Turbo flange studs

[Toddasaurus]

So, when attempting to install some aftermarket downpipes, I ended up accidentally breaking one of my turbo downpipe studs. Looks like this... (zoom in to see it, snapped stud on the bottom)




I could not, for the life of me, get it out despite my best efforts. A major part of the difficulty is the lack of room to work in there. After a couple days, I gave up and had it towed to my local dealer ship. Eventually they were able to get the stud out - BUT, now they say they can't put the new studs in. They tried trapping it, but the material is just too hard, and they simply cannot get the new OEM studs back in. They told me they will have to replace the turbo. I'm okay with that, because it was a nightmare to work on that area, and if they can't do it, I know I can't...

Here's the problem, though. In order to replace the turbo they have to pull the engine out. They said they need a special bench/stand to put the engine on while it's out, and they don't have this part. The service manager told me they would have to buy this part, and it costs $5,800. Add in labor ($4,500), and a new turbo ($1,500), and I'm in over $11k...

So my question is this. Has anything like this happened to anyone on their Stinger or G70? (Mine is a G70). Anybody installed primary downpipes and run into something similar? If so......do you know of any shops in the greater Portland area that might be of help?


Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[turboAWD]

Wow, that's just, um, insane! Not sure how different it is, but a couple of tuners have done turbo replacements (lap3, that one that crewdog or something like that is working with) - maybe they have some advice?

In a case like this, where it's not vehicle specific, maybe check out other shops that do turbo replacements. For instance - I believe PDX Tuning in Oregon generally has a good reputation in the Subaru world. Maybe talk to them - I'm sure they replace a lot of turbos / studs and have some experience with this sort of thing. Or they can point you to a good machine shop that can figure something out - dealer mechanics usually just get trained "by the book" and rarely have any initiative / creativity - those things are discouraged at dealers.

 

[oddball]

Someone here posted a couple of pics from a DIY turbo R&R a while back. It's possible with the engine in the car, just deeply uncomfortable.

 

[Toddasaurus]

I saw that, I am chatting with him right now. The passenger side turbo looks to be the easier side, which is good news for me.

I might end up doing that.

 

[Gtecko]

if this was to go through, are they letting you keep that "stand" you just paid for ??

 

[Toddasaurus]

if this was to go through, are they letting you keep that "stand" you just paid for ??

Right???? Gonna ask them that when I call them today.

 

[Toddasaurus]

Turns out I don't have to pay for the table after all. I spoke to Genesis corporate and they spoke to the dealership, and now it seems like they have a change of tone.....that, or it was a misunderstanding from the get go (it certainly seemed pretty clear to me, though).

Anyway, I'm on my way to the dealership to take a peek under the hood again and see if I feel competent enough to tackle this myself.

I've rebuilt 3 engines, and one transmission on my own, so I know how to work on cars. I just am so thrown off by this because there is so little room to work with on my new car, and I'm more used to working on older, 90's cars that have more room in the engine bay.

 

[Toddasaurus]

Looks doable to me. Having the car towed back to my place and I'll begin tonight. Gonna pull the turbo out, try to re-tap the threads at a machine shop. If no go, then I'll just buy a new turbo and put it all back in myself.

Big thanks to @ZyroXZ2 for his info about pulling the turbo with the engine still in.

 

[Revvdmedia]

Well I hope I never need to use it, but I'm sure others would appreciate any pictures you can take of the process...you know...just in case someone else has issues down the road.

 

[Toddasaurus]

You got it. I've been primarily posting over in the genesisowners.com forum, so I'll post a link for over there once I get started (which will be tonight). It will be a slow process, primarily because of me and my wife's work schedules, all while juggling child care. I'll just be chipping away at it an hour or so at a time, but I'll post my progress.

 

[niko]

This happened to me. Lesson learned. I wish I would have known earlier to spray some pb plaster and screw loosener on the nut before trying to take them off. Cuz what happened to me the stud started to come off with the nut. And I did end up breaking one. How I fixed it was I threaded some thread on the end of it so I can screw a small nut on it. Then I got a welder and spotted behind the nut. Enough so it was on there. I then managed to take out the broken stud, order a new and tap the old hole on the turbo casting.

 

[Toddasaurus]

^I feel your pain!!

 

[NICK_KHAR]

Weve done these for customers quite a few times
Usually customers that attempted themselves and gave up

If you need assistance at anytime shoot us a call
I can also confirm that removal of turbos can be done without removing the engine

Really irks me when ive seen people remove the engine to do it
In my head im like wtf its so much faster with it inside the car lol

 

[zbc1969]

Weve done these for customers quite a few times
Usually customers that attempted themselves and gave up

If you need assistance at anytime shoot us a call
I can also confirm that removal of turbos can be done without removing the engine

Really irks me when ive seen people remove the engine to do it
In my head im like wtf its so much faster with it inside the car lol

So what's the best way to go about this without breaking studs?

 

[NICK_KHAR]

So what's the best way to go about this without breaking studs?

alot of patience and PB blaster
We typically recommend soaking the nuts while hot and cold every day couple days prior leading up to the job
And lots of lots of PB blaster during the process and just pray to the car gods

Take it easy and slow
other than that there is no real trick

Even when you do everything "right" theres a chance the nut will seize and ultimately take a few hour job to few days
Turbo studs seizing / breaking is pretty commom occurance in the gencoupe scene

 

[Jonathan Lasich]

alot of patience and PB blaster
We typically recommend soaking the nuts while hot and cold every day couple days prior leading up to the job
And lots of lots of PB blaster during the process and just pray to the car gods

Take it easy and slow
other than that there is no real trick

Even when you do everything "right" theres a chance the nut will seize and ultimately take a few hour job to few days
Turbo studs seizing / breaking is pretty commom occurance in the gencoupe scene

I replaced the OEM downpipes on my GT-R a few years ago (I had a 2 post lift at the time). Many reports of owners breaking turbo flange studs on their cars as well and turning a relatively simple job WAAAYYY more complicated. My car was 2 years old with 15K miles on it (winter garaged).

I soaked each nut with PB blaster repeatedly over a 48 hour period (4 times/day). Made sure I had the proper wobble socket to fit. The job required 30 inches of extension to get at the nuts, they were buried so deep. Couldn't visually see most of them so I bought an inspection camera so I could visualize each stud and make certain that the socket fit properly on each nut before attempting to break it free (a bit of overkill, but I'm anal that way--hate unexpected surprises!). I was SOOO nervous, I was visibly shaking and sweating as I started.

Job went on without a hitch, all nuts came off with no complications, and the aftermarket downpipes fit and functioned perfectly. A lot of patience and a little due diligence before starting such a job pays off tremendously in the end!!

 

[ecko04]

moral of the story: leave the downpipes alone?

 

[Toddasaurus]

Weve done these for customers quite a few times
Usually customers that attempted themselves and gave up

If you need assistance at anytime shoot us a call
I can also confirm that removal of turbos can be done without removing the engine

Really irks me when ive seen people remove the engine to do it
In my head im like wtf its so much faster with it inside the car lol

Thank you for chiming in! I've got most everything off, now working on the turbo coolant lines and it's a pretty tight fit. Gonna cut down my hex wrench to get the 2nd but off. Even though others have done it, I can't help but worry that the turbo won't have enough room to come out!

Here is how it's sitting right now, so far has been really easy...



And here is my hex wrench next to the coolant line bolts...


I've got a ton of pictures and will post a better, more detailed explanation of what I did.

 

[ZyroXZ2]

Ya knowwww... Seeing where that bolt is, you might have just been able to dremel the sides of the stud flat, took a locking vise grip to it (or a decent set of pliers), and slowly wrenched it out after putting some PB blaster on it. I assume you've long gotten new studs from your local dealership, lol

 

[Toddasaurus]

Ya knowwww... Seeing where that bolt is, you might have just been able to dremel the sides of the stud flat, took a locking vise grip to it (or a decent set of pliers), and slowly wrenched it out after putting some PB blaster on it. I assume you've long gotten new studs from your local dealership, lol

Oh don't worry, the stud is out. The dealership got it out. Vice grips weren't working, despite my custom cutting in the stud.

The reason why I'm pulling the turbo is because I can't tap the threads while it's in there, the turbo flange is really hard, along with there being very little room.

New studs are in hand.

Also, just finished cutting down my hex wrench to reach both bolts for the coolant line on the turbo. Gonna pull the turbo coolant line after work in the morning.









@ZyroXZ2 - did you have to move the wiring harness at all to make room for the turbo to come out? Looks like it could get in the way..