Turbo Reliability/Longevity Compilation Thread - Please share your experience

[LINDW4LL]

This thread is being created in order to better understand the reliability and longevity of the various aftermarket turbocharger options. While experiences with all upgraded turbos are welcomed, more specifically it would be helpful to obtain data points on some of the more recent options that have not had a lot of information shared regarding longevity, including, but not limited to: Frankenturbo F21 MixedFlow, Tial/XonaRotor XR770, Silly Rabbit Motorsport K24 RS6 and RS4+, TheTurboEngineers TTE550, etc...

Please keep this to personal experiences only, and not hearsay.

Turbo Manufacturer and Model:
Purchase Date (approx.):
Mileage on Turbos, and Boost Pressure:

Any problems/failures? Please describe: (If yes, and warranty is/was applicable, outcome?)

Any other notable info regarding your experience with these turbochargers?

[Zba]

You should add a "warranty/outcome" field.

FT21
Oct. 2014
Zero miles, zero boost.
Installed turbos, immediately on startup horrendous whining sound. Drove in parking lot, zero boost. Bore scoped the inlets, found signs of compressor wheels rubbing on housing. Once removed, the bent shafts were obvious. No, I never spun them before hand, call me superstitious. Extremely disappointed as these are "balanced in house before shipping"
Covered under warranty

FT21
Oct/Nov 2014
6000 miles, 26-25 psi
Started noticing light smoke out the tailpipe at idle, on decel and under boost. Figured if it's a turbo it's already fucked. Kept driving, 100 miles later BAM!! Blew out one or both oil seals. Still had some boost.
Parked it and haven't dug into it or sent them in for analysis yet.
No warranty info as of yet

[g_svan]

Garrett GT2860R (ARD 2.7T Garrett Turbo Kit & VAST remote tune)
Oct 2009 - sold 2014
15000 miles, 28 psi
No problems

[julex]

Tial 770
1/2011
40k miles, 34psi, 1-2 WOTs daily, I beat the crap out of the car!
No problems

[Monty23]

Pictures of any turbo carnage is always interesting to see.

K03 super sports
88k miles , 10k miles on stage 2 Fonz tune
No issues, reinstalled in another s4

PTE6262 BB
Installed June 2013
Started whining after about 12k miles
Significant howling and oil blowby at 15k miles
Boost ranged from 20-40psi
No noticable damage other than some axial shaft play
672whp/600wtq

And since I'm writing a review...
034 up pipe flex section failed twice
1st lasted 5k miles
034 repaired it with stronger bellows which lasted 15k miles
I repaired it last time with vibrant turbo flex and added a support
Put about 5k miles on the latest so far

[DieselElectric]

F21

I am the 2nd owner. Upon purchase I as told they had 15k on them. They were running 25-26psi before I owned them. Upon receiving, shaft play felt great, blades were in good shape.

I obtained them in May-June area of 2015, installed August 2015.

I've put around 20k on them, so combined 35k. I'm running 25-26psi.

Only issue I had was loose wastegates, installed a helper setup (photo below, of springs mocked up on k03), and haven't had an issue since.

The car is down now for a trans rebuild, will update shaft play conditions when the motor comes out.

[S4James]

Turbo Manufacturer and Model: Borg Warner Rs4 K04 with RS6 CHRAS (we think)
Purchase Date (approx.): winter of 2005
Mileage on Turbos, and Boost Pressure: 60,000miles, 25-28psi, hard miles. 11 years of summer only driving.

Any problems/failures? Please describe: wastegates needed to be rebalanced and tightened, unsure of how long after original setup and install. 2 years in, running them at too much boost (28-29psi) they were pulled, and one needed a new oil seal and a bit of cleaning up. No other issues after 9 additional years of use.

Any other notable info regarding your experience with these turbochargers?

They were from parts unknown in Poland. Came to me in poor condition, requiring machining and balancing. a LOT of machining. Cherry Turbos did the work. He still remembers them 10 years later, told me they were very aggressive turbos, he was right. made great power. They were touched up once after being a bit abused from a terrible tune. And ran fine ever since.. They are being sold and put into another stage3 car.

[axnjaksn]

SRMK24/RS6 - most recent versions as best I can tell
bought second hand "never installed" from a fellow AZ member - they looked brand new to me - deal I couldn't pass up
purchased in oct/nov of 2015 - installed January 2016
maybe 5-6k ish miles on them @25psi and I daily her, rip on her at least twice a day...(knock on wood)
only issues ive had is blowing off a couple intercooler hoses I apparently didn't "hulk tighten" down enough.

keep the thread rolling for future data

and previous to that oem k03's, picked the car up with 82k - giac x tune at 85k and good till 115k, still have them and Im pretty sure they are still in great shape

[symyn]

Turbo Manufacturer and Model: BW K03
Purchase Date (approx.): Bought the car in 2003 with 27k miles on it
Mileage on Turbos, and Boost Pressure: Just hit 190k yesterday. At around 105k I added a GIAC X chip on 91. At about 155k I updated to the Baby Stage 3 installed DP, ev14 550cc, twin 2 and went to e85.

Any problems/failures? Please describe: (If yes, and warranty is/was applicable, outcome?) none.

Any other notable info regarding your experience with these turbochargers? Still running strong at 190k. Love the corn gas with the spool of the K03. Not sure what I will do when these blow I am just trying to see how long the stock K03s will last at this point.

[awd2ks4]

Who did the e85 ko3 tune?

[f4m0u5]

Who did the e85 ko3 tune?

He spoke of baby stage 3 so im guesing solomotorsports.net

[LINDW4LL]

Good start! Thanks for the submissions so far. Hopefully we can gather a nice database of experiences.

[CELison]

Fh4- Wastegate failure in 20k miles
F21- Wastegate failure in 20k miles

[Zba]

Fh4- Wastegate failure in 20k miles
F21- Wastegate failure in 20k miles

How many miles did your 3rd set go? No failures right?

[dvom]

Turbo Manufacturer and Model: xsboostturbochargers.com 2x k03 chra's, they specify made in UK
Purchase Date (approx.): 3/2016
Mileage on Turbos, and Boost Pressure: 1500 miles

Any problems/failures? Please describe: Well they aren't doa, so far so good. Looking for a tune soon.

[brandon91891]

Turbo manufacturer and model:

F21

Purchase date: bought the car with turbos already installed at 150,000 miles

Mileage on turbos: 10,000 miles , 19 psi stage 3-


Any problems/failures? So far so good.



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[christianb5s4]

Turbo Manufacturer and Model: Compturbo K04 Hybrids, RS6 wheels cold and hot side
Purchase Date (approx.): jballou got them in 2013ish, I bought them still unused from him in May 2016
Mileage on Turbos, and Boost Pressure: 4,000 miles, ~25psi peak

Any problems/failures? Please describe: No problems with the turbos themselves thus far, besides a few loose/possibly threaded bolts on the compressor housing on the driver's side turbo.

Any other notable info regarding your experience with these turbochargers? They've been great so far, pulling hard on 91 and should be a different animal on E85. I forget the exact numbers but the wheels/inducer/exducer size make them larger than F21s.

[slow ride]

Fh4- Wastegate failure in 20k miles
F21- Wastegate failure in 20k miles

Flapper or actuator failures?

[LINDW4LL]

Bump.

[S4gasm aka LOTR]

Turbo Manufacturer and Model: SRM K24/RS6
Purchase Date (approx.): February 2015
Mileage on Turbos, and Boost Pressure: I don't daily the car, so only about 4,000 miles so far. At 24-26 pounds.

Any problems/failures? Please describe: No problems to date (2 years now) I would note the fitment of this kit was a bit of a challenge as you can see by reading my build thread.

Any other notable info regarding your experience with these turbochargers? You'll really need some better fuel to really utilize these turbos, 91 pump won't do them any justice. I'd recommend methanol injection. Keep in mind these are quite a bit bigger then K04's and will spool up slower, so don't expect that bottom end punch that K03/K04's provide. But when these things come into boost, hang on!

[Cysco abt S4]

Ko3's lasted 160,781
On a stage 2 since 39k

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Now moving to k04's

[BlazinB5]

Bump.. lets keep this going

203k on my original K03's - no noise or any boost related issues at all. stock.

[AudiTuner1187]

My K03s lasted 150k with stage 2 tune peaking at 21 psi. Not sure how long it was there. They were still boosting fine, but doing a clutch job, noticed a lot of play in 1 shaft and wheels were chipped in a few spots so, now I'm on to the JHM RS6. Only 75 miles so far.

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[christianb5s4]

Turbo Manufacturer and Model: Compturbo K04 Hybrids, RS6 wheels cold and hot side
Purchase Date (approx.): jballou got them in 2013ish, I bought them still unused from him in May 2016
Mileage on Turbos, and Boost Pressure: 4,000 miles, ~25psi peak

Any problems/failures? Please describe: No problems with the turbos themselves thus far, besides a few loose/possibly threaded bolts on the compressor housing on the driver's side turbo.

Any other notable info regarding your experience with these turbochargers? They've been great so far, pulling hard on 91 and should be a different animal on E85. I forget the exact numbers but the wheels/inducer/exducer size make them larger than F21s.

Updating this:

After getting the car rebuilt after blowing the motor, the turbos lasted only another 1k miles before needing a rebuild which put them at 5k miles total. Compturbo rebuilt them and after a thousand miles one turbo is already failing (oil leaking into exhaust, dentist drill sound in boost).

Switching to K24s and will update this thread on those.

[S4UCE]

Turbo Manufacturer and Model: Frankenturbo F4H
Purchase Date (approx.): June 2011
Mileage on Turbos, and Boost Pressure: 65,000, 18-24psi

Any problems/failures? Please describe: Leaking coolant plugs after install (I think this was fairly common with the F4H) - tightened up in car and never leaked again.
After about 50k miles (in 2015), I noticed the turbos would no longer build boost above the normal peak of 23ish psi. This number dropped to about 18 psi by the end of 2016. I always suspected a wastegate issue, but never addressed it before selling the car.


Any other notable info regarding your experience with these turbochargers? The turbos were always kind of slow spooling compared to BW K04s and other FT cars. It's possible the K03 gates were never strong enough to hold them fully closed. Probably eventually led to the issue described above.


FWIW, my original K03s were taken out at ~155k and were fine. Stage 2 boost levels for an unknown length of time.

[DieselElectric]

F21

I am the 2nd owner. Upon purchase I as told they had 15k on them. They were running 25-26psi before I owned them. Upon receiving, shaft play felt great, blades were in good shape.

I obtained them in May-June area of 2015, installed August 2015.

I've put around 20k on them, so combined 35k. I'm running 25-26psi.

Only issue I had was loose wastegates, installed a helper setup (photo below, of springs mocked up on k03), and haven't had an issue since.

The car is down now for a trans rebuild, will update shaft play conditions when the motor comes out.

Update:. They were toast. Still functional and not contacting the housing but had significant axial play. I disassembled them though and aside from some blueing on one thrust washer, everything looked good to go. Will post photos tonight when I get on my computer. Reminder:. These turbos were run well outside of their intended range (25-26psi) for 30,000+ miles and still functioned. I'd call that a win for the price and power.

They have been rebuilt with new MF CHRAs and installed on another vehicle. Doug sent me new centers, and I had issues with the wheel contacting the housing on one. He was great to deal with! Shipped the turbo in, he assembled, and shipped it back for no charge.

[DieselElectric]

For clarification, I did buy the centers from him. Very fair price.