OK, so it has been done properly this time

I think I have found a way to get more exhaust gas through the turbine, albeit at the cost of a bit of performance

Driving home from a business dinner late last night, there was a good opportunity to give her a good sprint, and all was sweet, unitl there was kinda a 'pop' sound, with immidiate loss of power.

Initially I though a hose had blown off, but when I came home I could tell that this was not the case, and I had also noticed that the turbo spooling sound had disappeared, so I suspected a seized turbo.

My car also was able to lay an impressive smoke screen if allowed to pull too hard, or rev above 2500 rpm.

Well tonight I pulled the the intake hose for the turbo off, and as suspected, the bearing was well and truly fu*ked. Continued to remove the dump pipe, and you can imagine my surprise when the turbine wheel fell out of the cat

What has happened is that the turbo has been spinning at maximum rpm, the bearings have seized up, possibly because something has restricted oil flow through the small screen in the oil line, and because of the inertia in the heavy turbine wheel, it has twisted itself off the turbo shaft, depositing itself in the exhaust.

Turbine housing is not too badly damaged, but I'm not sure of the centre housing, as there is some deformation of the hole where the shaft comes through, and of course the turbine wheel is several mm smaller than what it was originally. Compressor side seems reasonably OK.

Fortunately there is no damage to the CAT or dump pipe, but it is going to be either a major repair, or replacement of my turbo - BUGGER!!!

See photos below.

Edited 31/10/07 01:50 PM31/10/07 01:50 PM by Ninka

Ouch, that sucks balls Ninka!! seriously painful to look at

possibly a sign that it's time for a bigger huffer...??

SH1T, good luck with the rebuild/replacement.

You don't do things by halves do you?

Damn sorry to see Alan.

Oh well at least it gives you an opportunity to play with your car again.

What now? T66??

Edited 31/10/07 01:57 PM31/10/07 01:57 PM by Adrian6T

How many K's did it have on it Ninka?

She'd be up there now given you've had it since the very start of the T's.....

Yeah, a bit of a bummer, but as they say, such is life!

The turbo was re-con'ed about 12 months ago, with new bearings, but the turbine will have been in my car for 120000-130000 k's.

I don't think this is wear or age related, but purely happened because the bearings failed, and the inertia of the turbine (which is quite heavy) simply caused it to twist the friction weld where it joins the shaft to bits.

Will probably keep the stock size turbo, as I have decided my present power level is enough (about 350 rwkw), and everything seems quite happy with this level of power, and does not slip or break (well apart for this event).

Cheers.

not good!!

only 12 months since a rebuild is a little un-nerving. do you think there is a case for removing the oil supply screen altogether?

hope it isn't too long before its back on the road!

Im starting to think the supply screen is a bad idea. Im going to have a bit or a search around to try and find a larger screen that can be remote mounted to make servicing easier.

a turbo timer could have prevented this

sorry to hear mate

Ouch, sorry to hear that. Hopefully it's all fixed up soon...