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G-Lader life

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oktoberfest

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
We've all heard about the G-Lader's tendency to explode when you hit 50,001 miles.
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I just opened up my charger and it looked pretty damn good. Apex seals were fine. Cog belt had no cracks or fraying. And this is after 150,000 miles. I'm replacing the cog belt of course and will sometime down the road have the whole thing rebuilt by KK. But it was nice to see that it's basically sound.
This car has had the oil + filter changed every 3,000 miles like clockwork. I think that helped.
 
#4 ·
Re: G-Lader life (mrkrad)

I'm new to the G60 engine and recently bought a corrado with 191000km, car still pulls and the previous owner did the oil changes regularly.
I wonder if you continue with the regular oil changes, 20W50 in the summer and 5/30 in the winter, and never rev the engine above 6000rpm, would the charger ever break?
 
#5 ·
Re: G-Lader life (Ribulose16v)

Quote, originally posted by Ribulose16v »
I'm new to the G60 engine and recently bought a corrado with 191000km, car still pulls and the previous owner did the oil changes regularly.
I wonder if you continue with the regular oil changes, 20W50 in the summer and 5/30 in the winter, and never rev the engine above 6000rpm, would the charger ever break?

Yup
 
Discussion starter · #6 ·
Re: G-Lader life (Ribulose16v)

I've heard stories about them lasting 250K mi. What you don't want is for the charger to become a grenade. In that case you could do damage to the engine ($$$) and would definitely have to buy a remanufactured charger ($1600 -- twice as much $ as a preventitive rebuild)
It's a good idea to pull the charger out of the car (instructions at http://www.kompressorkanada.ca...l.htm) and inspect it. The people at Kompressor Kanada (KK) can tell you exactly what to look for, but basically you pull out the apex seals and check them for taper. Tapered apex seals indicate play in the bearings, which calls for a rebuild. Even if you don't rebuild it you should at least replace the cog belt (available from KK).
It's also a good time to make sure the oil feed line is clear.
 
#10 ·
Re: G-Lader life (Ribulose16v)

Quote, originally posted by Ribulose16v »
do it every 60000km

60000 miles or 100000km's
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it's important for people to know that just because your charger lasted XXX miles, doesn't mean that theirs will.
bearings have their tolerences.
when they wear out, the charger will fail. some sooner than others.
same goes for those little cog belts.... it can snap at any time if you don't inspect it often.
good luck!
 
#12 ·
Re: G-Lader life (mrkrad)

Quote, originally posted by mrkrad »
mines got 146K. if you go to a merc dealer you will see a ton of dead eatons too.. prob just abuse and poor maintenance.

actually most people just replace em cuz they sound like an eaton and its under warrenty, so they figure something is wrong.
but true maintenance is key on anything mechanical
 
#13 ·
Re: G-Lader life (Iceman666)

honestly i think the failure after rebuild analogy is this:
if your motor rings are gone, and you pop the rod bearings/pistons out, hone, and re-ring, you still have a good chance of :
main bearing failure
rod bearing failure (not remachining)
wrist pin failure.

hypothetically, and how most REBUILDERS do an engine of quality, say an ls6 engine, is you break it down, tolerance everything, use custom fit parts and ensure everything is to factory spec, balance blueprint whatever.
Turbo's are balanced at 150K rpm's with sophisticated (hopefully) machines.
I don't see either process being done. Maybe it can't be done. Maybe its not cost effective versus buy a new/or other(lysholm/eaton) product.
But unless the laws of physics have changed, there's more to a rebuild than throwing new parts in and hoping it lasts forever. I'm guessing the VW factory had a lot more QA on assembling and testing the g-lader before it left shop.
porting the blower is a whole nother story.
don't get me wrong i'm all for it, but in some ways i believe that the G-unit
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probably may serve its life best with a belt change and run it till she blows, then find a new solution.
If after 300K miles you are still driving that pos vw
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you might consider car. Life is short. there's a bunch of ferrari's i'd like to give a whirl.
 
#15 ·
Re: G-Lader life (Ribulose16v)

Quote, originally posted by Ribulose16v »
what is the mean time to failure for the bearings in the G60? Are there specs on the life of the apex seals also?

*cough*
Quote, originally posted by david@kompressorkanada »

60000 miles or 100000km's
Image

it's important for people to know that just because your charger lasted XXX miles, doesn't mean that theirs will.
bearings have their tolerences.
when they wear out, the charger will fail. some sooner than others.
same goes for those little cog belts.... it can snap at any time if you don't inspect it often.
good luck!

Image

strips should be replaced at 40-50% of their life if you want to maximize the boost pressure your charger outputs.
 
#16 ·
Re: G-Lader life (david@kompressorkanada)

i figured the mean time between failure is about 400-500 hours (measured at maximum duty cycle).
yeah thats not alot but if you think bout being at wot for so many hours str8 it would be a fun trip
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