C3 1.4 16V HDi - No turbo boost

JamesQB · Unread post by **JamesQB** » 03 Jul 2010, 14:11

Hi everybody,

C3 turbo gone from intermittent to not there at all, despite changing electrovalve which has restored movement to actuator arm for variable vane geometry.

Takes 10 to 15 seconds to get to 30mph...

Removed air intake pipe giving me view of turbo compressor wheel, which I tried to spin with my finger. It wouldn't budge - is that normal? How do turbos fail, do they break into bits, seize or...?

Has anyone taken a turbo apart to try and fix (I know parts not available)?

Thanks.

JamesQB · Unread post by **JamesQB** » 05 Jul 2010, 00:58

Seems nobody knows much about turbos... Anyway, from trying to spin compressor on work's Nemo, which spins freely, and a bit of Googling, it'd appear turbos can seize for reasons unknown to me, so that seems the trouble.

I'll have to start man-whoring myself to afford a new one.

Or at least take this one apart to see if anything can be done to it. Was hoping somebody had already tried that path and could enlighten me...

cachaciero · Unread post by **cachaciero** » 05 Jul 2010, 10:39

If it wont spin it's seized but then you have worked that out for yourself

Reasons for seizure? lack of oil or dirty oil or incorrect oil is probably the commonest reason. Turbo's spin at very high speeds 20K plus so bearings, seals and balance are all critical.
Having had a turbo apart years ago (CX 2.5) it seemed to me that repairing them was not a particularly difficult task if you could get the spares however balancing them is something else again and if they are out of balance then they will fail quite quickly.

cachaciero

JamesQB · Unread post by **JamesQB** » 05 Jul 2010, 12:11

I suppose the balance issue must be why the haynes says you can't get any spares for them. I was just wondering if it seizes due to carbon or sticky gummy residue building up on the shaft and if that can be cleaned up.

May have been getting gradually stuck up with muck over the past couple years, which would explain why originally the boost wasn't happening till 2600rpm...

Cheapest scrapyard quote so far is £180.

cachaciero · Unread post by **cachaciero** » 05 Jul 2010, 12:27

There are companies who refurbish Turbo's suggest you d o a trawl of the Web and get a quote it may not be a lot different to an unknown condition one from a breaker.

cachaciero