A friend calls me last night and tells me his turbocharger is wore out.
He says the tips of the vanes are worn away so now there is too big a gap between the tips of the blades and the housing. The bearings are good, spins easy, no end play or up & down movement. The vanes did not hit the housing.
Is this common?

 

Nope, I have never heard of such a thing.

I bet you find it was running that much clearance all along, or he doesn't know how much clearance in his bearings he really has.

 

Thanks Pat, I was thinking he was on the wrong track, I'm going to tell him to take it to a turbo rebuild shop and see what they say,,, and not to rush out and buy a new one.
He is 1,800 miles from me now so I can't get a look at it.

 

Can you have him snap a picture of the vanes? He may not realize how large the correct clearance is............

If it really has been wearing, the pictures should show it readily, and if somehow he were ingesting enough garbage to wear away the blades, they would also be very thin and he would have no ring seal left.........

 

He already shipped it to a rebuilder. So no pics.
I was trying to tell him to NOT be just a parts changer.
Now he will get an expert opinion, like you said I don't think he knows what normal is.

 

Turbine blades "grow" as they get hotter so tip clearances cold are designed for the growth as it gets hotter.

 

If he was getting dirt/debris in the turbo, it would be the leading edges that would be getting worn the most, not the outer edges.

 

I worked in a turbo shop for awhile and have replace the turbine wheel and impeller due to wear. What's going on with this one I could not say but believe he did the right thing sending it to the experts. No visible wear on the housing as if it were touching then perhaps as said contaminants, dirt, sand, etc., could wear them down. Usually along the leading edges the fins would be slightly worn where you could feel a lip.


Most of the ones I replaced were visibly damage, bent fins, broken fins and some were even easier to figure out when you pulled a 3/8" x 6" bolt out of the housing, yes, really. One guy found a frog, charbroiled remnants of a frog in one, no joke.

 

Yep, sometimes the cause of low boost complaints can be quite out there.........

 

When I fired up my CTD the other day, it ran really rough then cleaned up. Little did I know that mice made a nest in the airbox and chewed up my air filter- I sucked all the pieces that would fit threw the metal mesh on the filter threw the turbo- everything seems ok with no oil usage.