Catastrophic Engine/turbo failure

[merc85]

holy post resurection

[JeanPete]

Sorry for reviving bad memories.

[merc85]

Sorry for reviving bad memories.

Not at all, Niles sorted this issue a while back i belive

[Little Rascal]

Hi all, The resurection of this topic continue... Woohoo!

I am far from having a race car, nor a volvo... I like the Volvo tho
I am driving a Mitsubishi Delica... But I like to share my story as this could help others as well.
I only read positive reviews before getting a Kinugawa KAMAC turbo, then once I got into troubles with it, I started to find some negatives reviews... But too late...
Now, its a long post, and a first post, do not take it as negative, but more like a little warning on what can happen with the Taiwanese turbo as if I had read some of your post here about those failure I wouldn't have got one...
Cheers
Now, the long post, get the popcorn or the haggis

Kinugawa Turbo made by KAMAK DYNAMICS review, catastrophic failure, turbo seal failed and near runaway
engine and No guaranty...

Here is a bad story and this is to warn you about my bad experience with those Chinese Turbos.
I nearly lost an engine, certainly lost money and a lot of time...
First they are not made in Japan, and I doubt that the bearing that is suppose to be made in Japan is really made in Japan either...
Its a Taiwanese made and not Japanese as the Advert says this is were they are based on ebay...

Now, all started when I wanted more power, then decided to go for a larger Turbo, the Kinugawa looking good and keen on price. I read some good reviews about them, then decided to take the plunge and bought one.
Got a special price at 300 pounds for the complete turbo shipped to Scotland.

The Turbo arrive and was bolted in.
More power indeed, you can feel it right away. I was delighted, but not for long... Not long at all...

After a long trip, on my way back, luckily just when I was near home, the Turbo started to wine a little louder? I didn't thought much about it as I barelly did 1500 miles with it on the Delica.

The next day I went for a spin and about 5 miles from where I started, at 20Mph, BANG! A loud noise, load of smoke, no power... EEK!
I stopped the deli ( I was very lucky there) and look under the hood, take the air intake out and the turbo at the front was ****ing engine oil, this was also going into the manifold... Not good as I nearly had a runaway engine!
The white smoke was engine oil going into the exhaust...
The turbo wheels was totally destroyed, the axle broken and the seal non existent as oil was pouring everywhere...

Home I took the turbo out, and put back the old Mitsubishi one, that has been there for 100,000 miles and was / is still going strong...

Now that was bad, really bad... But it get worse with Kinugawa kamak not accepting any liability there...
Kinugawa were a guaranty, well, is no guaranty...



Sachiko, the person I was talking to from Kinugawa kamak, started to tell me that something must have gone into the Turbo... Or that I turn the turbo housing to accommodate the fitting and that cause a total collapse( I get back to that later too) ... Or that my settings must be wrong and so on...
To that I replied that the old Mit turbo is still going strong, still in good shape, and all on the same settings...
Nothing would move Sachiko, it wasn't their reliable Turbos... Yeh, right...

I send him the Turbo back to Taiwan and Sachiko said he'll make a rebuild for me, need a new CHRA as the other was totally gone ( Like I wasn't aware of that) , and to fix it, Sachiko told me this would cost me 120 pounds... :deadhorse
I already paid 50 pounds to ship it back to Taiwan...

Then here we are, 300 + 50 + 120... Total of 470, a near runaway engine and huge amount of time and effort tinkering with the on and off turbo replacement...

I got the rebuild Turbo a while later. Now, the front wheel housing was on the wrong place, facing left when the Turbo was in instead of facing upward... I told Sachiko about this, to that he replied:
You can gently turn the wheel as we usually accommodate when customers want for their car??? He new it was for a Delica, he knew the intake should be facing upward, not sideways...The mind boggle here too as I was told on Turbo number one that if I moved the wheel, it was a reason for a failure, but now was told I can do it... Humm...

I put the turbo in, all oiled , let it idle for a bit, then stop the engine, all was good. I was back on track. Not for long... Not at all...

I drove to a shop nicely, town driving, no traffic, took me about 10 minutes.
From there I went to Mit dealer which was another 15 minutes away, there I had few burst to test the turbo, it wasn't spooling too fast I thought but hey, it was spooling...
At Mit, the car was idled and started to smoke, unusual, I thought it might be some oil that went into the exhaust?
From there a wee spin on the Highway see how it goes then 20 minutes later I stopped and the car and shock... It was smoking like hell... Again...
A guy stopped there telling me its the turbo seal, to that I replied, I just put the new turbo in now...
Went home blinding every one behind me with the smoke, took the turbo off and it was all wet with engine oil took the clip out, full of engine oil...

Now I am , again, back with the old Mit Turbo that is still going strong...

Sachiko from Kinugawa Kamak Dynamic sound like a broken record, this is not his turbo fault, this is my oil fed that are blocked, or something wrong with my settings and so on, he refuse to acknowledge the truth and that the old Mitsubishi Turbo is still going strong on the same car, same settings...

Kinugawa turbos from KAMAK are a total failure.
Kinugawa, when a guaranty is not a guaranty

[claymore]

Sounds to me like you don't know what your doing,

[Harvey]

Sounds to me like you don't know what your doing,

Sounds like it was fitted but not set up to the car,also sounds like they are not the best turbos in the world, but you do get what you pay for with turbos.

[claymore]

Sounds like it was fitted but not set up to the car,also sounds like they are not the best turbos in the world, but you do get what you pay for with turbos.

Problem is usually related to oil flow, usually to much, you have to use the correct reducer in the oil system, clocking the turbo will have no ill effect as long as it's done properly.

[Little Rascal]

Hi Claymore, just to say, this turbo was / is sold specially for my car, bolt and play. Here is the Advert:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kinugawa-T...item19cf824dfa
Made and sold for the 2.8 turbo 4M40T Engine... Sadly one lasted 1500 miles and the other not an afternoon...
Mind you this is a diesel, there is a lot less "things on how to do it" compare to a petrol car. 2 Different beast.
I made this post as after number 2 failure I started to search Kinugawa with more words like seal/ failure and so on... Then this open a different view then the usual "review" you get when you google it...
There are few, not only me , that had failure right away but again, google do not show that first...
One could wonder what contribution some marketers give to google to get some posts on the next page...

[claymore]

I can only go on my experience, I usually use Chinese turbos, usually less well known than Kinugawa, and have never had a failure. I will say one thing, that seems a very expensive turbo for a jap turbo, I don't usually pay more than £200 for mine.having said that, I generally replace them on a yearly basis.

[Little Rascal]

I generally replace them on a yearly basis.

Better then every 3 weeks or every afternoon LOL

[mike 850]

I have a kingawa compressor and housing, 1st one went pop because the turbine wheel was normal thread and I didn't tighten it enough and it unwound itself. got a reverse threaded turbine wheel and new compressor wheel, did it properly and alls good 6 months on so from my experience it was user error...

[p fandango]

I have a kingawa compressor and housing, 1st one went pop because the turbine wheel was normal thread and I didn't tighten it enough and it unwound itself. got a reverse threaded turbine wheel and new compressor wheel, did it properly and alls good 6 months on so from my experience it was user error...

the td04's fitted onto Mitsi evo's etc use the normal righthand thread, Volvo/Saab td04's use the reverse thread

[mike 850]

apparently (well mine did) some early 15g had righthand thread too

[Little Rascal]

Hi Mike,

The thing is that the turbo sold by Kinugawa is specific for my engine, all is in order for that engine...
see ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kinugawa-T...item19cf824dfa
There is no tweak ot torque needed, its bolt and play...
Then this is no user error there. It would be like saying you lost a wheel as the bolts weren't tight enough after you bought your car brand new, but as you didn't look at it its the user fault...
also 2 went... One lasted 1500 miles, the other was bad right away, fresh from the factory...
I do agree tho, there are some that seems to handle OK, not sure for how long tho... But there are also some that failed rapidly... And again, no guaranty as I learned the hard way...

[claymore]

It is recommended that you replace all oil pipes when fitting a new turbo, also you are supposed to prime the turbos, did you turn the engine over for a minute without starting it to prime the turbo, I'm sure you wouldn't have changed the oil pipes, although I did on both occasions on mine, but that was because I needed different pipes, had my pipes fitted I wouldn't have changed them, but I always do prime them.

[Little Rascal]

I oiled the turbo prior starting. It was not started dry, it was loaded.
I started the engine and let it idle, the pressure is instant, all gallery get oiled right away, if not all engine would failed... Then there is no need to crank the engine for a minute without firing it.
Again its made for the car, bolt in, no need to change anything. Its not much of an upgrade, its just an upgrade. Not anything like your with fire coming out the exhaust.
I think they are just regular stock Evo/ Subarru type, but its a diesel, the turbo do not spool as fast as the petrol, the engine go on the red when rev at 5000...

[claymore]

This is what Garrett say you should do when fitting one of there turbos, I would say it is even more important on a Chinese turbo.

http://garrettbyhoneywell.com/turbo-...-installation/

[Little Rascal]

Cheers.
But again, I did most, beside changing the oil and oil filter nor air filter..
Th oil sump was clean about 2 month ago when the rear crankshaft seal had to be changed...
The oil and filter was also changed between turbo one and 2.
I think Gareth state this as to cover any debris that would go on the oil fed lines, but strangely the old Mit Turbo is not affected at all...
Anyway, after all this why would number two failed right away... Didn't had time to go far...
And again, the same day I put the old Mitsubishi back, same oil, oil filter , air filter and so on and its still going strong 100s of miles later...
Its not that something went wrong on my side, or my engine, if not I'll be burning the old Mitsubishi Turbos every single day, its the Chinese Kinugawa from KAMAC that are not good at all.
But hey, if you like to try one those its fine, just be aware of what can happen and that you will never get any money back on those... My two pence.

[Little Rascal]

To quote Gareth:
Correctly installed turbos make significant contributions to performance, fuel efficiency and emissions control, but incorrect fitting can have serious, potentially harmful consequences, including ECU conflict and major engine damage.

Those precautions are more related to engine failure, not a catastrophic failure like the kinugawa...
The engine is still OK as well as the Mitsubishi turbo

I wonder what the OP would have to say about the kinugawa... Must be his fault too

[Little Rascal]

Look like someone got a bad one right away, for a volvo too...Negative from ebay:
This product was defective!! Need replacement or refund ASAP!!! Buyer:
Turbocharger VOLVO S70 850 V70 TD04HL-19T-6 11 Blades Turbine wheel spool Faster (#110855605751)