So my saga continues with my turbo woes. Just to recap, I wanted to ceramic coat my turbo and exhaust manifold before I dropped the diesel into the FJ80, but I was afraid of damaging it so I took it in to ADP Distributors in Port Kells to have them takeit apart so I could take the parts to Kool Coat. The turbo was rebuilt by ADP approximately two years ago.
Sheldon had warned me about going to ADP because he had previously taken his 1HD-T turbo to them for a rebuild, and 2500 miles later the turbo spun a bearing and the vanes got all chewed up inside. To top it off, ADP tried to blame him for the issue by accusing him of "overboosting" even though Sheldon just ran his setup stock. ADP eventually warrantied and fixed his turbo, but not without some hassle. Apparently Ciaran has also had problems with them in the past.
I considered this, but because I see that many of the commercial truck guys take their turbos to be serviced at ADP, I thought that they can't be that bad. Also, Port Kells is much closer to me than B-D in Abbotsford.
After my turbo got put back together I noticed there was a bit of play on the shaft, so I took it back to them. The tech agreed that it could use a rebuild, and wanting my rig to be done right from the beginning, I thought I'd go ahead and get it done. When I asked why the original bearings lasted well over 15 years and the one they replaced them with lasted only two, and whether or not they were using good bearings...the answer I got was "bearings are bearings". Yeah right! As if metalurgy has nothing to do with it.
They blamed it on possible poor maintenance.
So paid my big bucks for the rebuild, and to be fair these guys treated me nicely throughout my other fiasco with Kool Coat, I was excited to install my turbo. As you guys have read, we did everything right and on the very first short run, oil was puking out of the boost side of the turbo. So...took it apart...AGAIN...and sent it in to see what happened.
Tech calls me back and blames me for the issue. He said that something went through and hit my turbine, knocked it out of balance, and that why oil was leaking out. I don't know much about turbos, so I took his word that that was the case. We really couldn't think of anything we had done that would have caused that damage...except for the welding and machining that ADP had just done to repair the flapper of my wastegate...but ADP maintains that their welding looked fine and that was not the issue (of course). When I told them I will take it to B-D if I have problems with warranty, they said this kind of damage is "cut and dry" and no turbo shop would warranty it. So...considering that this was the second time I've had my turbo in there, and I've already spent the money there, I thought I couldn't go elsewhere without spending big bucks again. Besides, since this is my second time, what are the chances that they would screw it up again...right?
They replaced my turbine and didn't charge me anything for it...and this made me happy. They cleaned up the turbo and made it look nice, and spinning the shaft by hand it seemed nice and smooth. So, spent all afternoon installing it and sorting out the electrical issues I had after installing my stereo system. Fired it up using the proper procedures once again, and it fired up nicely. Idled it with no load for quite a while, topping up my coolant in the process. Finally thought I was ready to go, and excited to finally take the truck home...and would you believe it...I didn't get much further than just ouside of Sheldon's driveway! The turbo made the most hideous noise...a whine and a vibration above idle. And it was freaking loud! So rather than risk more damage to the turbo, I just parked the truck back at Sheldon's.
When my turbo had the supposed turbine damage that threw it out of balance, it DID NOT make this hideous sound. So I'm left wondering why all of a sudden they supposedly fixed my turbine and now it seems even more out of balance than before? I am frustrated beyond belief, and I've finally conceded that I've possibly lost all the money I've spent at ADP because there's no way in hell I'm taking it back there, even if they warranty it because I have absolutely no conifdence that they have the capability of doing it right. Besides, I'm tired of re-and-re'ing this turbo and I haven't been able to spend much time with my family because of this. I'm taking it next week to B-D to hopefully finally get it done right. THis is the only thing holding me up now.
Moral of the long story (sorry) is it's hard to find good help these days, even if I'm supposedly paying good money for professionals to do it.
I'll see if this video upload works...video of the turbo whine soon after install...
http://gallery.fishbc.com/albums/album843/Converted_Video_061209_001_defective_turbo_adp2.avi
I heard that you guys got that nasty cold that I was dealing with...sorry about that.
. This really, really sucks, hopefully B-D gains better results. I'd be interested in hearing their prognoses, if there is any. And as usual, you want something done right (like a 12H-T into an 80) you do it yourself, maybe with a bit of help from Sheldon 
. Anything outsourced you are at the mercy of the tech/shop.
Fully refurbished...just need to clock it properly so that the oil and water ports line up with where the 12H-T needs it to be. I can't wait to see what the bigger trim will do. Thanks for the tip...