car keeps eating turbos

GNcincy87

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2008
on my 3rd turbo now. the car runs for 30 seconds and the turbo is wasted. the exhuast wheel has messed up blades everytime and the intake side looks perfect. precision said something is going though my motor and trashing the exhaust wheel. so compression check on the motor was good then i went as far as tearing it all down. i have the heads off and everything looks perfect. i have no idea what to do next. anyone??
 
Did you use an external oil cooler after that and not the one in your rad? With the drop in velocity around the corners of the heat exchanger metal particles can accumulate and it is almost impossible to clean out.
 
no im using the one in the radiator and i have the oil filter relocated under the front bumper. i had all those lines apart but it appears to be put together right. still i dont really think oil is the issue because the exhaust wheel was damaged. unless the turbo is not geting oil right and when it eats the bearing and starts to wobble the exhaust wheel could be hiting the housing cause the damage. is that common?
 
also is it possible to lose prime after changing oil? i changed oil one time after puting my motor back together and ever since ive had a 20-30 #s of oil pressure instead of 60 or 80 like it was before. i thought the guage just took a crap on me. maybe that is my whole problem?

i hate throwing parts at it. but im thinking : new high volume oil pump and cam and just go from there
 
If I understand you correctly, the "blades" on the exhaust side is what is getting damaged? It is not bearing failure, coking, etc.? Check the air path from heads to d/p. Any head work done on iron heads may expose and release casting imperfections. ie, sand, slag,etc. Port matching done on headers? residue left in header tubes or something down in the crossover pipe? Even parts of exh. wheels if blades are coming apart. it doesn't take much to damage one of these wheels when they are moving at high speed. A drop of water hitting the blades can damage them. A long shot would be something, a pc of gasket material passing thru the cylinders to the exhaust. is th epuck on the d/p able to reach around and hit the blades? D/P lining up properly? Hope this helps.
 
forgot to mention carbon build up from the valves or cylinder heads coming out in pcs?
 
"no im using the one in the radiator".. The cooler tubes have "turbulator" fins in them. The crap from the cam may well be stuck in there.
Also, a drop in oil psi that significant could well be caused by pumping the cam junk into the engine bearings.
30 secs to take out a turbo HAS to be a problem that is very evident..
You check for turbo lube oil flow? Do you have the remote filter feeding the turbo, or is it the stock set up?

Think your gauge is fubar?? WHY NOT verify that?
As for where to go next??? The engine comes out, the pan comes off, and the bearings get inspected...
A new pump and cam, is just a total waste of time and $$.

Kinda puzzled as to why you would do this 3 x, and not find the cause........
 
yes the blades on the exhaust side are getting damaged. no its not bearing failure. air path looks good.. i had the headers welded up and checked for slag and cleaned them all out including crossover. i did head work but that was all cleaned out. i cant see a problem. all gaskets look fine. the puck looks like it lines up to the hole good. im not exactly sure what im looking for there. i have a thdp and 61/52e turbo. if u can tell me anything. i have no experience with turbos. this motor has been apart and when i put it together i had these problems. no carbon build up on valves. im lost to what is causing this....any help would be appreciated. the first time i fired the car up after i put everything together--- i started the car several times and the turbo was fine. i took it down the street a few times and it never built any boost but you could hear the turbo spooling. then when i got back in the driveway i revved it up to about 3 grand and the turbo just popped and u could hear the exhaust wheel hitting the housing. the next turbo lasted 30 seconds in the garage and it was gone. i never even revved the car up on that one. what if the waste gate is bad?? would what cause the thing to over spool and mess up? again i know nothing about turbos i dont believe its an oil issue because the wheel goes out before the bearing. however my oil pressure is acting funny. but it should be enough to sit there and idle. if i bump the starter the oil line to the turbo puts out a lot of oil.
 
crap from the cam may be stuck in the radiator?? is that what your saying? that was my thought 2 about the engine bearings being shot because of low oil pressure. turbo seems to have great oil flow. i have a remote filter. im on my 3rd turbo right now and its new in box. i have messed up 2. i thought whatever slag that came out of the engine was done the first time. so i put the 2nd one on and it messed up 2. your right if the car destroys turbos in 30 sec the problem does have to be very evident. but i haven't found anyone that can help me yet.
 
My opinion since your oil psi is that low your bearings are prob on the way south!!! Pull the motor out and start fresh other than that I think you will wasting time and money good luck
 
crap from the cam may be stuck in the radiator?? is that what your saying? that was my thought 2 about the engine bearings being shot because of low oil pressure. turbo seems to have great oil flow. i have a remote filter. im on my 3rd turbo right now and its new in box. i have messed up 2. i thought whatever slag that came out of the engine was done the first time. so i put the 2nd one on and it messed up 2. your right if the car destroys turbos in 30 sec the problem does have to be very evident. but i haven't found anyone that can help me yet.

Yes, that is exactly what I meant. If your bearings go, the wheel will make contact depending on how long you run it. I would get an oil sample and send it out for a test. The test will tell you how much material if any is in the oil. If there is a lot of metal in your oil, time to pull the motor out and rebuild it. DO NOT re-use the oil cooler in the rad, put an external unit on. If your oil pressure gauge is good and showing a decline in pressure, then changes are your bearings are on the way out.
 
yes headers and crossover are stock

AND, I'll bet they've been welded on....Sugar from the welds going thru the turbo...
Also, engine was apart.... Was the intake glas beaded? If so, the beads are stuck in the goo in the egr port. Those WILL take out the brgs.
Did you cut the oil filter open?
 
yes they were tig welded so no slag really and i cleaned them all out real well before putting back on. intake was completely polished inside and out from 80 grit sand paper all the way to wet sanding it and polish wheel buuuut i cleaned all that out real well. egr is blocked. i still have not got around to cutting the filter open for inspection. ill keep you posted
 
can you post pics of the turbine wheel. Im gonna go off path here a little bit but does the damage look like the blades are melting? Ive seen turbine damage with no damage to housings, bearings or anything else from running lean. Doesnt take long for it to happen either. Post up some pics. This is just a shot in the dark. The pics will verify my theory.
 
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