bakerman1 Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 I have a 2005 Baja turbo(129k) that I just bought. It is a great car/truck. One owner, all services done at subaru by the original owner...I am second owner. Decided to really get on it to see what it could do and it didnt really feel like it pulled hard like a turbo should and when the tach reached around 5500 I heard a sound like a playing card in the spokes of a bicycle wheel. There was also hesitation when I was getting up there with the rpm's. I let off of the gas and it went away, tried it again, and same thing. Took it to subaru and they heard the noise and decided to pull the exhaust to look into the turbo. What they found was the impellar fan on the turbo can move back and forth about a quarter of an inch. They said that that was the problem for the noise and the turbo not producing the power that it should? What do you guys think? They are saying that its $1700 for a new turbo and need to know what you think...Thanks Ken :-\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 You might be able to source a turbo for sale on http://www.nasioc.com They have a section dedicated to Bajas in general with stuff for sale. Maybe someone has a cheap turbo laying around since they are common to be upgraded to the VF series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WoodsWagon Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Get a used turbo for $150 and either put it in yourself if you have tools and ability, or pay an independent shop to do it. It's not a hard job. I'm not sure on the Baja's, but the WRX's had a catalytic converter in the up-pipe leading to the turbo. The cat would disintegrate and jam the turbo. So it's a good investment to get a catless up-pipe and put it in at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durania Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 The catless up-pipe is a great idea. Do you know if they checked the intake side of the turbo or the exhaust one? I had ruled out the cat in the up-pipe disintegrating when you said the turbo had shaft play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakerman1 Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 New developements...as for some of the questions that people had, they checked the exhaust side, thats what I saw anyways...they put in the new turbo and unfortuantely that didnt change anything They ran some more tests and what they came up with was one of the four cylinders having 120psi compression and the rest having 170ish and that same cylinder in a leak down test losing about 40% compared to 7-10% in the others. they also put a camera down in the cylinder and didnt see any problems. My problem with this is the car runs and idles great, like really good until you get into about 5500-6000 rpm and then you get that noise. If I had a cylinder that was that bad wouldnt that be noticeable at idle or regular driving? And also when they did a computer diagnosis it showed that all cylindars were running within specs????? There theroy is that maybe I have a bad ring or valve but wouldnt I get smoke out the tailpipe or have a crappy running engine? What are your guys thoughts... Thanks Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulwnkl Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 (edited) That's peculiar. For those curious, yes the Baja has the catalyst in the U/P. I've heard it said that they'll sometimes come apart into the turbo, but I can't recall reading of a Baja owner who definitely had that happen. Personally, I'd tell the dealer they're dreaming if they think I'm going to pay for the turbo that didn't even impact the issue. I'm not saying that'd be a position I'd stick with forever, because that much shaft end play suggests a serious issue, but I'd still tell them that to help motivate them to do a proper diagnosis before trying to get me to pay them to shotgun ridiculously expensive parts at it. If one cylinder shows significantly deficient compression, but they can't see anything wrong in the cylinder, could a ring be broken? At 120psi (vs. 170 for the others) I'd expect that cylinder to fire more-or-less normally most of the time, and so I wouldn't expect to be able to tell there was a serious problem, except that the truck wouldn't make the power it should. Frankly, it could simply be a case of carbon fouling/coking of the rings in that cylinder, which Auto-RX has solved for me in a Subaru in the past. I'm not sure what to say about the noise. Maybe possibly perhaps a bypass valve noise? Understand that Bajas feel like they make better power in the midrange than they do on the top end. They're losing steam fast above roughly 5,000 rpm in stock form. Edited March 12, 2010 by bulwnkl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakerman1 Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 Well, picked up the Baja from the dealer and it seems to run a little rougher than it did when I brought it to them But they did show me the read out from the diagnosis and cylindar #4 has something wrong in there with 120psi and 40% leakedge compared to the other cylinders at 170 psi and 7-10% leakedge. I talked to another mechanic and it seems as if theres really not much I can do other than pulling the motor apart. My thoughts are to drive it how it is until it wont drive anymore and then rebuild it...whats your thoughts? Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakerman1 Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 by the way, I didnt for the turbo and unfortunately they didnt leave the new one in either They actually did well in the aspect of not even charging me for the rental car, which was a 2009 forester turbo. very fun to drive I ended up paying $200 which I thought was fair considering all the work they put into it. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulwnkl Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 I'm glad they treated you well!! I'd probably do approximately what you're planning, except I'd buy a bottle of Auto-RX. My XT6 had worse compression in 1 cylinder than yours does, and it completely fixed the issue. I wrote up my issue and what I did on here, IIRC, a few years ago. Maybe ~2005? I probably wouldn't pull the engine apart at this point. I might think about sending the turbo to a rebuilder (or buying a kit for it and doing it myself, maybe), but note that nobody I've EVER been able to talk to in all of North America recognizes the Mitsubishi assembly numbers on the Baja turbos. So, you'll end up with an Impreza turbo. That might work perfectly, I just wanted you to know that it's not the exact same thing. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakerman1 Posted March 13, 2010 Author Share Posted March 13, 2010 Where do I get auto-rx and what is it? Does it go in the fuel tank? Thanks for all the info, I love having this forum, it seems as if I get more info from here than a lot of mechanics Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bulwnkl Posted March 13, 2010 Share Posted March 13, 2010 just type in auto-rx.com and you'll see it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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