K04 turbo rebuild question

[tazz2828]

Hello guys, sorry to bring this up again, and i know there is a thread about a K04 turbo build but my question is different or it might be. and i am also a new member please dont be mad at me.
so on to the question:

I have an 07 mazdaspeed3 with 95k miles, and " yes i have read the turbo seal failure thread too.. thats all i do read".. so today i took the car to be checked for compression and my compression is strong and in good shape . so i discarded any leaks or anything. the reason im saying this, is because i do have blue smoke but its really not that much and it dosen't do it all the time.. so far it has done it twice and its been like 4 days since it did it again , but the guy who is working on my car knows his stuff. but he def told me i needed a turbo. so he told me why not rebuild it.... so on to the topic.. while i was searching for K04 rebuild kits i found a kit by G-POP Shop that nobody has talked about or i haven seen it on threads.. this is what the G-pop shop says:



"The KKK K03 K04 Rebuild Kit has two options for you to choose between. The Standard option uses the OEM spec parts that your turbo came with from the factory and the High-Performance option includes an upgraded 360° thrust bearing and a step gap piston ring that will increase the durability and longevity of your turbo."


does someone or anyone in this forum have the K04 with the High-Performance option includes an upgraded 360° thrust bearing and a step gap piston ring that will increase the durability and longevity of your turbo? is this a good option? does it feel different ? how about power gain? would i need a tune with this upgraded version? how much power can this upgraded version hold ? thanks and sorry for so many questions again I am new to the forums.

[spdtrux]

!. read your Private Message.
2. Donate
3.Ad mods you have to your signature or post.
4. did you even check for shaft play on your turbo? Real easy to get at!

5.why rebuild it? Check out BNR .

6. My turbo was rebuilt by G-POP by previous owner. About 20k ago (I had receipts)
But it still smoked after intake upgrades and rest delete soooo

I adjusted idle and put in a turbo restrictor bolt

If you don't have a Cobb AP get on and up load data Logs so we can really help

[tazz2828]

Well i Did check BNR .. the problem is that im a broke College student who is trying to make it you know and married by the way.. so i just want to seek the options that would best fit my pocket as of the moment.. BNR stage 3 is just to much for me i have to do a ton of s*** to run good and im totally stock exept for a SRI that is all.. lol.. can i get 320whp out of BNR stage 1? safely withouth damaging the turbo?

[spdtrux]

These cars run rich factory, black tail pipes and puffs of unburnt fuel are normal. if your turbo seal leak Yu'll notice decent clouds at idle after car is warmed up regularly not hit or miss random.

If your tight on cash then check for shaft play yourself. And if really smoke get a restriction bolt.

Shops make money being nice and milking people for shit they don't need saying its regular maintenance. Just enough to keep your trust.

[08cosmic3]

switch to Rotella T6 5w-40 oil.

[tazz2828]

I will sure check for the shaft play tommorrow or this week .. but yea like you said if i did have a smoke problem or a little turbo leak i would have a decent amount of smoke.. but i havent seen smoke in 4 days .. i always warm up the car before even driving it and i havent seen smoke.. ill keep an eye to see of it happens again.

*** i always run castrol gold full synthetic 5w-30 .. would changing to rotella help me at all??

[speed23]

I agree with the other posts. I HIGHLY suggest trying a Bnoon restriction bolt first as that may solve all your issues. If you rebuild you may still get smoking shortly thereafter (happened to me).

And yes the thicker 40weight oil will help. Mazda even suggested it for a fix.

[BZiggy10]

Do the simple steps first.

- change to a 5w40 and possibly even add a quart of lucas oil (personal preference I run it in every vehicle I have ever owned)

- if you have an AP raise your idle to 900 which will help with smoking at idle.

- Bnoon bolt (my opinion is that it prolongs the life of your k04 until it will eventually go out and is very random from car to car. Not much supporting data and evidence showing how long or if it will even work, kind of a cheap gamble for only about $40 or so)

- buy new CHRA for $450 shipped from Gpopshop or go tremendously in debt and go BT lol

I did a bunch of research and talking to different shops about doing rebuild. In the end if you can't do yourself labor is expensive. You still might need to pay someone to swap the cold and hot sides if you can't. Sometimes a shop will be left with no choice but to replace the CHRA any ways and you will have to pay the $450 for the new one any way. A rebuild kit still leaves you with having to balance the shaft and assembly costing near the $450 any way.

In the end you can try those steps to slow down the imminent demise of the shitty k04 or just spend the $450 pull your turbo and swap the hot and cold sides in a day. I literally just helped a fellow Nator buddy @chapdawg last week do the swap. He didn't even remove his exhaust manifold because he dropped the turbo down through the bottom. ( Only possible on the MS3 because 6s have the tcase.

[08cosmic3]

Just buy a used low mileage K04 for $250 if all else fails.

[tazz2828]

thanks for the replies guys... but again hopefully is not the turbo.. since i dont see smoke to often or it has been 4 days and i havent seen any smoke yet.. but again it does not hurt to be ahead of the problems.. Can i put Castrol 5w-40 next time and it wont have any bad effects on the engine if im really not smoking ? where can i buy the restrictor bolt lol... thanks again for the help guys..

[08cosmic3]

Get the Shell Rotella T6 full synthetic 5W-40. Not sure why you're stuck on Castrol. This oil is made for diesel engines but is what most people on this forum run. I've run it for a long time with no issues, although my next change I'll be going back to 5W-30 due to no longer running a K04.

[BZiggy10]

Car parts stores are ridiculously expensive. I go to O'reillys and ask them to price match to Walmart. Some guys won't do it but I know the guys at mine because I am in there quite often.

[tazz2828]

hey whats going on guys .. question... where can i buy a bnoon bolt at ? i was looking over the bnoon bolt thread and i think he stopped production or not? please let me know where can i get my hands on one.. thank you

[spdtrux]

There a vendor on here Matt Damon* thats makes them as well as eBay bnoon stopped making them last I checked

[speed23]

Here you are @tazz2828;:

Stock turbo, oil restrictor banjo bolt

[tazz2828]

thanks a lot guys!!!!! dam being a member rocks.. good help...

[chapdawg]

@BZiggy10 is right, he saved my wallet from going bnr. I'm not going to say it was easy to do but changing the CHRA of the turbo instead of upgrading was the best option. but before we did change the CHRA of my blown turbo i had a slightly smokey ko4 from another nator buddy, and when i installed that one i put w40 oil in with 1 quart of lucas oil addictive and it didn't smoke. i saw smoke once and that was because there was still out in my exhaust from the turbo blowing up. if your going to go for the cheapest way to find a solution id say oil plus lucas oil additive then if it jokes a few days later then maybe the banjo bolt.

[tazz2828]

thanks for the help again.. great help

[chapdawg]

Hell we have another nator car that stopped smoking when we changed the oil and took out the oil catch can.

[BZiggy10]

Originally Posted by chapdawg Hell we have another nator car that stopped smoking when we changed the oil and took out the oil catch can.

Lol what an adventure

[BZiggy10]

@tazz2828 what did you end up doing?

[spdtrux]

got the answers he needed and bounced on us!?

[tazz2828]

Lol like I told you guys, I'm a.college student been in clases but I did find that the blue smoke.that I see from time to time is just unburned fuel. @spdtrux you were right we run rich.. but I went ahead and ordered my oil restrict or bolt from dammond motorsports. And I will change the oil to rotella t6 on my next change.. thanks again for all the help I will post pictures when I get the new bolt.and take the old one out.

[BZiggy10]

Originally Posted by tazz2828 Lol like I told you guys, I'm a.college student been in clases but I did find that the blue smoke.that I see from time to time is just unburned fuel. @spdtrux you were right we run rich.. but I went ahead and ordered my oil restrict or bolt from dammond motorsports. And I will change the oil to rotella t6 on my next change.. thanks again for all the help I will post pictures when I get the new bolt.and take the old one out.

Whoever told you that blue smoke is unburned fuel is wrong. Blue smoke = burning oil.

[tazz2828]

I mean the blue smoke that I am telling you happens randomly and is not all the time.its really rare and it will throw a little of blue smoke .. it has done it like 3 times and each time it does.it a week has already past.. I already did compression test is strong.. If it were.the turbo I.would.def see the smoke.at iddle and I have already done this test.. I let the.car I idle for 15 min and I don't get nothing.. No smoke. So that why I'm getting.the.bolt just in case.. you know

[BZiggy10]

Right I understand but I promise you that gasoline burns white and oil will burn blue. I'm not saying is your seals or it is your rings I'm only stating that only oil burns blue. It could be a bit of oil that gets into the intake manifold from the pcv. That's why people put OCCs on cars.

[tazz2828]

Hmm interesting bro never thought of that.. thanks for that tip.. so you think I should replace the pcv?

[BZiggy10]

Originally Posted by tazz2828 Hmm interesting bro never thought of that.. thanks for that tip.. so you think I should replace the pcv?

No need to replace it. Your car wouldn't be running right if it was bad. To avoid oil and dirty exhaust vapors running into your intake you would delete the egr and run an OCC

[tazz2828]

thanks a lot fore the tips , @BZiggy10 i will be updating the post when i get the banjo bolt from daemond motorsports.

[tazz2828]

just updating the thread.. i already got the banjo bolt from daemond Motorsports. i will probably make a video when i install it if i have a chance..

[tazz2828]

well here you go guys.. took a picture of the old oil restrictor bolt that the stock turbo comes with. For those of you that have not seen the bolt .. this is the cause of the smoking turbo.. Because this bolt has two oil feeding holes, you can see right threw the hole.. I didn't get a chance to post a picture of the bolt that Matt Damond sent me .. but if you see this comment thank you!

[Mandinca]

Mine started smoking when I went catless. I raised the idle, put in the bolt and use rotella. Still smokes.


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[chapdawg]

Might want to start looking at a replacement, bigger or a rebuild.

[BZiggy10]

Or do a compression test. Check those rings that might be your issue.

[Jeff23spl]

you probably have a turbo that start smoking a little and everything you do around it help to reduce the amount of oil going out thru the seal but as long as your intake piping isn't dry, the turbo let go some oil...
A smokey turbo isn't that bad because it will spin for a long time but the engine will consume that oil, and you would need to clean intake and intake valve sooner.

So i would continue this way with heavier oil and start saving few beers by weekend for a new CHRA. There is some on ebay cheaper than 450$ sometimes 300$...

You could try to rebuild a K04 with a 75$ kit but it will work as long as the oil ring land isn't too much worn and need a larger ring seal. Usually the compressor wheel is 0 balanced from factory and you could mark it up at the right position and put it back at the same place without balancing it. It won't do the best out of it because balancing help even just for the worn/torn blades but for an handy student this could work for a while and would not cost much. If you look more into a permanent solution avoid this! It is a hard cleaning job too and the chance of succes really depend of how much it is worn out.