Turbos

[Rocket]

OK, let me start out with a little bit of back story then I will get to the question. I bought my '91 R/T TT in the spring of '07. The car came from oklahoma and has 0 rust but alot of rock chips and one bum fender. Interior is as expected for the age, 80%. The owner told me he bought it with a bad motor and spent quite a bit of time tracking a motor down with about the same mileage as the original body, around 50k. He had a 60k done to it before dropping it in. Afterward he found the turbos were leaking so he had them rebuilt. Car ran good. I had a few minor things to deal with but it was used. I did a vacuum delete and chucked the EGR. I need an oil catch can big time. Plenty of oil in the intake plumbing. I was doing a hard pull one day and heard a very loud and odd sound. When the I pulled to a stop it was dead. Inspection under the hood showed a pulley protruding from the lower timing cover. The water pump pulley had separated from the water pump :o Due to other demands on time and money it has sat since late 07 or early 08.

Fast forward to today. I am prepping to pull the motor and trans as a unit and pull the heads. I have no idea what to expect. The only thing I know for sure is that there were rocker arms laying loose under the valve cover. I am planning on replacing as many valves as needed and the real possibility of replacing bad pistons. This type of work I am ok with and have all the service manuals for the car.

My question, as the title states, is about the turbos. I am planning on trying to contact a turbo vendor for suggestions but I thought I would post here too. The turbos have sit for 3 years now. How to clean them up? I can't afford the extra cost of sending them off and paying at least $400 to have the rebuilt. If it comes to that I will sell my oldest child and go from there. Could I soak in kerosene and run kerosene through the oil piping and spin the turbo by hand to try to get all the oil that has sat in the system out? I saw in another post about tanking them, but I don't want to destroy the rubber seals. They worked just fine prior to the problem with the motor and the only issue is the fact they have sat for 3 years suffering the temperature changes we see in Indiana.

I am open for suggestions and I am sure I will see the "send them off to get rebuilt" and that is ok. There will be opposing views on this thread I am sure. Just don't get personal with the replies please.

TIA!
Brandon

[CoreyB]

After the sitting there is no way to be sure the seals are still good. While the turbo is off the car you can just use compressed air to blow out the old oil and run some new through it. If they still turn freely with minimal to no shaft play I really wouldnt be to concerned.

[vr3.9]

I hope it's not a problem at all. I have a car that's been sitting for 4 or 5 years that I rebuilt. I hope to just fire it up and be done.

[RL7]

They sell turbo rebuild kits for $50-100 or so. Disassemble, clean all parts you are reusing as best you can and reassemble with new parts. Just make sure you do it right.

[mh3kgt]

Is it true that if you mark where all the nuts are and get them back in the same position upon reassembly that the turbine won't have to be rebalanced? I'm asking cuz I may want to rebuild my own turbos depending on if it will stay in balance or not.

[RL7]

As long as you reinstall the turbine and compressor wheels back in the exact same orientation to one another, you should be good. This is a little tricky because there isn't really anywhere convenient to mark on the wheels. The nut holding it should be marked as well and I think it's reverse threaded, so be careful. It sucks to strip or break a shaft.

[VR4Drive92]

I would just have them zero balanced...

why keep it to chance?

[BoostMONSTER]

i would not worry soo much if your turbo has been rebuilt you can have it sit for years it doesnt matter it wont break from sitting there and usually all turbos will have some shaft play if theres no oil in them. i would just change the oil if your real anal then take them out remove the housings check the cartridge make sure the bearings are in good shape and check for cracks/chips in the wheels. if you spun then fragments could have flown into your turbos in this case id rebuild them you should be good otherwise or go to a turbo shop let them check it out.

[Rocket]

My biggest worry was them sitting on the car in the garage with all the warm/cold cycles out there drawing moisture etc. I get the motor pulled this week I'll inspect them really good and see what they look like and go from there :) Thanks for the help!!!!