The Turbo failure thread - how many miles till booom!

[hutchysrs50]

Seen plently of threads about turbo failure, it's a well known problem with all turbo cars. Also read plenty about symptoms of failure of the turbo.

So if you could fill in the poll please and comment with the mileage of the car when the turbo failed and maybe say any symptoms you had just before it failed, eg, smokey, police siren noise, less power than usual, grinding noises.

Thanks.

Edited 11 November, 2012 by hutchysrs50

[hutchysrs50]

I've made the first vote. Im currently at 74,000 and the turbo feels fine, It does suffer from the police siren noise though.

[j.braderz]

128K and still fine no funny noises

[mr rooney]

A day never goes by without a turbo failure thread and it's putting me off turbo cars due to the reliability issue and returning back to a NA petrol.

Hower my turbo car has done 125k and runs perfectly ( touch wood) . I remember reading that a turbo should last the life of an engine but this must be wrong.

[hutchysrs50]

A day never goes by without a turbo failure thread and it's putting me off turbo cars due to the reliability issue and returning back to a NA petrol.

Hower my turbo car has done 125k and runs perfectly ( touch wood) . I remember reading that a turbo should last the life of an engine but this must be wrong.

I agree, it puts me off turbo car's also, part of the reason im making this thread is to prove they pretty much all do over 100,000 miles no problem. Buying a turbo car with over 100,000 i'd expect to have to replace the turbo soon anyway.

Thanks for the post and dont forget to vote.

[joe_vrs_tdi]

Just over 70k i think :S , no signs of anything wrong just let go. I think alot of people get paranoid to easy about these things and take notice of the bad stuff not the good things. I have seen about 6 or 7 turbo failure posts this year and considering there are about 7k fabia vrs in the uk i say its pretty good going.

[vrs'burks]

mine failed at 42,000 . . no symptoms no nothing,just bang coming off a set of lights. .

luckily it was still in warranty from garage i bough it from.

[Mike18Clark]

Just shy of 127K miles, and still going. Do around 1k a week, not much mechanical sympathy, I boot it alot from cold. But I havent had problems yet (touch wood)

**EDIT**

Done some serious miles recently, now up to 130k miles. Still no sympathy, even this morning at -1

Edited 29 November, 2012 by Mike18Clark

[Furby138]

On 42K, a bit of siren noise but has done that since I bought it 10K ago.

[hellyfast]

im on 86k miles and its turbo is getting noisy now, especially when cold...even a friend in the back commented yesterday about hearing sirens...but on the positive ive heard them for the last 15k miles at least

[Mechanical Numpty]

104k and it just went bang tonight in a nice big puff of smoke. Loss of power before it went boom, falsely thought it to be a vacuum pipe.

Time to source some cheap parts any pointers? I run a standard setup with no intention of modifying unless it proves to be cheaper, unlikely I know. Apologies if hijacking

[joe_vrs_tdi]

No remap either? I would go garret turbo if you can find a good price but you can get the kkk for cheap enough now, just scroll ebay for pd130 turbo.

[hutchysrs50]

Im taking the police siren noise to just mean the turbo is run in and perfectly healthy tbh, Loads of people seem to say their car has made the noise for tens of thousands of miles so wouldnt worry about that at all.

[VRSD30]

Not that far from 142k now and as far as I know it's still on the original turbo, not sure how to check? Turbo more vocal when cold then turns into a fairly quiet whistle once warmed up.

[Richard-vrs]

Mine went at around 90k. No signs just went pop at a junction.

I believe the build quality of the original turbo wasnt great hence the varying mileages.

Its fair to say **** happens and if you like the car as much as i like my vrs the price to pay on a better quality turbo is worth it.

[mr rooney]

Just to add to my other post I forgot to mention I'm on a hybrid turbo since 35k miles now on 125k .

[eric87]

Is the garrett turbo oem too?

[AlpineWhite]

Mine went at 129k.

[piggoy]

KKK turbo - 118k still going strong.

[Mechanical Numpty]

@ joe_vrs, to the best of my knowledge there was no remap. When I bought it at 90k it had dealer service stamps with all the recommended servicing every step of the way.

Will have to agree with Richard-Vrs obviously slack days at KKK quality control...

[Richard-vrs]

@eric87

Kkk is the off the shelf oem one.

Garrett from what i was told is pretty much same design just slightly stronger components and better quality. And from memory they are price the same, but i believe the garrett can be made hybrid easier. I know some people have kkk hybrid but when i was phoning round noone wanted to do it to my old one.

[weepete7]

2002 100bhp with original turbo... 124k and counting. Still going strong.

My methodology is look after it and it should last a good length of time.

[James I]

I have had many turbo diesel cars and never had turbo problems, they were;

Peugeot 405 GRDturbo, 165,000 miles

Peugeot 406 Executive TD 225,000 miles

Peugeot 306 HDi 135,000 miles

VW Passat 100PD 124,000 miles

Mitsubishis Grandis 130,000 miles- this car did need a clutch, alternator, starter motor and when it went was using 1 litre of oil a week and water every day!

Audi A4 B8 2.0 Tdi CR 130,000 miles

I now have the Yeti and it has done 58,000 miles in 16 months and no issues.

All the above had full dealer service history

So I am unsure that there is a set life span for a turbo charger, just keep your foot up when cold and don't rev it up when turning off the key! and use good oil

Some other low mileage turbo cars I have had, Defender 90, Pajero 2800, 306 with a boot and thats about it.

Edited 11 November, 2012 by James I

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Even the choccy KKK turbos last over 100,000 miles generally, hardly bad enough to warrant not buying a turbo car. Even then, they dont cost thousands and thousands. Mine went at 120,000 miles, just went pop as I floored it from some lights.

[Ryy.P]

on 73k, remapped intercooler de-cat etc. Turbo sounds the same as it's always sounded. only time when it didn't was went i broke a hose off the intercooler :( haha (Y)