So my turbo is making some weird kinda pseudo flutter noise at full boost (22psi) Its not very loud but I can hear it every so often. Anyways I pulled off my intake pipe and felt to see if a had eny shaft play. There was non lateraly but there was a little bit radialy. The turbo spings freely without any noise of contact to the compressor housing. How much shaft play is acceptible

 

To much shaft play and you will go blind.

 

To tell you the truth my palms are starting to get a little hairy


BUt anyway......

 

You can expect a little radial play. it's normal. Some here think there should be no radial shaft play at all! That's not true..... Remember there is a galley that gets filled with oil once the car is running, and you have oil pressure. Just like a rod bearing or a main bearing needs clearance on the crankshaft to allow for a thin film of oil to prevent metal to metal contact, so does the turbo. Some play is normal. If there aren't any scrape marks on the compressor housing from the compressor wheel or damaged blades, you're turbo is fine.