[turtlepower]

Hi all, I have been following SaabCentral for over 5 months and found the postings useful, this is my first question I have laid out for you guys, please suggest.. thanks!

I blew my turbo today I would like to find a direct replacement. I have no need of having hundreds of horsepower, I would like to keep it plain and simple.

My Saab is a 2001, base model..not an SE...automatic with 68,000 miles.Which turbo do I have and what turbo do you recommend for replacement?

I have been losing oil, losing coolant, have oil in my intake pipes, had oil sludge.burning excessive gas,smoke coming out the tailpipe... I have come to the conclusion that my turbo seals went out and it further destroyed the turbo.

Question: What turbo do I have, what can I replace it with? Is there a better turbo replacement without heavy modification? I just need the car to run ...

Your suggestion is greatly appreciated.

 

['97 Saab SE Turbo]

Most turbos last the life of the engine, so yours failed kind of early. What kind of oil are you using and how often/how many miles is it changed?... Ron

 

[turtlepower]

bought the car from a housewife, car had been sitting for a long time...turbo is out based on all of my discoveries. Not sure about the oil change, but I ran 1 engine flush and poured castrol gtx 10w-30

 

['97 Saab SE Turbo]

Sounds like a house wife that never changed the oil and used cheap mineral oil. You might want to add an oil pressure guage to see what the actual oil pressure is before you put a lot of money in the car. My car has the origional turbo with over 150-k miles on it... Ron

 

[lowbudgethero]

my suggestion is to check under the valve cover and drop the oil pan and clean the pick up screen then replace the turbo with a GT-17

 

[turtlepower]

I have searched over GT-17 ratings, apparently like my case , these turbos are prone to going out... something interesting I just read as another replacement you could do the td04hl-15t... any remarks?

 

[uk 93]

not done one yet, but i may have one to do, unknown til i get other issues with the car sorted but there are turbo repair kit on Ebay for the GT17. about £50 - £80 gets you a set of bearings, gaskets, new bolts and seals. are they any good?

If the bearings / seals have gone won't he shaft be lunched?

 

[hkayssi]

You definitely need to check for sludge especially when the maintainnance history is sketchy; the turbo failure is a first bad sign of sludge. You also need to upgrade the PCV system to the version #6 to avoid having sludge in the future.

 

[Mister Bean]

I just did the upgrade to the TD04. It's really no different than putting in a GT17, so long as you have the correct banjo bolts to fit the turbo. All the lines are the same, and go to the same places. If you get a used one, just make sure they include the correct bolts as they can be hard to find locally.

 

[turtlepower]

not done one yet, but i may have one to do, unknown til i get other issues with the car sorted but there are turbo repair kit on Ebay for the GT17. about £50 - £80 gets you a set of bearings, gaskets, new bolts and seals. are they any good?

If the bearings / seals have gone won't he shaft be lunched?

Well, it has been 2 days since the post and have heard of many upsetting news over the GT17...the Mitsubishi turbo sounds a bit more promosing. I went ahead ordered the TD-04 and ECU for the SE model also ordered the turbo seal kit from Eeuroparts.com , including the annoying ac/heater control knobs and shafts which are notorious for chipping. We will wait and see until I receive and install everything myself , maybe looking at a completion by the 20th due to parts arrival.

 

[turtlepower]

You definitely need to check for sludge especially when the maintainnance history is sketchy; the turbo failure is a first bad sign of sludge. You also need to upgrade the PCV system to the version #6 to avoid having sludge in the future.

wow definitely have sludge ! Will have to degrease or whatever it is needed to be done... I am aware of the PCV system upgrade but how would I know it hasn't been done to the car?

 

[turtlepower]

I just did the upgrade to the TD04. It's really no different than putting in a GT17, so long as you have the correct banjo bolts to fit the turbo. All the lines are the same, and go to the same places. If you get a used one, just make sure they include the correct bolts as they can be hard to find locally.

How is the car performing with you new setup? Which ECU is installed now?

 

[Mister Bean]

How is the car performing with you new setup? Which ECU is installed now? I am not a turbo savvy person but am knowledgeable of its engineering however what are banjo bolts?:roll:

When it was running properly, I liked it a lot. I'm still using the stock ECU, so there was no power increase, but the engine is more tractable. It ran fine for a couple of weeks, and then developed a problem that seems to be related to the BPC valve. There's an ongoing thread in the mods forum about it.

The banjo bolts are used to connect the oil and coolant lines. Basically it's a hollow bolt that allows the fluid to flow through it. The ones you'll need can be hard to find (if the turbo doesn't come with them). I tried all the usual auto parts shops and nobody had them in stock. I was able to find a couple at my indie mechanic, though it turned out I didn't need them because the bolts I needed came on my turbo.

When you do the swap, make sure that your oil/coolant lines and all the banjo bolts are clean. They can get gunked up, and that would mean replacing your turbo again in the near future.