I may be going to orlando this weekend to buy a T25 from an automatic s13 redtop. What kind of things do i need to look for to make sure its a good turbo. I know to check for shaft play. What else should i look for to make sure its not blown?

 

ttt

 

There are really only 2 or 3 things to check for: bearings, seals, and fin damage. Checking the bearings is the same thing as shaft play. Don't forget to check the shaft thrust, which I've been told is a sign of overboosting. Fin damage is just something you can look at. Look at how sharp the leading edges are. This will tell you if the car was run without an air filter (or a bad one). Of course, missing fins are bad as well. You really can't check seals. It is possible to have turbo with normal shaft play and bad seals. This comes from running oil too long, or again, running no air filter (sand gets into oil...).

Aside from all of that, look at the motor and see what kindof condition it's in. If it's automatic, it probably wasn't raced (as much).

 

Yeah it was an automatic. he says it has no shaft play

 

"NO" shaft play should probably be used loosly. Isn't it normal to have slight side to side movement (less than 1/16" of an inch) because the oil will take up the rest of the slop? Just wanna make sure when you get there and it DOES move side to side not to be skurred. Someone correct me if I'm wrong,

 

You are right. I would call it "unmeasurable" shaft play. You can feel it, but you might not be able to see it. We're talking fractions of a millimeter. When I got a T25 rebuilt at CMR, that shaft was very tight. You almost couldn't feel any play.

 

that's how you check for a bad oil seal chris