The Turbo failure thread - how many miles till booom!

[Jackety123]

Mine Makes a terrible High Pitched whistling noise as soon as i hit 2000Rpm. Does this mean The turbo is on its way out ?

thankssss

[Titanium_Man]

I haven't voted as my KKK was taken off at ~92k and had no play in the shaft when inspected by myself and the mechanic.

It's a lottery IMO, as is buying a second hand car.

[TommyH]

I haven't voted as my KKK was taken off at ~92k and had no play in the shaft when inspected by myself and the mechanic.

It's a lottery IMO, as is buying a second hand car.

 

Mine was very similar, just took off a KKK to upgrade at 95k (only 3k was mapped) and there's no play in the shaft - it whistled a bit but fitting a FMIC made it seem loads quieter

[rory1080]

Mine died after 113,000. Had a loud police siren noise for few thousand miles before that. Just went bang when I booted it out of a junction, lots of smoke, car when into limp and basically wouldn't run.

[sam_W]

My Turbo went just after the car clicked over 140k. Car just stopped and wouldnt start again.

[poiuytre111]

The following relates to a bmw 320d m47 with I think a Garrett turbo.

Car bought at ~100k miles (think it was original turbo) with slight but noticeable whistle when cold.

This continued without change until I sold the car at 256k miles.

In my last days of ownership there was a little smoke from cold which I put down to valve stem seals and even more smoke when booted which I put down to being remapped and possibly a bit clogged in the intake area. Car was v. quick throughout.

[bigcats30]

How many of you wait 30 secs to a minute at idle before turning off??

 

I was always taught to wait so oil lubricates and gives time for the turbo to stop spooling otherwise you will turn off and the turbo will have no oil feed whilst still spinning.

 

I'm on 84k original turbo that has always had the 'police siren'....

[sepulchrave]

How many of you wait 30 secs to a minute at idle before turning off??

 

I was always taught to wait so oil lubricates and gives time for the turbo to stop spooling otherwise you will turn off and the turbo will have no oil feed whilst still spinning.

 

I'm on 84k original turbo that has always had the 'police siren'....

 

It isn't necessary so I expect no-one bothers, your information is just SO 1989.

[scooter1965]

Hi mine went at 73k .no warning high pitched noise game over.i was only doing 15mph just pulled away from my house.wrecked the engine flung its self to bits and deposited bits of turbo everywhere.it cost £1650 plus vat.lucky i had warranty direct it only cost me £200 excess.rant over the car goes like s--t off a shovel.

now my car shakes like a rattle when started from cold 10 secs later sorts itself out.cant park up or down hill or it starts then cuts out and dont want to start until you hear it chugging into life like a dumper truck.no idea why it happens  anybody got same problem? cheers mike

[hutchysrs50]

Appreciate the replies, I started this thread in 2012

[stevobeavo]

My brand new pd150 gave up at 17k 6 months old from over boosting a damaged clip, was fine running a standard pd150 map but at 1.8 Bar it let go. Drove I for 1500 miles before swapping back to a used pd130.

the whole cartridge has about 3mm of play.

[poiuytre111]

The implication behind this thread might be that turbos have a variable and sometimes short lifespan.

 

My personal belief is based on only a little direct experience - I have had 2x TDI Fabia well past 100k with no issues and 2x BMW at 150k/250k miles no issues. I think a new turbo will last hundreds of k miles or until something else goes wrong and eventually kills it i.e a failed turbo is normally a symptom and not the cause of the problem. Poor oil or oil supply (feed/drain) may be an example as might a dodgy remap that somehow creates more shock loading.

 

How long do they last on diesel trains and big trucks ?

 

Might be interesting to ask a different question - What killed your turbo ?

[j600arv]

Hi all I thought I’d got a blowing manifold gasket or a pre cat gasket on my 2010 Octavia vrs fl but on changing the pre cat gasket I found they was excessive wear on the wastegate actuator. I started getting a faint noise last May on a trip to the Lake District, when we got back home i changed the middle section exhaust clamp but still had the noise. I had the flex looked at in case it was that but ended up nothing wrong with it, so I asked Skoda when the service was due to look and see if they could locate where the noise was coming from? Still non the wiser when I returned to dealer to pick the car back up. Also booked it in for a 1 hr diagnosis at dealer and yet again couldn’t find owt and tried to charge me £97 lol. So I decided to change the pre cat gasket so it would at least eliminate and that’s when I’ve found the problem. Can’t believe how much excessive movement is in the wastegate actuator arm so it’s rattles so bad when you let of the accelerator as well as allowing exhaust gases through too so now at 73k the car needs a new turbo

[Alfie789]

On 127000 was mapped by r tech at 68000 still on original clutch and turbo, has made siren sound especially from cold and on cold mornings for past two years lol

 

[rdp50734]

Mine went at 86000, snapped turbine.....

[Titanium_Man]

On 13/08/2015 at 11:32, poiuytre111 said:

How long do they last on diesel trains and big trucks ?

 

The turbos on our trucks (Scania, Daf, Renault) last about 3/4 years, somewhere in the region of about 600k miles, possibly more. Hell of a lot more expensive though! 

[Boatman1]

Vrs 2006 104,000 miles recently remapped to 165bhp, no issues, don't rag it under 2,000 or when it's cold.

[namtab]

Hi

You're gonna love this.

I am the 2nd owner of a 2007 Fabia VRS.  Previous owner was a gent of advanced years who drove it like he stole it from the word go and never went very far in it. 

I became the 2nd owner in 2017 with 27000 miles on the clock.  About 10 miles later the turbo went, sheared off on the exhaust side.  New turbo and ALL the ancillaries replaced.

June 24th 2021, turbo gone again with 53000 miles on the clock, sheared off on the exhaust side again.  WHAT THE F**K.  Vehicle is totally standard and has always been that way.  Full service history at dealer and independent.

If anybody has any thoughts on what could be a possible cause, I'm all ears.

[sepulchrave]

Bad luck, might as well get it remapped with a better turbo this time.