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Turbos are most commonly associated with diesels and high performance vehicles but are becoming more and more common due to the improvement they have on engine efficiency. A turbo intercepts waste gases leaving your vehicle before they exit through the exhaust, transfers this energy through one turbine to another situated in the air intake system and sends air through to your engine faster, thus improving engine efficiency and power.
In most cases, the turbo itself does not fail on its own but because of another problem with the vehicle. The problems that can impact the turbo are known as the turbo 'killers' and can be categorised into 4 main areas:
- Oil Starvation: These parts work at such high speeds and temperatures that the continued lubrication of the part is absolutely vital. If the part becomes starved of oil then this will have a huge impact on the part. Oil starvation would suggest blocked or split pipes.
- Oil Contamination: Similarly, where a lack of oil can lead to the failure of a turbo, contaminated oil can also cause a problem. An unchanged oil filter or dirty oil will cause the turbo to wear at an increased rate.
- Foreign Object Damage: If there are splits within the air intake system, then foreign objects could make their way through to the turbine. Even a very small impact could cause considerable damage to the turbine.
- Poor Driving: There is the possibility that driving style could impact on the turbine. Through hard accelerating or the long idling of an engine, there could be considerable additional stress placed on a part already working hard and this could begin to cause undue wear and tear.
Although turbo failure can be unavoidable, it is advised that you have your vehicle serviced regularly and the oil and filter changed to ensure that the oil does not become contaminated and the engine has enough lubricating oil to function.
Other symptoms of turbo failure would be loss of power, this can be caused by a number of things, a split intake hose which would create a whistling noise (not to be confused with a whining noise). If the waste gate was to stick open this would cause the exhaust gas to rush straight down the exhaust manifold and not turn the turbine, therefore the compression side of the turbo is not making any boost pressure. Variable vanes can also stick due to a build up of exhaust carbon in the variable vane chamber, Variable vanes operate by allowing exhaust gas to pass through them and spin the turbine at variable speeds, if these vanes are stuck in any way then they will not spin the turbine correctly or in some cases not spin it at all. In most cases if you are experiencing loss of power then the turbo will need to be repaired.
If your turbocharger has failed we can perform a diagnostic check on the vehicle to pinpoint what exactly has caused the turbo to fail and recommend options for repairs. Your original turbo will be stripped down and cleaned then all parts replaced so you are left with a completely reconditioned turbo.
When carrying out turbo repairs we are often asked by our customers to upgrade their turbocharger at the same time, as this is an ideal opportunity, whilst the turbo has already been removed from its application.
We can supply brand new turbos and all of our work comes with a 6 month warranty. We can also carry out wastegate repairs.
