Blown turbo - guidance please

Jackmydad

Half terms's over next week. . .

Joe_Horner

Jackmydad wrote: »

Now come on Joe, you know the power's been down a bit. . .:D

I thought that was just me getting to a certain age and deciding that "40's plenty for these roads" (one of the very few real disagreements I had with my dad in his dotage )

Jackmydad

You and me both Joe.

Joe_Horner

Jackmydad wrote: »

You and me both Joe.

The thing is, I know I can still drive silly-fast if I feel like it or there's a reason, but for 90% of the time I just don't see the point any more. Will happily speed up if I'm in front of someone but the rest of the time I'm normally happy to bimble along, saving a bit of fuel, not having to concentrate like a sniper on coke, and maybe taking a couple of extra minutes to get there.

I've also become far more aware over time of the risks other people take. Lost count of the times round country roads where you come round a bend, see someone, and are (calmly) stopped while they're still standing on their nose on the brakes.

They obviously think (if anything) that "I stopped in time, not a problem". I think "If you'd met you coming the other way you'd have crashed"

Jackmydad

Joe_Horner wrote: »

The thing is, I know I can still drive silly-fast if I feel like it or there's a reason, but for 90% of the time I just don't see the point any more. Will happily speed up if I'm in front of someone but the rest of the time I'm normally happy to bimble along, saving a bit of fuel, not having to concentrate like a sniper on coke, and maybe taking a couple of extra minutes to get there.

I've also become far more aware over time of the risks other people take. Lost count of the times round country roads where you come round a bend, see someone, and are (calmly) stopped while they're still standing on their nose on the brakes.

They obviously think (if anything) that "I stopped in time, not a problem". I think "If you'd met you coming the other way you'd have crashed"

Exactly the same here.

System

Joe_Horner wrote: »

I've also become far more aware over time of the risks other people take. Lost count of the times round country roads where you come round a bend, see someone, and are (calmly) stopped while they're still standing on their nose on the brakes.

They obviously think (if anything) that "I stopped in time, not a problem". I think "If you'd met you coming the other way you'd have crashed"

Two young lads found out the hard way on the A605 on Wednesday night. The whole of the A14 traffic in both directions was diverted down there due to roadworks. Two lads in a Focus overtook me then overtook the truck in front of me whilst in a 40 limit thinking it was a straight. Unfortunately they didn't know that the road bent round to the left just ahead. They hit the oncoming lorry which punted them back into the one they'd just overtaken which punted them into the verge. Cue closed road, ambulance, critical care response team. Driver from the Focus came out least injured, his mate was much less lucky but still alive.

Fortunately no lorries were speeding on that road or driving up the backsides of each other or it could have been much worse. The oncoming lorry managed to stop in 53ft according to the traffic copper which impressed him quite a lot.

That could have been much worse if the oncoming lorry had ended up pushing them sideways up the road. It could have been a Focus crushed to a couple of feet wide which nobody would be walking out of.

Richard53

Just to wrap this up: I got the car back today, and my wallet is a lot lighter. I had a look at the old turbo, and it was certainly a mess. The rotor vanes had grenaded and badly scored the housing, so it was a total loss. It baffles me a bit that there could be so much damage done when there was no noise or vibration when it happened. It's running fine now, so we shall see.

Thanks for the comments and advice.

reddwarf2002

Richard53 wrote: »

Just to wrap this up: I got the car back today, and my wallet is a lot lighter. I had a look at the old turbo, and it was certainly a mess. The rotor vanes had grenaded and badly scored the housing, so it was a total loss. It baffles me a bit that there could be so much damage done when there was no noise or vibration when it happened. It's running fine now, so we shall see.

Thanks for the comments and advice.

That's good to hear. Hopefully the car will give you a few more years of service without any more big outlays.
Just out of curiosity, why did the car not start up after turbo failure? Was it because the intake was completely blocked up with the debris from the turbo?

Richard53

reddwarf2002 wrote: »

That's good to hear. Hopefully the car will give you a few more years of service without any more big outlays.
Just out of curiosity, why did the car not start up after turbo failure? Was it because the intake was completely blocked up with the debris from the turbo?

I believe so. It wouldn't start for me by the side of the road, except to chug once or twice, exactly like running out of fuel. However, the mechanic told me that once he had removed all the inlet pipework he could get it to run, albeit roughly. That implied a blockage upstream.
There were chunks of the rotor vanes as far back as the air cleaner. Fortunately none had gone into the intercooler and onwards into the engine. That seems illogical to me, given the direction of air flow, but I am only an amateur tinkerer.