is there any kind of maintenance on a turbo should i be checking for ware and tare on it. its starting to sound different what happens if it goes out could it hurt any thing. i just read about another turbo going out and grinding on the housing wall what happens to that metal the grinds off where dose it go? how can i check to see if it is OK

 

Pull the intake tubing off. Inspect the compressor wheel for any damage. Look at the housing around the compressor wheel. If it is hitting, you will see clean streaks where to metal is wearing. Grab the center of the compressor wheel and see if it moves. Some side to side radial freeplay is aceptable. Now try to move the wheel back and forth, toward the turbine housing. No freeplay is acceptable in this dimension. Try pulling the wheel all the way to one side and spin it. If it is lightly brushing the housing, you will be able to hear it if you listen closely. I have seen turbos so bad they will not spin at all in thins check, because they are so hard up against the housing.
Remove the compressor discharge elbow. Inspect inside the charge air cooler pipes for oil. Oil coming out of the turbo is not acceptable. If you have a turbo blowing oil, it is recommended to remove the charge air cooler and clean it out to remove the oil. This prevents runaway engines from the oil build up.
Lastly, remove the exhaust pipe and inspect the turbine wheel for damage. Also check for oil in the exhaust pipes.
If your turbo is blowing oil, it could be from several things. First off is simply wear. As the bearings wear down, the seals can not hold in the oil.
Secondly, check the engine breather tube. A restricted breather, causing high crankcase pressure will cause a turbo to blow oil.
Third, an excessively dirty air filter will cause a turbo to blow oil. Too much restriction on the intake of the turbo, it will start sucking the oil past the seals.
The best thing you can do for your turbocharger is to allow it to cool down before shutting off to engine. When the oil flow around the bearings stops, it will burn, turning into a coke like substance. Next time the enigne is started, this abrasive coke will wear away the bearing material.

 

Oh yeah, and the metal goes into the charge air cooler. Maybe it will stop there, but maybe it will keep going and end up in the engine, wearing down rings and cylinder walls.

 

With the intercooler you have to have a serious leak to cause bad things. A direct hookup when you blow oil out of the turbo it goes straight to the intake ond then you get some run away.
My turbo is sounding different also but I'm happy about it. It took about 60k miles to loosen it up enough to get a decent whine. I think I'd mess myself if one day it had the whine of killdozer

 

What is the compressor Discharge elbow? On the bottom boot before the intercooler. That boot is usually covered with oil. Havn't really looked to see where it is coming from. Think i might take that boot off someday and have a look to make sure there is no oil in there.

 

what dose it mean if oil is present

 

one of the seals have probably started leaking.