Typical turbocharger failures

The most common turbocharger failures are caused by Incorrect Use.

1. Damage caused by foreign material If chips of foreign material or dust get to the compression pit or in the turbine pit deep wear and deformation can be caused on turbine wheel and compression wheel. Preparations before installation: Clean through all inlets and outlets precisely, check all sealing and replace air filter. If rotor blades get worn, stop further use of vehicle, because imbalanced rotor wheel will damage turbocharger within a short period of time.

2. Poor lubrication Lack of lubrication for about 8-10 seconds is enough to destroy the bearings. Overheating is proved if the bearings material is burn and the axle is discolored. Lack of oil, which is a heavier form of poor lubrication, can be caused by: broken, damaged or clogged oil hose, clogged oil flow channel in the turbocharger, failure of the oil pump, low oil level in the engine, driving on steep slopes, the system is airy.

3. Contamination in the lubricant Solid contaminants in the engine oil can abrade the polished gliding surface of the thrust and radial bearings, making deep grooves in it. Important: Wash the whole lubrication system with washing-oil, do thorough physical cleaning and only then replace the lubricant oil and also the oil filter. All the time use oil in quality and grade prescribed by the manufacturer, and keep regular maintenance period. Solid contaminants and chips can get into the engine oil: because of clogged or damaged oil filter, during incorrectly performed repair of the engine, wear of the engine parts, partial or full disassembly of the engine, after certain period of time lubrication system itself can slowly get contaminated.

4. Delay of lubrication Repeated interruption in the oil supply for about 4-5 seconds can cause light overheating and discoloration which results in fine wear, polishing and burn of the surface of the bearings. Delayed lubrication can take place: at cold start or periodical restarting of the engine, at change of the turbocharger, or at regular use when its oil supply is delayed, after change of oil or oil filter at engine start after a long term storage at false engine start, mostly in cold weather at low engine oil pressure or oil level if engine oil contaminated with coolant or fuel at driving on escarpment.

5. Overheating In case of too high exhaust gas temperature or a sudden stop of the engine after high load oil in the turbocharger get overheated and this causes the carbon and oil additives to separate from the oil. Important: After high load or in high outside temperature the engine should not be stopped immediately, it should be kept running on idle speed for 2-3 minutes and be stopped only after the turbocharger gets cooled. The high temperature causes overheat of the bearing housing, bearings and the oil, which results in carbon and oil additive separation. The solid particles cause worn bearing surfaces and can clog the oil flow passage inside the bearing housing. Result of overheating is strong discoloration of all parts. It can be caused by: clogged air filter or intake air channel, immediately stopped engine after high load, low quality engine oil, overused engine oil, fuel system damage, bad oil supply. 6. Installation instructions Before installation of turbocharger: change of engine oil might be necessary and also the replacement of the oil filter and the air filter, a small amount of oil should be filled in the oil intake slot of turbo charger, all connecting parts to turbocharger shall be cleaned off the incidental contaminations, in each case a type of engine oil, oil filter and air filter should be used whose quality and grade is the same as prescribed by the manufacturer, never use liquid sealants at the oil intake and outlet connections, after the installation of turbocharger the engine should run for about 5 minutes on idle speed.

 it is recommended that the oil intake hose should be replaced, in case of renewed or disassembled engines the engine should be run for some minutes without the turbocharger, after that the oil must be immediately changed to wash out the rest of the contaminants from the engine. Missing the inside cleaning of the engine oil system can cause the damage of turbocharger in a short period of time. Important: any warranty claim will not be accepted in case when the installation instruction of TIS was not fully performed.

7. Operating instructions In order to ensure the trouble-free operation please keep in mind that: after its installation the turbocharger will be part of the engine, so its functioning depends on the technical condition and on the quality of maintenance of the whole engine; turbocharger is a very stressed part of the vehicle, so the regular maintenance of the engine is highly important. Please keep the regular maintenance period and use the engine oil, oil and air filter the manufacturer prescribed by quality and grade; especially important to clean time to time the full lubrication system of the engine;

very important to use clean engine oil without contaminations. Contaminations can cause wear in a very short period of time in many cases especially at renewed engines or in cases of engines with big crankshaft housing pressure; the good condition of the fuel supply system will extend work life of turbocharger; after cold start engine should run approximately 10-15 seconds on idle speed. Heavy use with high load and high RPM should not be applied until the operation temperature is not reached; remember that after stopping the engine the turbo rotor is running for few seconds until it stops. The same time the lubrication system is stopped as well so the lubrication of turbo bearings is poor. It is recommended that after high load use do not stop the engine immediately, let it run on idle speed for 1-2 minutes before final stop. It makes the turbo cool down, lubrication improve, rotor speed decrease and when the engine is stopped the post run of rotor with poor lubrication cannot damage bearings.