I've blown my second turbo in 50K miles now. The cause was identified this time as low oil. I never got any reason on the first one. I've been reading for days now about replacing the turbo and which turbo to get, etc. JMTurboCoopers and MiniMania both say they recommend replacing the catalytic converter when replacing a failed turbo, but that was the first I'd heard of that. It looks like "replace the catalytic converter" actually means "replace the downpipe that has the catalytic converter build in to it." Does anyone out there with experience know if I really need to do this or not? the dealership definitely didn't replace it with the first blown turbo, but then again...I had a second one fail 20K miles later...so who knows.

If I MUST replace it, is there any point in getting an upgraded downpipe for better performance? I've read forum posts everywhere that say replacing the DP isn't worth the upgrade, but that's all from people just talking about upgrading. If I HAVE to replace it, I might as well upgrade it right? Any advice? Ideas? Opinions?

 

Did the turbine wheel explode? Was there a ton of metal shavings? If so you may want to replace it. Upgrading is worth it if you go catless or to like a 100 cell converter and get a tune for it. If your not going to tune it then upgrading is not really worth it.

 

I don't know yet because it's still on the car. Given the fact that I can still drive it and half the time it feels like normal (and half the time I heard the bearing grinding) I would imagine it's not in too bad of shape. I'm just thinking that the cost difference between a stock replacement pipe and an upgraded one probably isn't even $100...so it might not be a bad idea while I've got the turbo off and am forced to replace it anyways. Is there something I can test to see if I NEED to replace that downpipe?