What are the symptoms when the turbo is gonna blow

[Smartiesman]

Hi guys, not sure if this was posted before but here goes.
2 weeks ago my car just stalled on the highway, had it towed in for repairs and found out the Turbo was blown. I was always told and maybe misinformed, when the turbo blows, you get a lot of white smoke. How ever this was not the case here, but I noticed something after receiving my car yesterday, no smoke at all compared to 3 months prior as i noticed a lot of black smoke (which i believe was normal on diesels) and I always thought it was because I had the exhaust tail piece changed.
My question is: could this be the early signs that I should have been looking for?
:fencelook:

 

[P1000]

The best indication that your turbo is going to blow is: you start posting threads like this on the internet. :rollsmile:

There is really not a solid way of knowing. Some ailments show signs, like increased smoke, while other modes of failure just can never be easily detected beforehand.

 

[moranor@axis]

i would think it depends on how the turbo fails...

 

[Spy007]

Depends on how it fails +100000000

good luck.

---

A big bang :fencelook::fencelook:

 

[Smartiesman]

Well the reason for this post is to help warn ppl of what to look for. Me being a first time diesel driver and had not a clue as to what to look out for and I know its hard to find the exact symptoms, but I think it will be helpful to a fellow fanatic.
Just a thought

 

[abmi0000]

Seeing that I have never owned a turbo car before - is there no way of repairing a blown turbo as I noticed everyone replacing the entire unit?

 

[Clownshoe]

I have never had a turbo blow on me but I understand the common mode of failure is the bearings start leaking oil which creates the black smoke. Then the bearing gives up the ghost and that is the blown turbo.

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At the piont where it starts smoking you can do a bearing seal replacement and bearing replacement. I think when if fails for good there could be damage to the housing section.

 

[Hellas]

MAybe in retrospec I can say that there was some smoke, but if you are lead footed it's hard to distinguish... Monitor your oil level carefully.

But one thing I know for a fact now was that I had a schreetching sound coming from the turbo when I floored it, but funny it was ONLY in 4th gear.

Two weeks later I gave birth the most awesome white cloud...

The screetching sound was the blades touching the housing sides since the bearing was worn out. It was just a matter of time.

Then again, had I known more about turbos and stuff back then, I would have swopped it around first thing. But luckily also I did not have any damages when my turbo went, eg. some guys have the impeller blades break off and lodge themselves in the cats...

 

[Hellas]

At the piont where it starts smoking you can do a bearing seal replacement and bearing replacement. I think when if fails for good there could be damage to the housing section.

+1
Once the blades touches the sides or the housing has damage, throw it away. Even the slightest imperfection on the blades will cause the recon bearing to fail pretty soon too.

 

[netercol]

At the piont where it starts smoking you can do a bearing seal replacement and bearing replacement. I think when if fails for good there could be damage to the housing section.

+1
Once the blades touches the sides or the housing has damage, throw it away. Even the slightest imperfection on the blades will cause the recon bearing to fail pretty soon too.

+1

 

[herr bmw]

on my golf no warning,car was running fine,actually had just returned from durban the day before.

as i pulled of from a robot and engaged second gear,the big white cloud appeared.

45000km on the new turbo,it started whinning,sounded like bearings,but vw said it was okay,did not trust mechanic and traded it on a bmw.best desision ever made

 

[Carbon]

There are many ways a turbo can fail, and that makes it hard to diagnose, especially since there is a thing called "smoke point". Any diesel will produce black smoke when the there is a but load of diesel dumped in the cylinders(driving hard) and that is normal, but be wary of black smoke in normal driving conditions.

Here is a common failure chart: TURBO FAILURE CHART

Regards
Jacques