There is nothing more surprising than having to change a turbo on your car, its expensive and time consuming. There are a few steps to remember when changing a turbo on Subaru, these cars are not like other turbocharger equipped cars. In some ways that is very true and it can cost you dearly.The Subaru designers of the turbo system used what is called a “banjo bolt” which flows oil to the turbo unit. The banjo bolt is a bolt which has a hole through it and a screen in inside. As the oil travels through the bolt it passes through the screen and then enters the turbo. The reason you will need to change this part out is due to contamination of this screen. This banjo bolt really should be changed as often as the oil filter but is generally ignored, that is sad too. Just changing this 3$ part a few times could have saved a $1000 turbocharger.
Changing out the banjo bolt is easy and would take about 5 or 10 min while doing an oil change. Don’t forget to do this little maintenance because if the screen inside ends up clogged the oil cannot pass. When the oil does not make it to the turbo the unit will starve of oil and seize. This means that for the cost of a $3 bolt your car would still be running. We all want to find places to “cut costs” but this is one place where spending a few dollars extra is a great idea.
