I got my mended Fabia TDI back from dealers yesterday, after the turbo failed at 114K miles.

This seems a short lifetime for a turbo - my old Citroen ZX's TD engine was still going strong at 134K.

What is the normal lifetime of a turbo? Is there anything you can do to preserve them so they last longer?

mine was changed on warrenty at about 90k apparently, i didn't own the car at the time though

Mine was changed on warranty at 27k... on the first car. I guess turbo's all vary and no offence to the ZX TD (I had one a while ago) I "suspect" its turbo may not take as much stresses is general driving as a PD engine turbo? Could be clutching as straws there.

I'd agree with that Jason, the Citroen turbo isnt a variable unit, whole different ball game.

mrsdsemuk has an old Vauxhall Corsa turbo diesel... I don't think the turbo ever spins up

So are you saying 114K isn't abnormal failure time for a complex variable-geometry-thingummajig (as opposed to more primitive windmills on older cars)?

Mine was done under warranty as it's (just) under 3 years old. However the service manager reckoned that if I'd been paying it would have cost

the turbo on my nova seems fine at about 130k and i believe its original

provides quite a kick too

The turbo in ZX TD would have been the same as my old tuned 306D-turbo and that had 114K and it was still boosting well when i sold it. The D-turbo was the first fast Derv out there!