ebay turbo + garrett rebuild kit

[1NonlyAccord]

call me crazy/noob/cheap but if the only thing about the ebay turbos are the seals will blow within 10mins of running. cant you buy a ebay t3/t4 for about $150 and a complete Garrett rebuild kit for a lil over $80(ebay) and possibly spray the hot side with the high temp. paint. would that be a solution to the cheap ebay turbos?

http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1397101&postid=17974047
how to rebuild a turbo

[Tech5]

want work

[JITB]

been using a ebay turbo on my friends car for almsot 3 years now...lol and about 2 months ago the seals started to leak.. replaced the seals and its back spoolin!

but.. than again the turbo was bought when they were 500$, not 150$... that might have changed things..lol

[Big J]

Ebay turbos are fine, I ran mine with a restrictor and never had a problem.

[1NonlyAccord]

are they balanced right tho? i got bored and was watching blown turbo videos on youtube,and one ebay guy said it blew because it wasnt balanced properly.

[crashtke]

My best guess is that the balance issue would wear out the journal bearings too quickly. That could contribute to seals going I guess...but a good machine shop could probably balance it for not too much. Just find a good shop that does turbo rebuilds.

[chituntang]

The problem is not parts from the rebuild kit gone bad. It is the turbo itself. If you are lucky, you may get one that has not problem. But if you are not, chances are you will end up with a bad one, then you rebuild it again, and it went bad again. Then you take it to a shop. And by that time, you would spend too much money already.

[RandomGuy]

no point, they use the same kit in their turbos already

just get one... take it apart and it put it back together... Their problem isn't mainly the quality of the parts (some of them use air research center sections, etc scrap random parts) Its just the fact that they're probably assembled by some midget chinese children at a sweatshop for 19cents a week. I've ran one on my car and have friends who've ran them. Just take it apart.... make sure the snap rings are in right (tapered side should be facing outwards). and make sure the turbine seal still has spring to it.. put it back together, torque everything til its super tight (don't know the torque specs but i heard "if its not too tight, its not tight enough, if it broke, its too tight" )

Make sure you align the center wheel and turbine shaft right (the ebay ones somehow come balanced) Theres a site that took one apart and dissected it showing everything about it... The newer "ebay turbos" aren't soooo bad.