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Bad luck with FP turbos

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Old Jul 20, 2011 | 06:46 PM
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From: El paso, Texas
Bad luck with FP turbos

I've had two fp green turbos go bad on me. Both started leaking oil and blowing white smoke out of the exhaust. The new fp green turbo I bought from FP in march and they rebuilt it and upgraded it to the new HTA model, I have not droven the turbo hard in fact I have not even driving the car much probably less then 100 miles and today i did a light boost and again smoke came out of the exhaust and oil is dripping from the middle of the turbo where the clamp is.

This is getting really discouraging. Is it just a case of my bad luck or what? Im going to call FP tomorrow and tell them the issue but this means once again I will be without a car for several weeks and its frustrating.

I know its the fp turbo and not my car because when I replaced the turbo with the stock one I dont have any issues in fact I ran a whole race day on the stock turbo without a problem.
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Old Jul 20, 2011 | 06:51 PM
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man that sucks, sorry to hear. hopefully they can hook you up quickly. if not there is always a BBK Full
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Old Jul 20, 2011 | 08:08 PM
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its not bad luck, its what happens when you take a tiny center section and toss dramatically more mass on each end of it.
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Old Jul 20, 2011 | 10:11 PM
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From: DFW, Tx
Similar story happened to another remember within the week I believe.

Sucks hearing that about them. Always loved their product.
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 12:44 AM
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From: croatia
HKS 7460 for peace of mind
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 03:41 AM
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Originally Posted by n2oiroc
its not bad luck, its what happens when you take a tiny center section and toss dramatically more mass on each end of it.
I completely agree with your theory when it comes to the Red or Black. People pushing 30+ psi and you are constrained by the bearing housing when trying to run these larger wheels.

I had built a custom turbochargers for my buddies 2JZ powered 240Z utilizing a 42R compressor wheel and it ate the thrust bearing after several dozen passes. We did this so he could maintain the footprint of the old turbo. After the initial failure and diagnosis I had to advise him to go to a larger frame turbo or he would continue to see failures.

I think FP has proven it designs good wheels so perhaps a center section upgrade is coming and hopefully it will be ball bearing.
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 04:32 AM
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Are you sure its the Turbo?... wht smoke out of the tail pipe is water vapor ie head gasket. If it was oil it would have been gray and if it was running rich-- blk smoke.. You sure about the color? Asking because its very unlikely that 3 turbos not being abused are being blamed.. I dont own or have any experience other then this forum with FP so I dont care either way. I am trying to help you fix a problem. I am thinking you have motort issues not turbo issues from you discription. Now this doesnt account for the oil around the turbo---but no telling where that came from without having a look, hell it could be coming from the pvc with water vapor and settling in the intake, who knows. But I think you need to dig into this in more detail or you will be looking at turbo #4 the same way. Just a thought.
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 09:13 AM
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Hey meckert its def the turbo. Like I said when I put my old stock one back on I had absolutely no oil or smoke issues. Also the oil is probably gray its really hard to tell cuz not much comes out. Plus it only comes out on boosting and thats when the oil comes out as well.
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 09:17 AM
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From: texas
hks 7460??
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 09:24 AM
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I wouldn't blame the turbo yet. People have run these things for years and 10s of thousands of hard miles with no failure. Might want to look at everything like the oil system and make sure there isn't a crack in the center section that's allowing coolant to leak into the exhaust side.
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 11:12 AM
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Same thing has happened to many people on here that I've seen... which is why I went BBK Full. It's also happening to my tuner's Suby with an FP Red on it... less than a year on it and ALL the seals are busting out.

Now of course there will be that one guy saying... " hey, don't blame the turbo, there are plenty guys running these things for years with no issues"

There are always exceptions to ANY rule... but I would like to think it should be the exception of a bad turbo here and there, NOT the other way around of a GOOD one. Just my 2cents.
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 12:20 PM
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From: NW Pennsylvania
Originally Posted by kutija
CBRD BBK for peace of mind

Fixed
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 12:42 PM
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Love it ^
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 12:44 PM
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are u sure its the turbo? ive had 3 fp greens and 5 customers with them and never had a problem with one. actually i have one of the first fp greens still going and making 465 on a customers car for 4yrs now with 30psi + of boost.
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Old Jul 21, 2011 | 12:48 PM
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What oil were using?
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