# life expentancy of Turbo's?

**URL:** <https://forums.speedlife.net/t/life-expentancy-of-turbos/94167>\
**Category:** SON240sx Automotive\
**Created:** [March 24, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/life-expentancy-of-turbos/94167 "2006-03-24T13:50:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![AmIdYfReAk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a4c791/32.png) [@AmIdYfReAk](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/AmIdYfReAk)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/life-expentancy-of-turbos/94167/1 "2006-03-24T13:50:55Z")

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i am starting to look at some TT cars and i am wondering what is the usuall Life expentancy of a usuall Stock daily driven turbo?

i dont want to pick up a car with say 100’000Km’s and have to replace the turbo’s within a few weeks.

p.s. i know that this is going to be all over the place, i just want a rough idea 🙂

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**Author:** ![Gonad](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/gonad/32/5481_2.png) [@Gonad](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Gonad)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/life-expentancy-of-turbos/94167/2 "2006-03-24T14:06:41Z")

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- How frequently oil is changed and grade of oil used \<-- very important
- Depends on how hard they are driven
- If the vehicle has a built in turbo timer (highly doubt it on early models)
- Water cooled or not (and then it’s how often rad is flushed)

Some things to ask/consider I suppose. If the car was driven gracefully  
all those years, I would think even at 100K the turbos should be fine.

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**Author:** ![AmIdYfReAk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a4c791/32.png) [@AmIdYfReAk](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/AmIdYfReAk)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 4:02pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/life-expentancy-of-turbos/94167/3 "2006-03-24T16:02:38Z")

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Hummm,

Twin turbo setup, oil based… so the rest would fall under the upkeep of the car?

when is it a good idea to rebuild them or swap them out for that matter.

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**Author:** ![nocwage](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/nocwage/32/5489_2.png) [@nocwage](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/nocwage)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/life-expentancy-of-turbos/94167/4 "2006-03-24T18:55:45Z")

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When they start smoking oil.  
No point in doing premptive maintenance unless the shaft sounds like it’s starting to clip against the inside of the turbo.  
Rebuilding a turbo isn’t cheap and it’s rare that blown ones destroy engines, more often than not it’s due to a bad rebuild not due to wear.

As for getting a babied turbo car, honestly don’t even pretend they exist.  
If someone shelled out the cash for a turbo car they beat on it. If they didn’t plan to beat on it they would have bought the NA version and saved $10,000.

Also don’t ever buy a used turbo. Unless you go all bling BB the regular thrust bearing turbos are like $500 new from the right people.

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**Author:** ![Ed1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@Ed1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Ed1)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/life-expentancy-of-turbos/94167/5 "2006-03-24T21:42:22Z")

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^^^ yeah… don’t buy used… I’ve wasted money like that before. they say it’s good… but when you install it… you get water and oil

if you search any post I made in the “sellers review” section…

you’ll see one there

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**Author:** ![mikesim](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/mikesim/32/5561_2.png) [@mikesim](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/mikesim)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/life-expentancy-of-turbos/94167/6 "2006-03-25T06:04:02Z")

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yea, expect to buy a new turbo with the turbo car. just add it to the price when looking for a car, it’s the safest bet.

i lucked out buying a used turbo, but i know plenty of people who’ve been left hanging for the cost of a rebuild on their “just like new” used turbo.

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**Author:** ![AmIdYfReAk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a4c791/32.png) [@AmIdYfReAk](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/AmIdYfReAk)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 7:37am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/life-expentancy-of-turbos/94167/7 "2006-03-25T07:37:29Z")

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allright, thanks gents.