What are the consequences of a diesel turbo failure

[Salty seadog]

I have some black smoke from the exhaust when accelerating hard. 2 litre turbo diesel. I have been told if the turbo goes thats goodnight Irene for thr engine. Is this the case. 52 plate Toyota Corolla with 125 thousand on the clock.

Many thanks,

ssd
.

 

[mr messy]

If turbo really lets go, the engine could end up chewing on lumps of metal...not good idea. Loss of oil not great either. Engine be fine if turbo replaced before it disintegrates

Recon turbo prob cost more than car's value though

 

[Broadside]

I had a similar problem that was down to a dirty fuel filter. A blown turbo will often smoke under any acceleration, not just hard.

 

[tyred]

Definitely start with the easy and cheap bit - fuel and air filter.

Is it using oil?

 

[Colin_P]

What often happens is that when a turbo fails, it is the oil seals on the rotor shaft that let go. This allows engine oil to be drawn into the inlet tract and the engine will feed off its own oil. As this is an unmetered fuel supply the engine will 'run away' revving out at maximum revs until the oil supply is exhausted at which point the engine will seize.

A very frightening thing to witness as there is no way of stopping it. You might be lucky enough to have the presence of mind to stall the engine though, the key will have no effect once this starts.

But that is an extreme case and is the one that will cause a written off engine.

Usually you will get plenty of warning, noise (chatter), smoke and an engine that seems to use a lot of oil between top ups. You do check your oil every week?

A bit of smoke under hard acceleration is normal, especially on a car of that age and mileage. Ironically to cure it, you should give it a damned good thrashing at least once a week.

I wouldn't worry 125k is nothing providing the car is serviced properly, mainly regular oil changes.

[edit] a good video example of diesel engine runaways...

View: https://youtu.be/xmIfjmvXp0I

 

[Smurfy]

Black smoke probably means soot, and the soot will most likely be from unburnt fuel rather than engine oil that has leaked past seals and got into the combustion process (leaked engine oil will generally give clouds of greyish smoke). As yours is an older vehicle, it may well not have a particulate filter, and I'd always thought that older diesel vehicles were well known for producing quite a bit of soot in the delay between the fuel being increased and the turbo spinning up to give the extra air for combustion. Also, as others have suggested, a blocked air filter could cause excessive soot for the exact same reason that there is too much fuel and not enough air. Yet another explanation is that some part of the injection system is faulty or wrongly adjusted, leading to over fueling. First thing I would do is replace the air filter, and see if there is any improvement, as it is a relatively quick, cheap and easy job.

 

[Spinney]

What often happens is that when a turbo fails, it is the oil seals on the rotor shaft that let go. This allows engine oil to be drawn into the inlet tract and the engine will feed off its own oil. As this is an unmetered fuel supply the engine will 'run away' revving out at maximum revs until the oil supply is exhausted at which point the engine will seize.

A very frightening thing to witness as there is no way of stopping it. You might be lucky enough to have the presence of mind to stall the engine though, the key will have no effect once this starts.

But that is an extreme case and is the one that will cause a written off engine.

Usually you will get plenty of warning, noise (chatter), smoke and an engine that seems to use a lot of oil between top ups. You do check your oil every week?

A bit of smoke under hard acceleration is normal, especially on a car of that age and mileage. Ironically to cure it, you should give it a damned good thrashing at least once a week.

I wouldn't worry 125k is nothing providing the car is serviced properly, mainly regular oil changes.

[edit] a good video example of diesel engine runaways...

View: https://youtu.be/xmIfjmvXp0I

never knew that could happen!

 

[Mark Grant]

+1 for filters etc first.
I have also used this stuff in the past to great effect.
http://www.roughtrax4x4.com/forte-d...dditive.html?gclid=CPy-hpCLxcoCFWnlwgod6zkLlw
I had a Golf diesel which failed the MOT on emisions, it was mainly used on short runs, I drained the fuel filter and filled it with the Forte additive and put the rest in the tank. After a quick blast it passed easily.

 

[Salty seadog]

Definitely start with the easy and cheap bit - fuel and air filter.

Is it using oil?

Not burning oil no...

 

[Colin_P]

I wouldn't worry, just give it an Italian tune up once a week (thrash it to clear the gunk out)

 

[rugby bloke]

Had a turbo fail on a VW Touran on a French Autoroute a few year's ago. Nothing too dramatic - no smoke but also no power, limped it the last few km to the hotel we were staying. It was then transported home and made a full recovery

 

[tyred]

Not burning oil no...

Great - Italian tune up time - drive it like you stole it.

 

[Piemaster]

I'll second Smurfy with unburnt fuel. Try fuel additive stuff and new air filter but as it isn't using oil, I'd say at that mileage theres a good chance its knackered injectors, which won't be a cheap fix. When they are worn they don't atomise the fuel properly on injection so causing incomplete combustion in the cylinder so it will continue to burn for longer than it should. Taken to extreme it could cause loss of the oil film between piston/rings/cylinders and cause premature wear.

The air side of the big diesel turbochargers here on the ship are given a regular clean by squirting a cup of water through them to remove deposits. Can't say I'd recommend it with a car though.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

What often happens is that when a turbo fails, it is the oil seals on the rotor shaft that let go. This allows engine oil to be drawn into the inlet tract and the engine will feed off its own oil. As this is an unmetered fuel supply the engine will 'run away' revving out at maximum revs until the oil supply is exhausted at which point the engine will seize.

A very frightening thing to witness as there is no way of stopping it. You might be lucky enough to have the presence of mind to stall the engine though, the key will have no effect once this starts.

But that is an extreme case and is the one that will cause a written off engine.

Usually you will get plenty of warning, noise (chatter), smoke and an engine that seems to use a lot of oil between top ups. You do check your oil every week?

A bit of smoke under hard acceleration is normal, especially on a car of that age and mileage. Ironically to cure it, you should give it a damned good thrashing at least once a week.

I wouldn't worry 125k is nothing providing the car is serviced properly, mainly regular oil changes.

[edit] a good video example of diesel engine runaways...

View: https://youtu.be/xmIfjmvXp0I

Nice explanation. Thanks.

 

[Salty seadog]

What often happens is that when a turbo fails, it is the oil seals on the rotor shaft that let go. This allows engine oil to be drawn into the inlet tract and the engine will feed off its own oil. As this is an unmetered fuel supply the engine will 'run away' revving out at maximum revs until the oil supply is exhausted at which point the engine will seize.

A very frightening thing to witness as there is no way of stopping it. You might be lucky enough to have the presence of mind to stall the engine though, the key will have no effect once this starts.

But that is an extreme case and is the one that will cause a written off engine.

Usually you will get plenty of warning, noise (chatter), smoke and an engine that seems to use a lot of oil between top ups. You do check your oil every week?

A bit of smoke under hard acceleration is normal, especially on a car of that age and mileage. Ironically to cure it, you should give it a damned good thrashing at least once a week.

I wouldn't worry 125k is nothing providing the car is serviced properly, mainly regular oil changes.

[edit] a good video example of diesel engine runaways...

View: https://youtu.be/xmIfjmvXp0I

Thanks, that had put my mind at ease no end. Full service history and always replaced parts, timing belts etc at the correct time. Next service in a couple of months. Only smoked under hard acceleration (black but not thick). A few people have told me my millage (125 thousand) is about the lifespan of a turbo.

I've had the car since it was 18 months old so know its history as it was used by the Toyota dealership manager for that time.