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turbo died need a replacement/upgrade

18K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  blue_fozzy 
#1 ·
we've had our 2010 forester since basically new and its been pretty good up till Monday just gone when on a trip to dubbo from Sydney it started playing up.
just after the blue mountains whenever it boosted it sounded like maybe an air pipe had come off a really loud sucking sound I pulled over and looked.....nothing unusual so decided to press on to Bathurst I figured it was the closest subi dealer.
bit further along the engine light comes on and turbo no longer boosts then it did then it didn't all this time making some very cringeworthy noises.
especially knowing what was happening and basically being powerless to do anything but press on.

got it to Bathurst and it sounded very sick I expected that they wouldn't be able to fix it then and there my wife seemed to think it'd be in and out in 10 minutes.
the service adviser said unless we left it with them there wasn't much they could do and they didn't have a replacement turbo anyway.
anyway long story short I drove it home with a seized turbo otherwise incident free.

NOW I removed the turbo and it is indeed stuffed at a guess the center bearing failed and chewed itself out given how much shaft play it has and after 40,000 ks i'm not impressed.

would anyone know what turbo I can bolt in other than the stock td04l? I cant find much info on this. I've heard of one getting upgraded to a vf46 but I would be happy with whatever right about now as I need it back up and running asap
 
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#2 ·
I would suggest that you approach Subaru.
A turbo should last more than 40k.
If the car has been serviced on schedule, I would suggest that Subaru should come to the party and contribute to the cost of a replacement.
Perhaps suggest they pay the labour and 4/5 of the cost of the parts (I reckon a life of 200k's is fair).
my 2c.
 
#3 ·
i'm pretty sure its out of warranty I will have to look into it even if it is its never been back to a dealership for service i've always done that myself so I wouldn't think they would be inclined.
as for the turbo the impeller shaft snapped the reason for it doing so is unknown unless the oil line got blocked or something.
once I pull the turbo down I should have a better idea if oil starvation caused the issue it was after some spirited driving in the mountains that it started acting strange.

either way I have a few calls to do tomorrow.
 
#5 ·
If you hear something not normal, especially from the engine or transmission, the worst thing to do is to continue to press on. Stop and turn off the car. A tow is cheaper than an engine or transmission. If that turbo blew anything into the engine, instead of replacing a turbo for a couple hundred bucks, you may now be needing an engine replacement/rebuild. Hope that is not the case though.

Hope it all goes well and you get it sorted.
 
#6 ·
true on both counts but this is generally my wife's car normally we take it on holidays or family type outings as my car is a hilux is used for work so it gets dirty and the missus does not like this!
i'm actually building an old corona up for something I can take out and throw around occasionally but that's another story.

Today I found a low km vf52 from a club spec 2012 wrx fitted it up with the only real mod being the heat shield was fouling on the wastegate actuator rod and at the pivot also so I just cut those sections out and its up and running beautifully and with a very nice boost curve too.
the td04 had such a narrow boost window compared to the new turbo I dare say i'm starting to enjoy it a bit.
as for the cause? blocked mesh filter id guess. I couldn't find anything definitive but there was a bit of crud in the filter screen and I never realised they had to be cleaned.
 
#7 ·
I don't know how different the VF52 is vs the TD04, but i would think you risk much bigger problems if your running a different / larger turbo on a factory tuned engine. If the VF52 flows more air, you risk running lean or overboosting, and ultimately toasting your engine. Until you do a little more research i'd say avoid driving the car, or be extremely gentle with it, running a different turbo without a tune is playing a dangerous game.
 
#12 ·
I did look at these vids and tbh I was looking at the same turbo as moog but his one was already modded to fit the forester and I didn't have much time to faf around looking for one or another td04 as there weren't any available at the wreckers or elsewhere without having to wait a week or so for it to arrive by snail mail (get it? snail) and I needed my wifes car going again.
after a while the CEL has gone out all on its own so im guessing theres no problem and from what I can tell the S edition doesn't use a different ecu so I cant see there being a problem.

but we shall see............
 
#13 ·
Mechanical differences between your XT and the S-Edition:

1. VF52
2. 5EAT 'box in the S-Edition

Tune is different to give the 193kW from factory (at flywheel).
Get a VF52 and install it! NOW! :lol:

There is no difference in the ECU other than the tune that's inside it :icon_wink: A reflash with a stock 09+ WRX-suitable tune is entirely possible and safe with the VF52
 
#15 ·
I think that's where i got the vf52 from i couldn't find much else at the time.
Anyway she's still humming along nicely scaring the crap out of old people in camrys.
Last year we drove it to melbourne and got to pambula before and it had a spaz And the CEL came on. We spent about a week there and it sorted itself out not before i figured its an issue with the air pump which is a common issue so i hear and a costly one to fix.
We made it on to melbourne and back no problems.
I'm actually looking at trading my hilux in for an xt seeing as i dont really need a ute as much as i did.
 
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