Independent Renault Forums banner

How To: Change Turbo 1.9dci

21K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  Phil48 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello everybody!

I did a turbo referb on my Laguna 1.9dci 2002 last week so I wanted to share the process and photos to help others. It should be very similar for any car with a 1.9dci engine. I found some other threads on here with a short description of the job process but without photos it is hard to know what to expect.

All photos can be found on my photobucket album here. There are more than I have placed in this thread. – 1.9dci Turbo Change by Simon| Photobucket

Let’s try and walk through what I did.

Put the car on axle stands. Firstly I drained the engine oil. And replaced the oil filter. You may think that because the turbo is at the top of the engine it will not be necessary to drain the oil once it trickled to the sump. However, bear in mind that many oil filters have a one way valve inside designed to keep the oil at the top of the engine so it is lubricated from the get-go. Basically if you don’t drain the oil it might be messy when you pull the turbo oil feeds.

Next you will need to clear the vacuum hose bits from the back top of the engine bay. That means the turbo VGT solenoid on the far left hand side (when standing in front of the car), vacuum reservoir (the black/yellow cylinder) and the little doo-hicky I have no idea what it is just below the reservoir. Oh and pull the hose from the turbo actuator. Disconnect the wiring plugs for the turbo solenoid and other bits around there too so they don’t get caught up.


Disconnect the three air hoses that go to the turbo and to the engine air inlet. They have jubilee clips. One from the intercooler to the engine air inlet manifold, one from air-box to the turbo and one from turbo to intercooler. Only the air-box to turbo pipe needs fully removing, the other two can just be pushed out the way.



Disconnect the thin oil feed pipe to the top of the turbo. I found there was not much space to work with a normal size 17mm open ended spanner, so I used a shorter handled one. The nut that holds the oil pipe in the turbo has rather a long thread so it’s a bit tedious doing it a ¼ turn at a time. Persist.



Do the same for the other end of the oil pipe that goes into the back of the engine. Again a short handle spanner is helpful. Note the engine end of the pipe has a small o-ring on the end that must not be lost.

Disconnect the oil drain pipe from the bottom of the turbo. There are two 10mm nuts on a flange that affix to the bottom of the turbo. The pipe has some corrugated bends and goes in to the sump. At the sump end it is a push-fit with a double o-ring seal. After the turbo is out, the other end will pull out.

To get at these two 10mm nuts I used a small handled ratchet. About 6” I guess. I laid across the front of the engine and wrapped my arm under the turbo from where the air hoses used to pass. It’s a bit of a contortion but totally possible. I’ve read others have taken the cat off first to get more access but I didn’t feel the need. You may like to peep at the nuts from under the car to get a better idea what you are reaching for.


Both nuts removed from the oil drain pipe it’s just a case of un-bolting the turbo from the cat and the engine. There are three studs that go into the turbo and hold the cat on to it with 13mm nuts. When I did it, two studs came out and the nut came off the other leaving the stud in the turbo. So that you can withdraw the turbo from the engine you must remove all the studs. I double nutted the remaining stud and took it off. There is a metal gasket between the cat and the turbo here so don’t lose it when you remove the turbo.



There are now three 13mm nuts holding the turbo to the engine. Two nuts face towards the back of the engine bay and you can easily see them. One nut faces the other way at the bottom of the mounting flange. Remove all three. The turbo should now withdraw towards the back of the engine bay. You can remove it from the space at the top left of the bay if you rotate the turbo to its side a little.




You can also now pull the oil drain pipe from the engine sump. Go easy, wiggle wiggle and bit by bit. Eventually it will pull out.


The hardest part for me was opening the turbo case to put the new turbine cartridge inside. The nuts do not have a direct line of access, have shallow heads and are soft. Even with a hex socket they wanted to round off. I got most of them off eventually but had to cut the others off with an angle grinder and then remove them with stud extractors. It was a right pain!


Once I got it open I spent a bit of time cleaning it all and then getting the VGT bits back in order. To get the VGT wheels in place that guide the actuator ring you must place the wheel first and then add the pin though the centre.



The new cartridge slots in, VGT side first. There is a gap in the ring which lines up with a little pin holes in the case body. This matches the actuator lever.



There is a concave washer that keeps the exhaust gas out of the turbo internals and so when you sit the parts together it seems like the cartridge doesn’t go in all the way. Provided you have checked everything is correctly aligned, the washer should compress when you fit the bolts back in.

I used new bolts because the old ones were crap. However, I added flanged nuts on the clean air side not pictured here, as I didn’t have the right size washers. Later I found that made it impossible to get a socket on the oil drain pipe flange. I had to use a cranked spanner from under the car and it was a pain. Better to make sure any new bolts you put in don’t block access top the bolt holes for the oil drain pipe.

Okay so that’s it really. Remember to set the actuator lever stop to the length it was on the old turbo.

Put the other side (clean air side) of the turbo together and don’t forget the gasket.



Put it all back together in the reverse that you dismantled it all. Make sure you put back any gaskets and seals. Oh and make sure the oil pipes are clear, I cleaned mine in diesel. . Before you connect the oil feed pipe, put a little oil in the hole so the turbo is lubricated.

I also used some Holts exhaust gasket gum to make sure it was all well sealed I re-used the original metal gasket on the oil drain pipe because it attaches and stays in place when you position the turbo. The soft foam gasket that came with the turbo cartridge would not stay in place. I also added some silicon oil gasket sealant to the oil drain flange since I was re-using an old gasket.


When I put the car under boost with the new turbo I got a lot of smoke that took some time to go. It worried me at first and I stopped to check for oil leaks. It was just oil remaining in the intercooler or exhaust from the old failed turbo.

I hope this helps. Remeber to look at the photobucket album for more photos.
 
See less See more
30
#3 ·
I didn't change the pipes. I did check them for damage and ensured they were clean inside.

I wasn't aware the cartridge warrenty was dependant on new pipes. I got the cartridge from 'Direct Turbo UK' on eBay. It was delivered next day and came with an individual balancing graph which was nice. They don't mention a warrenty on the advert and to be hoenst the labour is the part that would **** me off if it broke again, not the cost which was only £75.

My turbo was a Garret GT1749V-2, by the way. The whole job took 2 afternoons but would have been quicker if the turbo came open easily.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top