Nissens turbo - should I trust it? Please help

[marcusmarcus]

Hey everyone!

 

You can skip this first part if you're in a rush:

So about 3-4 years ago my turbo had a catastrophic failure, the shaft broke, first it started whining soo loudly, later there was so much black smoke it looked like the car was on fire. My dad was driving it at the time and he had it towed to a local mechanic who changed the turbo. However, I'm 99% sure he didn't change the intercooler, oil feed pipe, etc. Just the turbo, oil and oil filter. He probably didn't even oil up the turbo before installing it, so it started dry.

A few months later, the turbo started whining again. More while the engine is cold, but you can hear it all the time. Around 2000-3000 rpm. Even when there's no load on the engine. I took the car to the dealer, they said the turbo needs to be replaced, didn't say exactly why, just made me (a very expensive) offer for a remanufactured one. There are no fault codes on VDCS, boost seems normal though. But the other day I went to clean the EGR valve, I disconnected the turbo hose that goes from the intercooler to the intake flap motor and EGR and there was a small puddle of oil in the hose. This is very concerning to me as the hose is the highest part of the assembly, so I suspect there's a lot more oil in the hoses that are lower and in the intercooler. And I looked under the car the other day, there's some more oil down there on the gearbox, I can't really tell where it's coming from, I just know it's not from the oil sump or the drain plug. Anyway, I'll take it to an independent shop, but I'm ready for them to tell me the turbo must be changed.

 

As I have a limited budget, I found that Nissens now makes turbocharges and they advertise the hell out of them (https://nissens.com/en-gb/automotive/turbos.aspx). A new Nissens turbo is about 400€ versus a new Garrett about 600€. Now, I can either choose a Nissens one and replace the intercooler, oil feed pipe, have the EGR and the oil sump cleaned, or get the Garrett one and leave the old parts in. What do you guys think? Should I trust them? They just started making them but apparently, they tested them very thoroughly. I know they make other parts very good, such as radiators and condensers.