Blown Turbo, again... :-(

[DBredS4]

These only seem to last a couple of years if that, the car has done 98000 and must have had at leat 4 replecements.

Anyone else other than fflying mut have this problem?

Any clue to what is causing them to go so soon or suggestions as to increasing the life of turbo's? Other than driving like Miss Daisy...

Has anyone who had a ball bearing replacement from John Welch had it fail on them?

cheers

.

ps got a morning of hooning around Odiham chasing a De Tomaso Pantera (shotgun exhaust) before it gave up the ghost so not all bad...

[s4simon]

I remember you posting the first time it blew, which seemed a while back. But another failure...

Luckily I'm still on my first, but it's only done 50k.

[t70]

Have you got a turbo timer? or have you been letting your car idle for 2-5 minutes after a spirited run?

[Mark Blanchard]

Sorry to hear you're on your 4th!

Letting it idle allows the oil to get back into the turbo. It's a good habit .

[mike_sekinger]

Hi Dom,

If you

[Artie]

Mike beat me to it, but I'd say you have an oil starvation problem or some type of mechanical issue. My WC turbo has lasted 3 years with me driving! HA! I drive my car like I stole it! She'd done nearly 35K miles before my engine let go! Turbo is fine however upon inspection. New engine tomorrow hopefully!!!!YAY!

[mangel]

Also check your waste gate capsule is set up properly as heavy over boost will diminish the turbo's life considerably.

Edited December 15, 2008 by mangel

[fightingtorque]

My S4 has 65k miles on it and been in the family since 25k, as far as I know it's the original turbo and seems fine. I adjusted the wastegate arm earlier in the year because I found through freescan that it wasn't making the specified boost, now it is all fine, also confirmed by seeing almost 160 mph on the clock at Woodbridge airfield in August.

[sanj]

I

[waynef]

Ahhhh yes....thank god someone else who has the same.

Yes on average your Turbo will last about 2 years if your car is chipped, Mine is chip no5. I've actually gone back to stock for this reason.

I'm currently on my 3rd Turbo in as many years.

I'll take a wild guess and say you have lost blades off the exhaust side turbine???? You'll find the blades on continuous boost will strike the housing those at Castle coombe this year will have seen mine. Not a pretty site

Yep, its either drive Miss daisy and have a long turbo life. Or drive like it should be driven and fork out every couple of years.

Its a well known issue and one if you search the Cossie forums is also well known in their environment. Personally i've come to live with it.

Just one quick question, I'll assume your not running a Cat and are running a sports exhaust?

Waynef

Edited December 15, 2008 by waynef

[lotus4s]

I agree with Mike, you've got other issues. I've been running a red race chip and WC turbo for almost 4 years and no turbo problems. I don't baby the car, don't have a turbo timer and never let the car idle for any amount of time on shut down. I do take it easy for the last mile or two before I park it but that's about it.

I also have the original S4s turbo that was 10 years old with 40K miles on it that is still in good working order.

[ozontour]

I too got 98000 klm out of mine and only rebuilt it due to engine rebuild.

I would check all your plumbing

Justin

[DBredS4]

Ta for the responses, very helpful as always chaps.

Chatted with Geoff (Esprit Eng) about it and the situation is this

car has red chip/sports ex and no cat, turbo went S. after hard thrash round the track right after lift off but cant be sure exactly as I had a helmet on.

G said the same problem occurred with the racing Cossies and they got round it by clipping the turbine blades so they didn't strike the housing

Also, he said that running high boost and lifting off causing backfire can send a shock the other way up the ex so affecting the blades, also bending of shaft can cause blades to strike the housing, hence the Cosworth fix.

Interesting to note others havent had the problem, I will look into oil starvation and check the plumbing.

He's going to chat with Universal and affect a 'clip' fix which has been done on others plus cossies but only time will tell. I wont bother with the extra for the WC bb turbo as G had one failure in after a similar period

Merry Xmas to all

Edited December 16, 2008 by DBredS4

[fflyingdog]

Hi Dom

Mine went exactly the same way as yours i had just lifted when it blew (rather spectacularly) red arrows spring to mind and i was driving Miss Daisy,"ooh daddy look its all smokey" out of the mouths of babes..My new turbo has been clipped so hopefully we will see ,but its getting a tad expensive,i too was told that it could be down to the shock wave after lifting and as i had no cat fitted it hit the turbo and effectivly tried to stall it,,Geoff given you any idea when it will be ready?

Cheers

Nick S4s