New Remnant Turbo Kit. Worked Fine for a Week, Now Acting as if I Have a Massive Boost Leak

[tub54500]

sooo dont do this.... because I am pretty sure I did

quick question, is that actuator bracket rod supposed to have a little play in it ?

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[Alec-RemnantPerformance]

quick question, is that actuator bracket rod supposed to have a little play in it ?

if you are referring to the wastegate connecting arm that we include in the turbo kit, we designed it with a Heim joint built in. We did this to make sure that it is impossible for it to bind

 

[AZ Zupra]

Any update after replacement turbo? I've finally gotten my turbo/PI order from Remnant and wondering if there's anything I should be looking out for.

 

[Jazee]

Any update after replacement turbo? I've finally gotten my turbo/PI order from Remnant and wondering if there's anything I should be looking out for.

I had another issue with white smoke starting to bellow out of the exhaust. Turns out turbo oil drain line was kinked and causing oil to pressurize within the turbo. It can be difficult to clock everything properly so make sure that the oil drain is threaded first while someone holds the turbo off the studs. It will have a bend in it, which is normal, just make sure it is not kinked after everything is tight. You might have to loosen the CHRA vband and rotate to give it some more clearance.

 

[GMsuperfan]

Any update after replacement turbo? I've finally gotten my turbo/PI order from Remnant and wondering if there's anything I should be looking out for.

I'd reach out to Alec for some tips/advice if you plan to install this on your own. There are a bunch of suggestions in this thread but I had a shop do mine and they've provided some feedback to him as well. He's likely a wealth of knowledge and should be able to point out some potential gotchas. Biggest issue the shop had w/ the kit on mine was getting the WG mounted so that it would clear everything. They also installed some heat wrap around the WG itself since it's like 3-5mm from the manifold and super hot parts (the top of the EWG is plastic).

 

[cpunlamd]

If you watch the CES Motorsports install video on YouTube (@ 06:27), you'll see them spend a lot of time trying to get the oil drain line to clock correctly. Even the shops had a hard time clocking it straight. The drain line clearly needs a revision. Kinking the drain line is inevitable as it sits.

 

[Thraxbert]

Drain line works fine, and every turbo needs to be clocked. It is supposed to have a small "S" zigzag in it.

Source: I have this turbo, I clocked the cold+hotside to match my setup, and all was well. Have done the same for two other cars in Texas.

But for people who have never installed an aftermarket turbo before, "clocking" the turbo can be a foreign concept. Most people have not encountered this step before. It's harder on the supra because the exhaust ports in the head aren't perpendicular to the ground like most (edit: inline) engines, so there's an extra element of lining up the flange, THEN clocking the hotside, THEN clocking the cold side. Almost every aftermarket turbo install needs some amount of this unless it's a stuffed turbo solution that is in the OEM housing.

I also see shops, even famous ones, screw this up on a regular basis. For the past 5 years I have helped ~100 people boost their Genesis Coupe. It's a great car, and the kit for that car (also by Remnant) works well. I've had mine installed since 2019. Every single user, and I mean every single user, that has gone to a shop has had to come to me to undo fucked work. Every. Single. One. This is not hyperbole, I am not exaggerating for effect, I am as serious and literal as I can be on this statement. I cannot believe how many shops have the audacity to charge people for installs when they cannot get elementary stuff, like clocking a turbo, correct for a paying customer. It's wild and makes me so angry for these people. All the self installs are fine, but the shop installs? Always a disaster. Ugh.

If anyone ever needs help clocking their turbo on this, or any other aftermarket kit, my PM inbox is open. I will gladly help!

(Sidenote: "clocking" the turbo refers to orienting the oil feed and drain lines to line up with 11:00 and 5:00, 12:00 and 6:00, or 1:00 and 7:00. Oil drain is gravity-fed, so it's important to get the drain line pointing in the right direction for all the oil to leave the turbo center cartridge. Failing to do this causes oil backup, white smoke, and possibly blown seals.)

 

[Jazee]

Drain line works fine, and every turbo needs to be clocked. It is supposed to have a small "S" zigzag in it.

Source: I have this turbo, I clocked the cold+hotside to match my setup, and all was well. Have done the same for two other cars in Texas.

But for people .....

You're definitely correct about the shops. I experienced the same when I brought mine to a specialty BMW performance shop for assistance troubleshooting my white smoke issue, and they blamed manufacturing defects for it not lining up correctly. At least they found the source of the issue, the kinked drain line.

I took the car back from them, removed the turbo, replaced the drain line, reinstalled with proper clocking, and everything has been fine since. Approximately 4k miles.

With that said, I feel that it would be a vast improvement to design the billet oil drain fitting with the "S" curve, rather than make the rubber hose do it. Clocking will still be required for most applications, but at least the rubber hose would be allowed a straight shot to the block. Alec referenced the limitations of CNC machines in regards to not being able to create the "S" within the billet fitting, but surely it is not an issue for the right machine and tooling. It may increase cost a bit, but it seems like this is the main issue a lot of people have with the kit so to me it seems like a worthy investment in your product.

 

[cpunlamd]

With that said, I feel that it would be a vast improvement to design the billet oil drain fitting with the "S" curve, rather than make the rubber hose do it. Clocking will still be required for most applications, but at least the rubber hose would be allowed a straight shot to the block. Alec referenced the limitations of CNC machines in regards to not being able to create the "S" within the billet fitting, but surely it is not an issue for the right machine and tooling. It may increase cost a bit, but it seems like this is the main issue a lot of people have with the kit so to me it seems like a worthy investment in your product.

This is exactly what I mentioned in my last post. The oil drain tube bolted to turbo is clocked incorrectly causing too much tension on the rubber hose. The correct fix is to redo the drain pipe.

 

[a90fresh]

Also had a wastegate issue that also impacted my boost. My weld for the shaft that rotates the flap broke loose. Reached out to @Alec-RemnantPerformance , he provided detailed instructions on how to fix by doing a TIG weld with turbo in place (without having to remove or uninstall anything). He was transparent in terms of letting me know that this is a known issue in a few of the first kits in the very first batch out of 150’ish kits sold and that this has been fixed and incorporated into their QA process ever since.

Pics of TIG Welds of repair, 2nd pic was something extra I did based on @Jazee ‘s issue to ensure flap didn’t come loose as well, so thx ? @Jazee for this post/thread.

Ended up working out great, since I realized I didn’t want to have to uninstall anything for the fix. He also offered to cover and pay for the repair. Remnant customer support is ?, best in the game and definitely one of best customer support experiences I’ve ever received from purchase until now. He’s been extremely accessible and very attentive with anything I’ve need help on thus far.

 

[Evilpenguinking]

Also had a wastegate issue that also impacted my boost. My weld for the shaft that rotates the flap broke loose. Reached out to @Alec-RemnantPerformance , he provided detailed instructions on how to fix by doing a TIG weld with turbo in place (without having to remove or uninstall anything). He was transparent in terms of letting me know that this is a known issue in a few of the first kits in the very first batch out of 150’ish kits sold and that this has been fixed and incorporated into their QA process ever since.

Pics of TIG Welds of repair, 2nd pic was something extra I did based on @Jazee ‘s issue to ensure flap didn’t come loose as well, so thx ? @Jazee for this post/thread.

Ended up working out great, since I realized I didn’t want to have to uninstall anything for the fix. He also offered to cover and pay for the repair. Remnant customer support is ?, best in the game and definitely one of best customer support experiences I’ve ever received from purchase until now. He’s been extremely accessible and very attentive with anything I’ve need help on thus far.

Just curious did this throw a code for you? Or did you just feel something wasn’t right?

 

[a90fresh]

Just curious did this throw a code for you? Or did you just feel something wasn’t right?

Absolutely threw codes, here’s the screenshot:

 

[Evilpenguinking]

Absolutely threw codes, here’s the sceenshot:

I have the same turbo. Don’t know if it was in the first batch, just wanted to know what to look out for. Thanks!

 

[Jazee]

I have the same turbo. Don’t know if it was in the first batch, just wanted to know what to look out for. Thanks!

If it totally breaks you’ll lose all boost and turbo will stop whistling, that’s what happened to me. But my flap was totally missing and presumably shot out the exhaust lol

 

[razorlab]

I know of at least five people that had the same issue with the flapper. Really bad design. Glad to hear it sounds like they updated it.

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