I picked up a 93 Impreza. It has a complete 03 WRX swap done. Motor, tranny, and suspension. I was told the motor has a rod knock, but I wanted to hear for myself. I got it started the other day and I do hear a knock. It's only at idle and it's loud. I used a stethoscope and it sounds like it is the turbo that's making the noise. Is that even possible?

Another subaru? :-)

 

I'm not sure what sound a bad Turbo would make.....but it would surprise me if sounded like 'Knock'. 

 

The TD04 on these are not invincible so if the swap came out of 125K+ mile WRX, I'd replace it.

 

And Rod Knock should be @ all RPMs???

 

TD

I'm not that familiar with turbo's but in general i'd be surprised if rod knock went away at higher RPM's, are you saying that's what's happening?

Update

 

Yes knock went away at higher rpms so I rolled the dice and found a used turbo on cl for $100 :-) and bought it. Swapped it yesterday and when I started it it made the same exact sound for about 1 minute, then the knock went away.

 

So with that, I'm guessing the old turbo wasn't getting oil or something. Not sure but I'm pretty happy. I'm now $150 I to this car and today I will probably take it for its first drive

????