Turbo Blew tonight! Need advice

[BrentN]

Hey everyone,
Not a good night. Was driving the truck tonight and the tinny sound got much much worse! Started seeing and smelling burnt oil in my exhaust.

Got pulled over and the noise was very loud and pronounced and coming from the turbo. Long story short...It blew. I pulled the hose and I have bent and broken blades. That side to side slop was obviously an indicator.

Now I have a blown turbo...I need advice.

I see marks on the turbo housing where bits of blade went flying...no doubt into the engine.

Is there some kind of mesh that protects the intake. I sure hope so.

Who do I see about a new or rebuilt turbo? It is a GM-8. Seems odd that it would die with 94,000 tops on it.

I will check in the morning to see if this is something that may be covered under the warranty for the Goodwrench Engine that was installed back in February by the old owner. The turbo itself looks good on the outside. I am hoping that it was part of the engine replacement and will be covered.

What should I do regarding the possibility that some impeller bits may have been injested into the intake? It seems to run okay. Hard to tell if the bits have done any damage. It was run for a short while after the noise went through the roof.

I should have gone with my gut instinct and really gave a good look to the turbo yesterday.. Now I hope I dont have a trashed engine too...it only has 9k on the new engine.

If the turbo is under warranty...I really could use help in getting another turbo and anything else I may need to do to get my burb back up and running again.

Thanks,
Brent

[DA BIG ONE]

Sorry, to hear about your turbo failure.

The turbo blades when broken do enter the engine, can stay there causing damage, or be blown into IC if you have one and get stuck there if big enough, not causing any damage, or through if you do not have IC, or if it (broken piece)is small enough to pass through it if you do have IC, then out,the exhaust turbine side of the turbo (usually more damage to an already damaged turbo).

The compressor side housing when scuffed would need replacement along with the center cartridge.

Why was engine changed out?

Did the engine failure block, or restrict the turbo oil feed?

Is turbo oil feed line coked up, restricting flow?

If perhaps you did not suffer engine damage, then would clean out the oil cooler circuit, and the turbo oil feed line!

As for doing damage, it is a flip of the coin how much, if any?

Good luck!

[ 10-01-2004, 01:20 AM: Message edited by: DA BIG ONE ]

[markrinker]

Whats done is done, don't sweat what you can't fix.

If you are feeling really ambitious, pull the motor/heads/intake and inspect.

Otherwise, I'd change the turbo, change the oil and filter, and drive it.

[rjwest]

Suggest pulling Intake cover, Look in each intake runner to check if any left over metal,

If it ain't there, than any pieces that got that far, are probably gone through already.

It may be possible to make a " Sticky Stick "

One of those graby thingy's used to retrieve
droped parts, Small piece of rag with gummy stuff on it and probe each inake runner....

Are there any BIG chunks missing from blades ????

[BrentN]

Yeah, bummer night. But like Mark R said, whats done is done...

Dont have an IC so I guess some got sucked in.

It seems to be running okay. I didnt really notice any idle issues, which is where I would expect it to show up if it tweaked a valve.


The compressor side housing has ridges where the impeller scored it up. I guess that means I will need a whole unit vs just the center section.

Q: Why was engine changed out?
Really dont know...it was the previous owner and he has since passed away. He had both heads replaced under warranty and then eventually the entire engine back in Feb. When I got it the vac pump wasnt working...It had been transferred from the old engine. Who knows, that may have had something to do with it...if the turbo hadnt been working for years that may have been his head problems. Then with it not really spinning at normal rpms...may have caused premature bearing wear.

Q: Did the engine failure block, or restrict the turbo oil feed? Is turbo oil feed line coked up, restricting flow? Dont have a good answer, although I know some oil is getting in there to the bearing...have seen it.

Q:If perhaps you did not suffer engine damage, then would clean out the oil cooler circuit, and the turbo oil feed line! Definately.

Q: As for doing damage, it is a flip of the coin how much, if any? Hope none, but we will see.

It is 9:00am now, going to call the dealer and pray that the turbo was replaced under warranty with the engine...then it would still be covered!!

Any good suggestions on turbo suppliers..who to avoid? Thanks

[BrentN]

There are some small chunks missing from the blades....corners. The rest of the edges are just peened over. Those small 1/4" chunks are my worries.

[ 10-04-2004, 01:39 PM: Message edited by: BrentN ]

[rjwest]

I would pull the cover and look in the intake tube.
With the plenum on top, the pressure drop and lower area may trap the small pieces......

[Kennedy]

BrentN,

I left you a voice mail following up on our phone conversation. I do have new OE units available once again. They are brand new and sold outright, no core necessary. Just re-listed them on my site.