Another PT52 failure

[83olds383]

last weekend i was on the way to the track and i was tunning the car right before i got there...i made a few passes from start to 3rd gear...i was running 110 with 23#'s and on the last damn pass everything was perfect...no knock...and then BAM!!....blew a head gasket.....i just took the PT52 off and the freakin exhaust wheel is gone!....i guess it flew out the exhaust or something....piece of crap turbo.....i just replaced the head gaskets 5 months ago!!!!!AAHHHHH!

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

another one bites the dust

I'd bet turbo failed first and when wheel stopped and stoped the exaust flow is probly what took out the gasket

plenty of people blow head gaskets without taking out their J/c turbo's

 

[TurboBob]

Originally posted by REDS HOT AIR


I'd bet turbo failed first and when wheel stopped and stoped the exaust flow is probly what took out the gasket

huh?

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

he says the wheel is gone completly ..well something had to push it thru the housing

I would think it would be all the air leaving the motor since it was in boost and up in rpm

well when the wheel plugged the hole where did all the exhaust pressure go?

He already stated it had good fuel in it and no knock

 

[TurboBob]

Exhaust pressure is not enough to hurt a gasket.

I'm not debating that the turbo is blown, or the headgasket. I don't think the turbo took out the gasket. If the gasket went first and coolant got into the chamber, the sudden temp change could have hurt the turbo.

I'm no expert. Breakage always sucks.

B

 

[Nick Micale]

Another PT52 failure - or not???

Originally posted by 83olds383
...i was running 110 with 23#'s and on the last damn pass everything was perfect...no knock...and then BAM!!....blew a head gasket.....i just took the PT52 off and the freakin exhaust wheel is gone!....i guess it flew out the exhaust or something....piece of crap turbo.....i just replaced the head gaskets 5 months ago!!!!!AAHHHHH!

First of all, is the COMPLETE wheel gone or just the
fins?

Then you need to determine why you have blown the heads gaskets twice. Certainly possible for a little piece of debris through the motor to take out the exhaust fins/wheel. Seen it happen a few times to other turbos than the PT52.

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

Id like to see paper or graphite take out a wheel

just about everyone on here has probly blown a gasket b4 you'll really believe they all had to replace their turbo's

have you ever seen a head gasket blow into the cylinder or do they blow away from the cylinder?

 

[Nick Micale]

Originally posted by REDS HOT AIR
..........have you ever seen a head gasket blow into the cylinder or do they blow away from the cylinder?

Guess you have never seen a fire ring blow out or blow between cylinders?

 

[Mike Licht]

I have seen a rust flake from the inside of an exhaust header (hooker) take out a turbine wheel on start up. Car sat over the winter and the inside of the header rusted so it is quite possible that the metal from a head gasket would do it. The graphite maybe, the paper no way.
Mike

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

Originally posted by Mike Licht
I have seen a rust flake from the inside of an exhaust header (hooker) take out a turbine wheel on start up. Car sat over the winter and the inside of the header rusted so it is quite possible that the metal from a head gasket would do it. The graphite maybe, the paper no way.
Mike

rust I could see

If It wasent a turbo thats known to loose its exhaust wheel then it would be different


you ever seen one blow a head gasket because it wiped an exhaust lobe on the cam?? I have many time

so like I said above if the wheel plugged the exhaust housing up it could have blown a head gasket looking for somwhere to let the exhaust out the motor

detroit diesels have cast manifolds that rust and the turbo'd models have garrett turbo's on them ...havent seen one of them die from rust ...not saying it couldnt happen but the turbine wheel should be stronger than rust flakes

Just maybe the original poster will post pics of his head gaskets when removed

that would solve the issue of if a firering got blown into a cylinder

not trying to have a flame war with you guys I respect you'lls view also but I have a different outlook on it since I have first hand experience with 51 and 52 turbo's FROM PTE not only mine but have seen many others

 

[trading t/a]

mine usually blew into the lifter valley, Twice guess i missed the cooked piston on the first one..........

 

[83olds383]

yeah..the whole exhaust wheel broke off and went down...now im starting to think i didnt blow the head gasket because all the white smoke i think is oil from the turbo hitting the exhaust....the inside if the downpipe has oil all over it....

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

Originally posted by 83olds383
yeah..the whole exhaust wheel broke off and went down...now im starting to think i didnt blow the head gasket because all the white smoke i think is oil from the turbo hitting the exhaust....the inside if the downpipe has oil all over it....

I wouldnt doubt that your motor is fine atleast 2 of the PTE 52 turbo's that I know off that tossed the wheel completly off they bolted another turbo on and all else was fine

most all of the PTE 51 failures (same turbine wheel) the owners bolted on new turbo's and all else was fine

out of the long list of people who contacted me to let me know about their 51-52 failures all the turbo's were from PTE none was from John Craig..Im not saying that J/C didnt have any failures but If he did atleast he would stand behind his product

Nick Micale can get you a good deal on a John Craig turbo
Mike Licht is also a good vendor

Pte ...well no comment

 

[sixgun86gn]

My 52 did the same thing at only 15# and had only around 1000 or so miles on it too.Spit the turbine wheel right out into the downpipe.Had to drive home with a huge amount of smoke coming out of the exhaust.

 

[c&cgn]

Just to give a different perspective..... my PTE52 went many 11 second runs and went 11 teens without a problem. It is currently running mid 11's on another car with no problems. I had no problem selling it to a buddy of mine since it ran flawlessly in my car. I have no doubt if would have gone faster if I had more injector at the time. It went as far as it could go with 50's and and single walbro 340.

 

[turbov6joe]

You can add another PT52 to the growing list of junk turbos out there...matter of fact, add 2 more because this is the second PT52 that my pop has had an exhaust wheel fall to pieces! Yesterday I pulled off the exhaust housing to put on the PT&E .85 housing only to find the wheel about 75% there!! Last time Harry said "send it back, it should run you about $200-$250 to fix it"....$450 later it was on its way back. Now we're affraid to even call them about fixing this one. I suggested he send it to John Craig and have it made into a TE45a and done correctly to boot. It makes me sick to think that all of you all have had problems with these turbos and he still makes money off of us every time another PT series turbo has to be sent back to get repaired.

 

[turbo2nr]

Add another pt52 to the list! i had one fail in less than 2000miles, only a few runs, about 12 runs. Both wheels were hitting bad. Oil was flowing out like a crop duster.

 

[turbo grey]

you can add mine too.My pt-54 grenaded not even 3 months on the car,and never seen more than 22psi either.

 

[turbov6joe]

We're going to get a hold of Harry tommorow and see what he has to say about our failure.... A good business man would fix the thing on his dime and hope that he can retain a few good customers over the ordeal. I'll keep ya posted as things progress.