diesel turbos

[bmw111]

hi

does anyone know why it is difficult to see when a diesel turbo goes? i mean on a petrol car you can see it start to smoke then you know its time, a diesel is a smoker by nature but surely there must be a way of knowing before it goes.

a mate of mines car was fine the friday and when he started it on saterday and drove less than a kilometer the turbo just shrieked and that was that turbo gone. are there things you can look out for that will give you an early warning.

thanks

 

[Hellas]

Early signs: There is a 'd' after the '320' on the back of the E46.

Seriously, some people say the turbo starts whistling, maybe have loss of power of even minor oil consumption (from the bearing bypass).
I'd say maybe all of the above taken with the history of the car eg. mileage, was this a long-distance car, was the turbo cooled down after use, services done on time etc. Basically was the turbo treated right over the life of the car. Then some people get 300 000 km and some get 100 000km. Tough to say then.

 

[Tumo]

My car is currently in the shops with a busted turbo.

Diesels should only smoke under heavy acceleration, and this should only be a once of puff. My 320d was smoking and I eliminated all the variables, breather, filters, egr etc... last thing left was the turbo. Which went in spectacular style!

So if a diesel is constantly smoking, chances are that the turbo is on its way out. You can also listen out for the change in the whistle.

But as with all turbos, catastrophic failure can occur without any real heads up