On a turbo, if it has slight side to side play, is that bad? Or is there a level of tolerance?

 

Depends what turbo it is?

 

When the blades start touching the housing.

 

On a sound turbo the impeller has no play at all, and if the blades start touching the housing then better watch out. I had an MD321T that began doing this on the M4. By the time I'd eased off and pulled over the impeller blades and presumably bits of housing had been sucked into the engine.

 

Ouch. Ok cheers, it was a vf35 turbo a guy was selling with slight play. Think i might give it a miss.