just to confirm turbo failure

[darbuck]

Hi lads I am trying to resurrect the c5 its a 2003 110 2.0 hdi 8v I think the turbo is duff just want a second opinion lower intake hose about a mug full of oil not just a cup clouds of blue grey smoke on high revs etc. any one had any luck with a DIY seal change

[darbuck]

Bump

[MikeT]

The oil can also come from the engine breather, so you could try to eliminate that as the cause otherwise your assumption sounds quite likely to me.

[Bick]

If you are passing oil Mike could well be correct especially if the engine breathers are blocked? Have you checked the turbo shaft for play? There should be some but its difficult to explain how much from here - it may be a good idea to have this checked by someone who knows how much should be there.

[darbuck]

Thanks Lads what breathers do you mean the doser valve or is there some sort of pcv system

[MikeT]

On mine (yours may be different) the main intake pipe between air filter and turbo has a smaller-bored side-port that clips into an engine cover that houses the breather/oil seperator.

If the engine oil level has been overfilled, it can be drawn/blown through the breather too.

[darbuck]

Hi Mike, thanks, Is yours phase 1 or 2. I will have to have another look but to the best of my knowledge there is just a small angled pipe that is clamped onto the intake and then a breather pipe that runs from the cylinder block or crank case to the rocker cover. Oil level is 3/4 full so not excess oil. I know in my heart and soul its the turbo but I dont want to admit if you know what i mean, I may replace it. I just want to make sure there is nothing else I should be checking that could be damaging to a replacement at this stage. i just had a look and bought a used turbo on flea bay less than 50 blips hopefully its better than the original.

[ekjdm14]

Just a note about the DIY turbo refurb kits on ebay, they're OK as long as you take the core (CHRA) to a turbo specialist after rebuilding it & have it balanced. If you were to just build it up & throw it in the car you may get lucky or you may find it lasts a couple of thousand miles before eating itself spectacularly due to imbalance.

I hope the used turbo works out for you & you don't need to do any more messing, but for my money & if the turbine/compressor housings/wastegate etc aren't damaged I'd buy a refurbished CHRA from a reputable specialist & fit the used housings onto that.

Chinese copy turbos in my limited experience are OK at standard boost levels but if you go much over stock they'll last a month or two. (based on my own experiences and that of others with Toyota 7M-GTE engines, 7psi standard/running anything up to 15psi). IMO they're good value if you need replacements for damaged housings, just stick a quality core in for peace of mind.

Sorry if that's way more info than needed, but hope it's of some use to you.

[elma]

How do you balance a turbo?
You spin it up to full speed and see if it explodes.
There's no way to add or remove mass from the turbines.

[darbuck]

hi lads thanks for the input appreciate the info, for now the used one will have to do. I will check for play and leaks if OK it will be fitted and fingers crossed it will be ok I could probably get the old one refurbed if the used one is iffy, its just sheckles are tight at the moment. I am thinking on pulling the engine for ease of access and replacing all gaskets and belts,se is a bit leaky, by the way are the gaskets on a 2.0 90bhp hdi the same as a 110bhp because I am finding it difficult to find 110 turbo gaskets for fitting.

[ekjdm14]

How do you balance a turbo?
You spin it up to full speed and see if it explodes.
There's no way to add or remove mass from the turbines.

From what I can tell, they machine a tiny bit of material off the back of the wheel. Completely different to balancing a road wheel as the tolerances at 100k/rpm are small enough that a little shaving can make a huge difference to turbo lifespan.

[darbuck]

I suppose it makes sense to remove material but adding material to a rotating shaft would cause significant loss of lifespan because it is not going to be as balanced because it would require a sleeve type fitting the mass of which will never be as evenly spread as the original material. Just a little bit off topic my lexia has decided it doesnt like conversing with the suspension ECU anymore, has anyone had this happen to them could it be a fuse or something.

[elma]

The old timer I knew that did it rolled them down a block of wood and passed or failed them. Fails just went in the bin. I didn't have the eye for it despite being shown many times I couldnt tell a pass from a fail.

He was a machinist and point blank refused to touch material on them claiming that it will cause fatal hot spots. He also claimed the parts should come from the factory balanced.

I know you get special turbo balancing machines and usually material is filed off of a nut on the shaft end to balance the turbine. Weather its a big con or not I'm yet to decide.

Interestingly I know someone who services and refurbishes dental drills. Their employer charges for balancing but actually just spins them at full rpm and replaces the turbine if it doesn't perform correctly.

[darbuck]

obviously the same principals must apply

[darbuck]

Just a quick one lads I finally recieved the used turbo I bought there is absoloutely,no lateral movement, but, back and forth longitudinal movement is appx 1 to 3mm
the exhaust turbine has soot on it. what I am wondering is this ok to fit if you need pics let me know and I will post. also I bought a used injector and it seem s ok but before I pull the old dodgy injector is there anything I should check apart from the obvious part numbers etc. I bought new gaskets for turbo and intake and exhaust and rocker cover gaskets I am pulling the engine for this job so may aswell replace the old dodgy ones and I am going to replace the injector seals . the lower intake hose is full of oil as I said and on further inspection the oil level is actually empty I must not have left it long enough to settle when I read it last. attention to detail is obviously slipping.