Upgrading a 993tt, smoky turbo, and a very happy ending
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So here is a tale of a 993tt owners desire to upgrade his car, things turning sour, and a happy ending thanks to a company that stood by its work, and was true to its word to the point where overall they have ended up making a loss on my business. Having said that the owner that I dealt with is still as friendly as ever, even having a chat about my recent holiday to india and how it's on his list of places to visit. My specialist Northway also proved again why I use them as opposed to some of the others that people seem to like. Each to their own, as they say, and this is my personal experience and opinion.
The company is CR Turbos of New Milton, Hampshire and this is my tale.
It all started at the end of 2010, when I was in the process of upgrading my 993turbo to the full factory Porsche Motorsport 450PS kit. I had the car two years, the forums are to blame really, with tales of upgrades This involved replacing the K16 turbos with K24 items, a new Porsche ECU, additional oil cooler kit and new twin pipe exhaust tips. Gert at Carnewal still has the kit for 11k euros.
I had sourced all of the parts individually and had come across a pair K24 turbos at a motorsport team in the UK, PLANS Motorsport, who used to run a 993 GT2 and still had some spare parts for sale, 3 turbos, and a manifold. The turbos were Porsche Motorsport items and I snapped them up, even though there was some minor foreign body impeller damage on the cold side to two of them. This is when I first came across CR Turbos, who seemed to be a sizeable organisation offering collection and delivery as part of the service. Their lead times were good so I arranged for a full rebuild of both turbos and replacement of the impellers to be done, at a price that was the lowest I had been quoted anywhere.
The turbos duly arrived and were fitted to my car in Jan 2011. I only did about 500 miles in 2011 for one reason or another, but was still pretty pleased that I had a ROW turbo S spec engine with 450ps up from the original 408. It definitely pulled well, hit 15psi of max boost and I had the peace of mind of it all being approved and tested by Porsche as an upgrade.
So, roll forward to Jan 2012 when I started to notice some smoking at startup from the left hand exhaust, when viewed from behind. This would take 2 mins or so to clear up and I put it down it being a flat six, or maybe i had added a little too much oil, even though im always careful.
Over the next 3 months, it got worse in a big way.
I'm a rennlist fan, and have been on it for years, when I had my 964 and with the 993tt. It's a gold mine of info, where someone somewhere has always already been there and done it before you.
The smoking was only really coming from one of the tailpipes so that pointed to one cylinder bank. I knew that my car already had the 996 oil check inlet valves fitted on the turbos, so the problem was not oil filling the turbos from the oil inlet, therefore it could be coming from the crankcase via the oil sumps under the turbos and filling up the turbo body from there. The smoking would clear up on idle, but then it would start to smoke as I drove, even scaring old ladies on the side of the road with what must have looked like a scene from james bond.
I replaced the small oil filter on the car as this was also a possible cause, but to no avail, the problem was exactly the same, even though I had only put an initial 8litres of oil in it. I also had removed and taken a peak in the intercooler which was dry, as well as the turbo inlet pipes which were also dry. So there was no break down of the oil seal on the cold side. I suspected the hot side, but could not face tearing it all apart in a single garage. I was also now worried that my engine might be suffering from a major valve guide or piston ring problem which on these cars is big money and it was time to get the professionals on it.
So with some trepidation I called Northway in Reading, my specialist of 9 years, to have the car booked in as Paul (one of the best techs out there and a genuine nice bloke) said he would be able to diagnose the problem within 90 mins and I would know where i stood.
They also changed out the small filter and thought they had fixed until it started smoking while it was being washed ready for pickup. The car went back on the ramp, and off came the turbo as there was oil residue on the outside of the hot side turbine housing. Paul wanted to also make sure the smoke was not coming from the engine itself as a result of valve or piston wear.
One of the things I love about Northway is that they will use tricks to save time and they pass the savings on which is very honest. So the turbo was removed with its manifold, leaving the rear bumper and cats in place. This cuts the labour time by 60%, which they passed onto me.
I also like the fact that it's a low overheads operation, and that Ray, Paul,mMick and the rest of the crew know their stuff WRT air cooled cars.
The turbo had oil contamination on the hot side, and Northway advised that there was nothing wrong with the engine ( thank you god, thank you, thank you). So I contacted CR turbos, fearing the worst, as they could have sidestepped accountability for a number of reasons.
I spoke to Vince, one of the owners and he arranged collection of the turbo from Northway, saying that he would arrange an inspection and we could discuss how to proceed after that. Again I feared the worst as a supplier could have said anything at this point as to the cause of the fault in the turbo.
To Vince's credit, we spoke 4 days later and he said they had found a groove/wear on the turbine shaft that had compromised the oil seal on the hot side. He could not explain why or how, but said that at rebuild time, he would like to think that they would have machined it out if it was there.
He said they had repaired the turbo, sent it back to Northway and that they would pick up the cost of the repair to the turbo. This was good enough right, I mean, most customers would be pleased with that.
What sets this outfit apart is that without hesitation, he also agreed to pay the parts and labour costs for Northway's diagnosis, removal and refit of the turbo. Suffice to say that CR turbos have made a loss on my business, but their reputation is intact and their credibility cannot be faulted. I received the payment from Vince today which compelled me to write the post.
I am so impressed, and thank you CR turbos and Vince in particular for your exemplary customer service.
Taj.
Great write up, nice to read a positive outcome once in a while. You must be well chuffed with that service and always great to see someone stand by their morals.
The loss they made on your business may be multiplied many times in the future on the basis they do the right thing the odd time things go pear shaped.
The loss they made on your business may be multiplied many times in the future on the basis they do the right thing the odd time things go pear shaped.
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