OK Guys... You all know my feelings on the Garret turbo, and after thinking more and more about it I figured I would make one long post about it and let it be.

I bought a Garret GTP-38r about 16 months ago, took about 2 months to have the time to install it. We installed it at the Tech day at my house, a few of you where there. From about day two I knotice surge, and about week two I saw blue smoke... WTF?

So I start asking around about what kind of warranty this turbo has... Many of you know the LACK of warranty this thing has, if it blows up, you have to send it to Garret, wait for them to "look" at it, and maybe, just maybe they will fix it.

Well, after I had a TN unit (thank you to Brian at Black Widow Diesel!) to run while Garret "looked" at my turbo, about three months later I got a New Garret which I was told had some "extra" porting done to it. It still surged, and leaked oil... Then I got another one... and it was better on the surging, but still leaked past the compressor O rings... So I was told they were working on another one... for months... Been over 6 months now, so I gave up...

FYI I was told to keep quiet about my issues if I wanted any help from Garret... Well I figured, if they are not going to help me then why should I allow others to make the same mistake I did???

So those of you that dismiss my Garret issues as ramblings of a idiot should really relize the headache I went thru trying to get a working $1600 turbo.

Am a a little jaded? Hell yes! Would you be?

 

I always wondered why you had a problem with garret. One day when i go with a bigger turbo i will stay away from them after all the headaches you have had. I heard TN is very nice. Thanks for the heads up.

On edit: Some company they are, if you tell people about what happened they wont warrenty your problem.

 

We all appreciate the warnings, for sure. Sometimes it isn't as important to know where to go as it is to know where NOT to go!

 

I'm looking for a new turbo and was thinking about the gtp 38..I'm glad you posted this..I was also looking the TN and didn't know where to look..guess ill look deeper into it..thanks for the heads up....I cant afford to be taken any more...

 

But isn't this GTP-38 just a ball bearing version of the stocker?

 

I have the TN and LOVE IT!!! Actually, it's a "Ball-Buster", but it's made by the same people.

 

Almost ... it's ball-bearing, that's correct, but it also has an 88mm compressor wheel vs 80mm on the stocker, and has a 1.0 ar exhaust housing vs the .84 on the stocker.

Flows more air is the important part.

 

Yes and no, it has a 1.00 exhaust housing, a 4" ported intake housing and a somewhat stonger WG rod... It is also rated for 40#'s boost.

 

I am glad i decided to go with the TN unit as well, instead of the Garrett Ball bearing. The sleeve-bearing design is proven more durable anyway.

 

Do you remember who told you that? Was that a Garrett employee? Are those the exact words?

I used to work for a sister division. Those words would have gotten me FIRED, right now!

Pop

 

kinda glad i got my H2E , cause knowing my luck i would run in to the same problems Joe did, thanks for the heads up , Joe is a great guy , and im sure for him to say that ,they had to get his blod boiling ,

 

Now I am wondering if that isn't part of my problem. It would seem though that there are 100's if not 1,000's of the GT38's out there though. If there was a problem, wouldn't it be more public by now?

 

a lot of people are not as mechanical inclined, and by the time they get to the bottom of the problem that the turbo was causing smoke or other problems they upgraded to a diferent one, or bigger one, so shortly saying,its not designed for a lot of HP, just maybe ???? just pondering here, most guys dont run 400+ HP motors here, thats the reason why they holding up?

 

Man.
That . . sux!!!!!
Just counting my lucky stars
that I aint U!
Mines been a dream since I got it. Now I gotta go find some wood to knock on.
(Nothing in the above is to be construed as me not continually dreaming of compounds, mind you)

 

It was from a Vendor that sell's ALOT of them, I dont know if he was told to tell me or if he just felt it right to say, but he did... and I did for about 9 months.

The ones that work, seem to work fine, the ones that done... well you have a $1600 paper weight because garret will just flick boogers at you...