*The original thread was started by Ladywolf, but there was a banner embedded in flashplayer that I could not remove. Deleted the thread and restarted a new one. I apologise to those who have replied to Ladywolf.

My turbo has stopped spinning, which makes it lose significant power on the uphill--reduces the speed to about 20. Then it is fine again going downhill.

Question--my ex BF "Mr. Know It All" suggested removing the turbo altogether since I cannot afford to replace it, to possibly get better performance. My mechanic thought it not a bad idea.

What say you all? Thanks.

Ladywolf

 

The turbocharger is much like a jet engine. The hot & pressurised exhaust gas spins the turbine, which is connected to the compressor with a shaft. The compressor charges extra air into the engine for extra output.

If your turbocharger has seized, yes go ahead and remove it. I can only assume the shaft has seized, if not there may be something that is blocking the air passage. Remove plumbings connected to the turbocharger to see what the deal is. If you remove the turbocharger, you'd have to reroute the plumbings to make sure it reverts to a normally-aspirated engine. Or, you may be able to find a rebuilt turbocharger at a reasonable cost.

I apologise that I was unable to get rid of the flash banner in your original post.


JPN

 

a turbo B230FT has significantly lower compression than a non-turbo engine as the turbo effectively raises the compression by the amount of boost. with the turbo removed and bypassed (you'll need to somehow connect the exhaust downpipe to the exhaust manifold, and the mass air flow sensor to the intercooler or the throttle body), you will have a very low performance and inefficient engine.

noone makes a pipe that does the exhaust adapter thing, so you'd either need to fabricate one (and remember, exhaust gases are VERY hot, so this pipe should be cast iron or whatever), or find an exhaust manifold AND downpipe from a non-turbo car and install it onto yours.

the intake plumbing is relatively easy, it can just be large diameter plastic tubing as there's no significant vacuum or pressure on it and its ambient temperature air.

I can't see doing this in less than several hours labor, plus materials, so if a mechanic does it, you're looking at several $100s easy. I think finding a suitable turbo in a pik-n-pull or off a car being parted out would be a better idea. you'll need to know if your car has a mitsubishi or a garrett turbo, and whether or not it has EGR (yes, there's 4 different combinations of those two), and find an equivalent replacement.

 

Well, guys, thank you all for your help. The Turbo is gone, and I have a normally-aspirated car again that will do at least 55 going uphill, and that is adequate for me. The car feels normal in every way except for a loss of some power climbing--but then it downshifts, naturally enough--and gets back up to speed.

I have an extraordinary mechanic, who charged me a whole $63 to do this entire "upgrade" for me. For the moment, I seem to have an acceptable car to drive again--no power monger--but hey, maybe my mileage will improve?

Thanks again!

Ladywolf