Turbo blew

[Diablo]

Hi all,

200tdi Defender engine:

Driving to an exam today (never happens on an unimportant day does it...) and within half a mile noticed a lack of power. This was then accompanied by some whooping and similar noises, and I presumed the turbo hoses had come off, as has happened before.

The turbo guage was fluctuating from 0 - 0.5 bar or so.

After 30 secs or so, it returned to normal.

Another minute down the line, the gearbox started making very 'chattery' and rough sounding noises.

Another half mile and BANG, accompanied by my Defender looking as though it has deployed smoke grenades.

Shoved it into nearest layby, smoke everywhere.

Opened bonnet, and saw a load of oil down the passenger footwell area, all smoking.

Made my way to exam (pinched the other half's Mini).

Have just got back from towing it home.

Had to start car to maneouvre it to make it safe to tow.

Lots of clonks and rattle sounds coming from all over. Running extremely roughly.

Also some whirring/clonking sounds, which I presume is the leftovers of the turbo.

Am I correct in thinking it is the turbo that's blown?

And if so, why is the whole car juddering and generally running like a bag of rocks?

And next, what's the best way of replacing it?

[western]

Remove the intake hose from turbo front compressor housing & examine blades for damage, try to move the shaft up/down excess movement = shot bearings, in/out [front/rear movement is OK.

if you can remove the exhaust elbow on rear examine the turbine blades for damage.

[Retroanaconda]

And if so, why is the whole car juddering and generally running like a bag of rocks?

With regard to this question, I would hazard a guess that a blown turbo could lead to a sudden ingress of oil into the combustion chambers. This could perhaps cause damage similar to filling the engine with water (bent con-rods etc.) which would result in rough running or a refusal to run at all.

[Diablo]

Oh excellent.

Guess tonight I'd better strip the hoses off and see what we're left with

[CwazyWabbit]

Also if it spat all the engine oil out you may have been running without lubrication so bearings etc may be a tad unhealthy now.

[Diablo]

So essentially I'm probably looking at a new turbo and a new engine

and a new mortgage

[CwazyWabbit]

Tbh if you can strip down the old engine before you start spending money that is the sensible thing to do as you can assess how much damage is done and whether it is worth repairing...... If it starts getting expensive you can always get a Disco 200 tdi engine and swap the Defender parts over ...... that'll save you a few quid.

Of course we are all talking worse case scenarios here.

[Diablo]

Certainly seems like it's going to need stripping.

A new learning experience for me I suppose.

Unless I bite the bullet and go straight to turners.

That will still need a load of work I guess though, and presumably a new turbo anyway.

[Geobloke]

Fear not Diablo, had the very same thing happen to me in my 200tdi 90... Boy that white smoke out the back was something impressive... Oil may, as in my case, have merely just been gushing in to the exhaust down pipe from the exhaust side of the turbo. Massive white smoke as the oil combusts in the hot confines of the exhaust pipe.

Your engine may be abslutely fine. All I had to do was replace the turbo, oil and filter and everything was as good as gold, in fact better. Figure the old urbo must have been suspect for a while.

How did it look when you got home?

[Diablo]

I've yet to have a proper look yet. Been so busy this week. Probably won't get a chance until tomorrow night/the weekend.

The thing is though, the engine should idle normally shouldn't it? It sounds as though it's running on bricks at the minute and the whole vehicle shakes around.

But yes, the smoke is rather impressive. Works wonders for getting audis off your arse!

[mmgemini]

STOP don't panic.....

My turbo blew in Namibia....The intercooler was FULL of oil. The engine is still running many, many miles later.

Check the turbo. Take the intercooler off and tip the oil out and clean it as best possible.

When you fit the new turbo. Don't worry if there's still smoke for quite a few miles. Please do check the oil and top up.

[Tanuki]

If the turbo's seals have gone and dumped oil into the intercooler, then the engine may not idle nicely - the airflow will be sucking random quantities of oil from the intercooler and this oil will be randomly supplementing the combustion in random cylinders.

Take the intercooler off and flush it through with Diesel to remove any oil/bits-of-broken-turbo-rotor. Then dry it inside thoroughly with compressed air.

The engine should still start/run with the intercooler removed - if it still sounds like a bag of nails only then do you need to investigate further.

[Maverik]

If the turbo's seals have gone and dumped oil into the intercooler, then the engine may not idle nicely - the airflow will be sucking random quantities of oil from the intercooler and this oil will be randomly supplementing the combustion in random cylinders.

Take the intercooler off and flush it through with Diesel to remove any oil/bits-of-broken-turbo-rotor. Then dry it inside thoroughly with compressed air.

The engine should still start/run with the intercooler removed - if it still sounds like a bag of nails only then do you need to investigate further.

I think this is sound advice, not that the other are talking bull

Mav

[Diablo]

Cheers guys,

that will be the first thing on my 'investigation to do list' then.

[CwazyWabbit]

I think as a first step before doing anything I'd check the oil level......

[fireblade7]

i have a disco 200tdi if needed

but im sure someone a bit closer might

have one

regards

mike

[Diablo]

Right, finally had a chance to look at things. And they're not good.

Firstly, a fair amount of oil in all pipes, though not a huge amount.

The turbo blades, on the compressor side at least, are fairly damaged, and the bearing is completely shot. Not unexpected.

Here's a shot of inside the air intake of the engine.

What was/is concerning me most though is where all of this oil came from (passenger footwell area):

With pretty poor visibilty I managed to see this, and just about get a picture:

At first it looked like the crankshaft sticking out the back of the engine (bear in mind I couldn't see this picture on my phone as clearly)

So I briefly turned the engine over:

Now to me, that looks like the side of the engine has been blown out?

Also, in the first pic of the shaft, it doesn't look too healthy at all. Looks as though it's been gouged out.

[Mo Murphy]

Looks like a hole to me. New lump time methinks.

Mo

[Retroanaconda]

That's a bummer

See if you can pick up a Disco 200Tdi in good nick. The basic engine lump is the same, then you can swap over your ancillaries to it and bang a new turbo on. A lot cheaper than buying a genuine Defender 200Tdi!

Or go down a different engine route, 300Tdi, other manufacturer etc.

[western]

that's a big hole, any of the conrods missing ?

[Diablo]

Possibly, it's very hard to see without using a camera. How would you tell, short of dropping the sump?

And what would cause this?

[mmgemini]

Ohh Owww

That's a leg out of bed. Yes you'll have to drop sump.....

Lack of oil to the bearings caused that.

You must have run the engine quite a long time without oil ....

[Diablo]

About 100 yards or so once the pyrotechnics commenced. Still, not much I can do about that now. I guess the dry bearings exploded, knocking a hole in the side?

[western]

drop the sump then you can examine the crank/rods for missing bits.

another 200tdi block swap will be the quickest way to be back on the road.

[Diablo]

And the defender and disco ones are the same?