Cost of repair vs. value of car - when to call it quits?

[John_C]

Don't tell anyone, but I've been known to spend rather more on a car than it's worth too

[Bernard333]

I would definitely get the turbo fixed and the manifold welded up , buy a second hand one from ebay for £100 if you dont feel confident to fit it yourself get a garage to fit it , I got a quote of £540 for a recon exchange turbo ( without even the guarantee that its an original Garrett or that they have used Garrett parts for the refurb so assume they dont ) which I emailed the company back asking them for a 50% discount which they politely declined and then bought an original Garrett unit complete with manifold for £88 on ebay , both in as new condition , you can do most of the work you listed at a much lower cost . You can even get refurb kits on ebay for turbos starting at £80 for basic bearing and seals but when I did some checking they dont get a great write up and are not likely to be genuine Garrett parts with some people experiencing almost immediate failure and if your rotors are damaged these kits dont help , would love to know where I can buy genuine Garrett parts without being taken to the cleaners as I would like to have a go a repairing my spare turbo .

[Chris_Rogers]

This article may help if you decide to refurb:

http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showthread.php?t=48611

[S60 Alex]

Thanks Chris - that was an extremely useful link! I'm also reading the VADIS instructions and the Haynes manual.

I am planning extraction of the turbo tomorrow, weather permitting!!

[S60 Alex]

Hi all,

Update -

Turbo came out surprisingly easily - I need to get some circlip pliers to split it in two, but from what I can see of the compressor wheels, they seem fine.



Also, the exhaust manifold came out fine - some of the bolts were almost 'loose' - certainly not the challenge I was expecting. Additionally, a gasket around one of the ports was completely broken - it seems the manifold itself is fine.

Final question of the morning - VADIS mentions a bracket between the block & the manifold - I can certainly see the screw holes for this - but there was no bracket. Is this correct on a T5? They are visible in a triangle below.



Cheers,

Alex

[Bernard333]

At this stage what do you think is wrong with the turbo , is there a chance its ok ? Is there oil leakage from the bearings ? Someone pointed me in the direction of sticking wastgate , how does that look ?

[BrockyV70Turbo]

My dads ethos is this. If a car is starting to need lots of repairs, get rid. You could make repairs, then spend again, and again and again.

[S60 Alex]

Originally Posted by Bernard333

At this stage what do you think is wrong with the turbo , is there a chance its ok ? Is there oil leakage from the bearings ? Someone pointed me in the direction of sticking wastgate , how does that look ?

To be honest, nothing looks awful in there - the two turbines (whatever they're called) don't appear to have struck the housing, the wastegate seems functional - I will know more when I get my circlip pliers to open it.

The only thing I did notice was that the exhaust turbine and housing was covered in what I would describe as a white dust - not sure the relevance of this.


For the sake of £60 for a refurb kit, and a day of craning my neck under the car, I have to try to rebuild it before splashing out £500+ on a new turbo...

[Bernard333]

If you are intending to sell the car then a cheap kit wont make much difference but some of the ebay sellers look very dodgy to me claiming
' original Garrett ' in one sentance and then in another that all parts meet the original manufacturers spec which is highly unlikely unless the part is made by a recognised aftermarket company like Turbo International . The composition of the main bearing is critical and its an expensive material , the ones made by the copy cats are likely to fail double quick , I worked for Garrett years ago and watched turbos being developed/destroyed , they run them up to 200000rpm on a test rig , the Garrett ones will run for a lot longer with the exhaust housing red hot , the cheap stuff just disintegrates or melts , they should make one of those adverts same as duracell batteries to show their turbos last longer . If you find a good source for the kit please let me know because it looks to me like even Turbo International will only sell through distributors who are marking the parts up a lot , parts supply for these seems to be very fragmented and overpriced and I can see a business opportunity coming up here .

[oilburner]

Alex, I spent £14k on my S80 14 months ago. Now, just 13,000 miles later it's worth maybe £6k.

Given that, I reckon it'll be much cheaper in the long run to repair what you've got than buying an S80 now. You'll be maybe £500 down on the cars value, but you'll lose 3x that just driving out of the showroom in a newer car.

Maybe you'll be lucky and the savage spell of depreciation has stopped, maybe not...