Need help purchasing a new turbo

Rebuild or New Ko4 clone

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dommurino

Greenie N00B Member
Greenie Member
This is my situation. I have a 2011 mazdaspeed 3 with 152k miles on it. It is on the stock Ko4 turbo. It has all the basic mods HPFP, Cob accessport, catback cork sport exhaust , and intake. My car has been burning oil at a pretty good rate at this point about a half quart to a full quart every 500 miles. I am assuming that the problem it the turbo there is very little smoke on start up and idle which I heard are obvious signs of needing a turbo replacement however I do not have any of those issues.

I am looking to replace the stock turbo. I have been told that getting it rebuilt is a good option however I am interested if anyone knows of a good ko4 replacement that is brand new and around $400. I am not looking for more power I have considered the cts4 or bnr s2 however they are just out of my current price range. Any advice or direction to a reliable company selling a drop in ko4 clone would be huge.
 
Hey man have you done the oil restrictor bolt mod? It is basically just a banjo bolt that feeds the turbo less oil, as it apparently gets more than needs from the original bolt. That can sometimes be the culprit.

If you really think your turbo is bad then I suggest checking inside your intercooler inlet and outlet to see if there is oil inside there. If there is then you definitely have a turbo that has bad/going bad seals. I suggest a bnr s1 or 2 as a replacement if needed simply due to the ko4 being prone to burning oil and what not.
 
If you want a k04 replacement I'd look at the bnrs1 is you're looking at a k04 Chris ward (cw turbo chargers ) on Facebook has a good rep of rebuilding the OEM units I'll probably go with one of his if my turbo dies and I don't upgrade.
Oil restrictor bolt is a bandaid at best, once you need one it's new turbo time but it'll confirm the issue.
 
Nope, that bolt is a bandaid to tie you over until you get a new turbo.

Smoke from exhaust and oil consumption can also be due to piss poor crank case pressure. Two things that help solve this on gen2 vs gen 1, is location of the valve cover breather hose on the TIP ( after market intakes without this deleted or just the gen 2 tip solves this), and some baffles within the valve cover. Both of these were improved with the gen 2 speeds.

Failed PCV valve can also contribute to it, a fresh PCV valve with catch can ( and check valve) between IM and PCV plate can help improve things especially if you upgrade the PCV plate to damond motorsports as the new one is baffled as well.

Really it's the valve cover breather hose location on the intake and valve cover that help along with frequent oil changes. TSB from Mazda is also running 5w40 oil which many of us did for years and some still do.
 
Sorry if this question is redundant but you would suggest pcv and catch can along with a check valve then seeing how that improves oil consumption?
 
You could try a new PCV valve, occ will just catch anything. Could also try a banjo bolt first, if that helps reduce the oil consumption then probably the turbo done and I'd be replacing than along with a new PCV valve for safe measure.

@Enki @Easter Bunny or @JohnnyTightlips would probably be able to provide some better action plan, tagged them so hopefully one of them chimes in.
 
Don't get a new ko4 until you know that yours is bad. Take off the intercooler and look for oil after the turbo. Do a compression and leak down test and check the pcv though at your mileage I would just get a new one and replace it.

If there is no oil in the intercooler then the turbo is fine if the pcv is fine then it's likely just a tired motor.

Some guys have experienced where the oil control rings will get gummed up and stop working. There are some topend treatments that you pour in through the spark plugs hole and let sit I have no experience with those though so I can make a recommendation other than to change your oil when you are done

Which intake do you have? Depending on where the vacuum source for the pcv system is it may not be pulling enough vacuum
 
I have the same issue I have taken the intercooler off and saw that the intercooler and the turbo was coated with oil so I am 99% sure that its a turbo
 
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