Thread: who uses an ebay turbo?

Try an EBAY turbo, and let us know how it turns out. Maybe you will get lucky, and save a few bucks or maybe you won't and risk losing your engine. If that little bit of money is worth it to you then go right ahead. FACT is a name brand turbo has a better chance of working for an extended period then some random eBay brand turbo.

Whats name Brand to you?

If Garret went to waste when new owner bought the place everyone nows that on the web.

I think Garret get made in china now or something like that

Just because it's made in China doesn't mean it isn't quality. Just like anywhere else in the world the tolerances for the products can vary from one factory to another. The processes they use, and quality control can vary a lot.

O'RLY?

How many eBay turbos have you had to rebuild because they failed? How many have you returned to the owner as non-repairable? None? Didn't think so.

Blah blah blah your friend this, your friend that. Sounds like your friend got lucky.

My buddy went through 3 turbos within 1000 miles, all of them the same t3/t4 50 trims on his civic. He had everything hooked up correctly as far as oil feed and drain goes. Two of them the shaft siezed up in the center section snapping the compressor blade right off. The other one the whole compressor housing just shattered apart.

So yeah. As many cheapy turbos that he bought he could have gotten a used name brand and been good to go. I bought a garrett 60 trim that was 4 years old and it had some play. Used it for 6 months then rebuilt it and it was perfect when i sold it 7 months later. Never any issues.

BTW it cost me $300 for the turbo, $80 on the complete rebuild. Boosted 20 psi daily and 30psi on occasion.

Its a matter of luck... I have seen people with ebay turbos that have been running for years without troubles, and also I have seen people that the turbo starts to smoke after a week. I bought one (t25) some years ago, just to try for my self, it ran for a year, then started to smoke, not bad for like $200. Now since i'm working on a bigger project I didnt take any chance and went with a reputable turbo (precision).

It's not the fact that we don't know anything about Ebay turbos.

It's the fact that the "facts" dont lie. I'm going to guesstimate here and say that probably somewhere between 80-90% of all ebay turbos are useless and will blow very shortly.

Here's my story

Friend with a 1G talon TSI, bought an ebay turbo, blew up 500ft down the road, got another one through warranty from the same place. Again, blew up a couple days later.

Another friend with a 92 Civic Hatch SI bought an ebay turbo, not only did the turbo blow but the headgasket blew out aswell.

Garrett FTW

do u see race teams using them... and u know what just reaseach and buy a garrett turbo be smart

Agreed, I got a turbonetics 60-1 hi fi from a fellow member for $350, get something used if you are looking to save money. You can always rebuild them if it comes down to it, or have someone do it for you.

I had an ebay t3t4 that lasted till I ran my motor dry. My stupid fault for not fixing an oil leak. 1 year and it had no shaft play till that dreaded time of my life. got an a w12 block and a garrett t3t4 and had to rebuild that turbo 3 times. hopefully i got it all figured out now. I think the EBay is a huge gamble cause facts don't lie we all know someone who's blown one or many. I think mainly is cause they are not balanced and when you push it past 10 psi they start spinning pretty damn fast and shit on them selves. i was lucky and was pushing 15psi for 6 months Daily driving. but i think it was luck. My turbo shop has rebuilt some of them with better internals and balanced them and they do good he says.