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Replacing my turbo - need last minute advice.

9K views 12 replies 10 participants last post by  JeffBazell 
#1 ·
Long story short, I'm quite sure my turbo is cooked and I have bought a used one off Ebay along with one of the newly designed oil feed lines. I should have them shortly, and the only piece of the puzzle that I'm missing is whether there are any gaskets or anything else I will need to do the job.

I know several people here have swapped out a turbo, but no one has given full details on the job. There is no GM dealership near me or any online resource I've been able to find, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Hello! Welcome to the forum. Bummer about the cooked turbo. If you don't mind me asking, what were the symptoms you experienced leading up to the failure, and how did you know it needed to be replaced? Also was the failure caused by anything specific? I see you mentioned the redesigned oil lines, did the blown turbo have an old design or something?

I have not personally changed out the turbo, but I feel like someone here on the forum has before. I'll start looking and see if I can find any useful threads.

Related Threads:
http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/129-...s/118210-how-replace-turbo-oil-feed-line.html
 
#3 ·
Well after a few searches I've come to the same conclusion as you, there isn't a whole lot of information available about replacing the turbo.
 
#4 ·
I have not done it myself, but off the top of my head, you'll want the turbo oil feed line, the turbo oil return line, the coolant feed and return lines, and the exhaust manifold gasket assuming there is one (the exhaust manifold is built into the turbo).

Beyond that, it should just hook right up. Of course, you'll need some oil and antifreeze to top off.
 
#5 ·
Wow! You must really be in BFE to not have any sort of GM dealership close to you. I'm not wondering where you are, but I'm glad I'm not there. Best of luck with your search. Perhaps see if there's any "foreign" cruze turbo replacement postings ... Like in Australia, or some other country where someone may have already accomplished this task. Just a thought.
 
#6 ·
I'd suggest getting your hands on a service manual, perhaps a short-term alldata subscription. This engine uses a number of torque to yield bolts making them single-use. You'd need to buy NEW bolts to put things back together.
 
#7 ·
How many miles and age of car? The turbo and oil feed line are covered under the Power Train warranty.
 
#11 ·
This is an excellent idea.
 
#9 ·
I have a 2012 Eco 6-speed with 140k km on the odo. I never had a single issue with the car, not even water pump or coolant smell or any of the other stuff. My CEL light would come on and off the odd time, sometimes stay on for months at a time, but it is a GM so I would be concerned if it didn't - right?

All at once while driving on the highway I lost all my oomph. There was no noise, engine revved and idled smoothly, but I simply lost any real power. I had the codes pulled, and the three there were the 'lean left bank' because I run 87 octane, the infamous 0771 or whatever for the camshaft cover PCV valve of doom, and naturally the 0299 for underboost.

I ordered a new cover and installed it, and while doing so checked all vacuum lines and air filter / MAF, etc. That code went away. My wastegate actuator moves freely with zero slop of any kind on the pin.

Honestly, I went too long between oil changes with crappy oil and I am quite sure that my feed line slowly plugged up over time until it starved the bearing on the turbo. On startup there is a very minor rattling I can hear that I am sure is the remains of my rotor jiggling about in there. The engine doesn't drink oil or coolant, there has never been any puffs of smoke out the back end, and the only code I throw now is underboost. I troubleshoot machinery for a living, and to me the problem is obvious.

I would rather douse myself in 87 octane than fight with GM for warranty, and this job looks amazingly easy to do. I was ignorant as to how critical oil quality was to this thing, and obviously there is a design flaw to this turbo since GM has quietly redesigned the feed line, flashed ECU's to run the fan after the motor shuts off, and dropped the oil lifespan monitor by a healthy percentage.

I will make a post detailing anything that a person needs to know about swapping out their own turbo, but the definitive how to with a zillion pictures is best left to those with a garage and time.
 
#10 ·
I agree that it looks straighforward. The question becomes having all the gaskets and seals handy when doing it. You may want to look at the following site to obtain part numbers, then with the part numbers you can often find a better price at Rockauto or even Amazon.

2012 Chevrolet Cruze 1LT TURBOCHARGER MOUNTING

There's also several coolant lines on both the turbo and the oil heat exchanger. The part the oil filter threads into. While your in there, maybe you replace some of those lines, or at least inspect them really well.

I believe the only way to get to some of those lines is to remove the turbo, and I'd rather have a few ounces of prevention while I'm in there, vs. doing a job again.

There's oil gaskets on the line out of the turbo into the oil pan that should also be replaced. I think some of the guys on the Sonic forum have pulled the turbo but no one has documented it. A full disconnection and removal is different than removal of the heat shields, visual inspection of the impeller and reinstall.
 
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