he will keep it updated to make it much more valuable and information-rich. QUIT POSTING WORTHLESS REPLIES ABOUT HOW WORTHLESS THIS WORTHLESS POST IS ON HIS WORTHLESS EBAY TURBO. He doesn't want to hear it.
Listen smart guy, how is this even a review?? The turbo isn't even installed yet so why bother posting in the first place?? Who wan'ts to see yet another 16G installed anyway? Old news and nobody cares. I'm not putting any stock in what you have to say anyway. Once again, worthless thread. :rolleyes:
 
#50 ·
Rippin, we have been through this a couple times. I know you don't care what I say, I know you have a million more posts than me, I know you have been here longer than I have been able to drive a car. . .

But he has the turbo installed. Did you even read the thread, bro? He talked about installing it, and the difficulties he had installing it because of it's ebay nature.
 
#51 ·
123212321 said:
Rippin, we have been through this a couple times. I know you don't care what I say, I know you have a million more posts than me, I know you have been here longer than I have been able to drive a car. . .

But he has the turbo installed. Did you even read the thread, bro? He talked about installing it, and the difficulties he had installing it because of it's ebay nature.
I was talking about this post by black90tsi.


I bought a ebay Evo 3 16g turbo about a month ago, havent yet installed. I am still waiting on a engine from Japan. I can tell you that initial check over is a good idea. I tested the wastegate on it and it would not open. The rod was adjusted closed with the actuator fully open. I readjusted the actuator rod and the wastegate opens at 12 psi like it is supposed to. The shaft was kind of tight, not a real free spin. I ran oil through the turbo with a oil flush machine I have at work and it spun free afterwords. I am interested to see the quality after the turbo is installed
 
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