My TD04 just started leaking oil into the hotside of the turbo which I'm assuming is due to failing seals. I'm wondering what you guys think I should do. I can buy a rebuild for 400$. I can buy used and possibly get screwed over by some douche for something around 100. Or I can attempt to rebuild it myself. I'm not by any means the most mechanically inclined person but I've done all of my bolt ons myself and then some [currently hitting valve cover gaskets, installed downpipe, uppipe, catback turbo inlet, intake, new pads, calipers, rotors all around, ebcs, etc] . I would imagine the turbo would still need to be balanced professionally? As much as I'd love to slap in a 16-20g I dont think my current budget can handle it as I'd need to source a new tmic, injectors and tune.
Personally, I would look for a used turbo from a reputable seller for $120 or less. It could end up being no good (fail after a short period of time), but at least you would only be out around $100. I usually shy away from buying used parts, but inexpensive OEM turbos is an exception.. when you're talking about getting something for 1/10th the cost it would be new sometimes the risk is worth it. I've sold two td04s, one I knew was good for $120, and another one that some dude just gave me for $90.. the first buyer said it was leaking oil at first, but then it turned out he didn't have the oil feed line on right. I never heard back from the second buyer so I assume it worked out for him since I had told him I would refund his money if it didn't work.
This is true. There is a core refund which will help about 25% on the rebuild so it wont be AS expensive but it's still a lot of money to not be making any difference in power. Any idea if you need to retune when replacing the turbo with same model?