Recon turbo.. Any good?

darragh o meara

Have been looking for a replacement turbo for my 2008 Passat and have a few different options available to me.

1. Go new with VW part costing approx €750+vat+ fitting
2. Second hand part €400 fitted
3. Recon turbo for about €500 fitted Donedeal is full of ads for recon turbos!
4. Buy a new core from U.K. Turbo specialist and build it up myself €170 + fitting

I've been leaning towards the recon unit as it "should" be somewhere close to as new condition. Anyone got any advice as to what I should go for? The recon part is certainly tempting as is buying a core and repairing it myself ( something I've done in the past with good success on a petrol turbo )

A new one is just a tad expensive and going on previous experience working in a main dealers ( not VW ) send back the old turbos which are effectively reconditioned by the manufacturer and sold again as new.

Do recon turbos any good or is it just a false economy or. Buy cheap, pay twice....

Also looking for recommendations for recon turbo suppliers

kay 9

Nothing wrong with reconditioned turbos imo. Why not get seals for your own and recondition it. You'll have to get a company to balance it though and the balancing machine is big £££

intro

I had a turbo on the way out on a bmw 320d 2008 last year. The actuator was faulty but not available separately here. I was quoted circa 1250 euro for a new one here, about 1100 from the UK. I was waiting on a price for a recon turbo form the mechanics turbo rebuild guy. I went onto google Germany (using google chrome for automatic translation) and had no difficulty locating a new turbo for 800 to 850 delivered but eventually got a new turbo for 725 euro delivered, This was off eBay Germany. Brand new in BMW box (its a Mitsubishi unit). Fitting kit(seals etc) was extra but cant remember how much that was- got it from BMW here. I was also able to locate an actuator from Germany but it was 400 so a new unit seemed a better job. It took about a week to arrive.

grogi

darragh o meara wrote: »

Have been looking for a replacement turbo for my 2008 Passat and have a few different options available to me.

1. Go new with VW part costing approx €750+vat+ fitting
2. Second hand part €400 fitted
3. Recon turbo for about €500 fitted Donedeal is full of ads for recon turbos!
4. Buy a new core from U.K. Turbo specialist and build it up myself €170 + fitting

I've been leaning towards the recon unit as it "should" be somewhere close to as new condition. Anyone got any advice as to what I should go for? The recon part is certainly tempting as is buying a core and repairing it myself ( something I've done in the past with good success on a petrol turbo )

A new one is just a tad expensive and going on previous experience working in a main dealers ( not VW ) send back the old turbos which are effectively reconditioned by the manufacturer and sold again as new.

Do recon turbos any good or is it just a false economy or. Buy cheap, pay twice....

Also looking for recommendations for recon turbo suppliers

With those prices I would get the OE and forget about the thing...

Are you sure you have got the right prices?

Edit--- Did not see the +vat part, that gets pricy. As advised, check suppliers in Germany. If the difference is less than couple of hundred, I would go with original part. Then reconditioned by a reputable garage... Second hand are waste of labour, unless you would recondition it before fitting.

Make sure to remove the cause of the failure - check if the oil pipes are clean...

cournioni

Nothing wrong with reconditioned turbos. Never have had any issue with them tbh.

darragh o meara

grogi wrote: »

With those prices I would get the OE and forget about the thing...

Are you sure you have got the right prices?

Edit--- Did not see the +vat part, that gets pricy. As advised, check suppliers in Germany. If the difference is less than couple of hundred, I would go with original part. Then reconditioned by a reputable garage... Second hand are waste of labour, unless you would recondition it before fitting.

Make sure to remove the cause of the failure - check if the oil pipes are clean...

Thanks. I'll take a look. The cause was found a few months back, kinked oil feed line but the damage was already done and it's been noises since. Would probably go for another few months if I left it but have a European road trip planned in a few weeks so I'm not gonna tempt faith by chancing it.