Both Turbos Blown in a 99T6... What now?

[boosted5cyl]

OK so turbo #2 is toast. Compressor blades are in bad shape, the radial play is probably 4mm so the shaft bearing im sure is toast as well as the shaft.

Turbo #2 compressor turbine:

Does this look like the result of ingestion to you? I don't know what it could have ingested although the CBV doesn't seem to be closed at idle so on possibility is that the CBV broke up and the the turbo ate the parts. Should the CBV be "open" at idle? Basically with rubber pipe off that goes to the intercooler, there is no vacuum there, however the motor is breathing though the CBV. If i block the CBV pipe with my hand, the motor chokes and dies. I would have expected this to be the opposite.
The exhaust turbine looks fine, I dont have a pic right now but since it looks "OK" im inclined to think something hit the compressor blades.

So what next? I did a compression test as a matter of course. Here are the readings for each cylinder. Each number is the average of three tests...

1 159psi
2 157psi
3 164psi
4 163psi
5 156psi
6 160psi

Seems "OK". VADIS calls for around 161psi I think. Are these figures accepable for a motor that has 200K+ miles on it? I might have left the ignition on for more than two mins so some of the results might be skewed (throttle does not respond after two mins with ignition on).

My plan of attack from here...

* Inspect #1 Turbo vanes & oil drain pipe
* Drop oil pan, inspect for debris. Same for pickup pipe
* Remove intercooler, clean througally, inspect for debris
* Remove inlet manifold, inspect for debris

What other checks should I do after a terminal turbo explosion.

[boosted5cyl]

Here's a quick video of the radial play on the #2 turbo (2MB): http://overt.ie/files/motoring/1999S80/ ... nTurbo.mp4

[boosted5cyl]

Not good.... Turbo #1 got hit with whatever this is too....

Turbo #1 Compressor Turbine..

CBV seems to be intact. Mass airflow sensor looks OK and it doesnt look like the ptc has come apart. What the hell broke up and got eaten?
Not sure what I'm going to do, much as we love the car its not worth putting $600 in turbos + the other stuff it needs....

[boosted5cyl]

Does anybody know what the "standard" pressure is used when leakdown testing the T6 or turbo'd Volvos in general? No specific pressure is mentioned in VADIS, only the tool to be used.

[boosted5cyl]

OK stripped the first turbo last night. This is the on that doesnt have quite as much damage but still the blades made contact with something. The head shield was coked up like crazy. The innards of the cartridge don't seem too coked up really for for this one at least I'm not to sure about oil starvation.

Turbine shaft

Compressor housing. Strange ring of carbon on there.

CHRA and heat shield. Lot of carbon build up!

Looks like I could get away with a rebuild kit and a new compressor wheel in this turbo, but then it has to be balanced so might not be worth it.

[JDS60R]

Those are coked up "waaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy" too much.

Radial play came from the bearing failure due to that excessive coking. The radial play was so bad it let the wheels contact the housing. The oil and or its change interval are at fault. You can buy 2 new turbos or two pre balanced center sections with wheels. Or two used turbos.


$600 is so much cheaper than a new car. You will need several engine flushes as well . The coking on the turbo is not going to be much worse than what is in the motor as these are water cooled turbos.

[boosted5cyl]

Form what i've read this coking (around the heat shield) is more indicative of a seal leak rather than the traditional type of coking where the oil gets cooked inside the bearing housing. Its acually pretty good in there, but for sure its been seeping oil past the seal on the hot side, vaporizing it and turning it to carbon. I'm considering rebulding the TD04 in the T5 as preventative maintenance after reading more about this.

Do you know of a good source for complete CHRAs? I sourced a pair of turbos for $180each with 100K miles on them. If the clearances are in spec I might go that route. This repair is going to be way more than $600 though I fear, especially as I don't know what hit the blades in the second turbo and the first one has some signs of ingestion too. I still have to find out what the leak is on cylinder 1 exhaust valve. This car has been burning oil on the overrun for quite some time, it seemed to be the resule of excess crankcase pressure from cylinder #2 ring, but the leakdown and compression results dont support this really. Perhaps it was the turbos leaking oil all along. If the source of the oil leak/burning was the motor itself, I would expect the exhaust turbine to have carbon buildup on it's splines, but it doesn't.

More pics later when I pull the second turbo apart, that one is the one that was spewing oil big time and has radial play in the millimeters.

[JDS60R]

I disagree with your analysis of coking.

Used turbos with 100K should be inspected and most likely will need a rebuild. They are a great bargain and OE rebuild parts should only cost you $100-$125 per turbo. I have purchased many used turbos that have not made contact with the housings yet for aprox $100 $125 each. Contact local junk yards or use www.car-parts.com

I rebuild them all. If you want a re balance you can send the rebuilt center sections to any local turbo re-builder.

[renzo86]

Hello there!
Does any one of you have detailed instructions in how to remove the turbos?
Thanks!

[boosted5cyl]

Wanted to give an update on this.....

I finally replaced the turbos on this last weekend with two working pulls from a local car that was getting parted out. $100 for the pair. The intent was to rebuild them and put them in, but I ended up putting them in as-is because out other two cars died. The axial clearance on them is OK, radial is getting there but they will do for now. I have them plumbed so the wastegate will open at base boost of 6.5psi for now.

I think what lead to the older turbos demise was in fact a cooling system leak that started sometime early year. The turbos eventually blew in May I think. The level float in the expansion tank was stuck in its upper position so the level warning was never set off. Also, the expansion tank was stained right where the level should be, so at a glance when I did my weekly fluid checks, it looked "OK" I had no reason to suspect a cooling system leak. That was until the heater stopped working and the temp gauge started creeping up. It never overheated, but got pretty damn hot. The turbos are practically at the top of the cooling system, so my hunch is that they were running without (or at with vermuch least compromised) watercooling for some time, resulting in excess coking and their eventual catastrophic demise. Thinking back, it all makes sense. I also noticed that I had some leaks in the wastegate actuator plumbing which might have caused occasional overboost. I spent some time pressure testing this during assembly and it now holds pressure flawlessly.

So fast forward to now with the turbos I put on and some interesting observations...
The PCV and crankcase pressure that I had previously is gone. I did a PCV service some time ago and it helped with the typical PCV symptoms a little, but i still had a smoking dipstick pipe and the positive the crankcase pressure never really went away. I could burst a rubber glove if I put it on the PCV pipe where it goes into the PTC on the inlet!
I also had smoke coming from the exhaust as a result of oil burning. The compression and leakdown tests seemed "OK". My best guess is that the seal(s) in the turbo(s) had gotten to the point where pressure was escaping from the turbo (turbine, compressor or both side, who knows) into the oil drain pipe and pressurizing the crankcase. Which would also explain why I blew a drain pipe oring right after I rebuilt the head. The head which I never found a leak in and it turns out that it never needed to be done. It was all down to a slighly leaky turbo, that got a whole lot worse when it lost its cooling!

$100 pair of turbos (and a coolant expansion tank) later, I'm running again until the next disaster. Done about 700 miles, no signs of oil burning or leaking past seals in the turbos, we'll see what happens when I put the boost levels back to normal. I have a ticking noise that I am hoping is just a lifter, other than that I am hoping for a year or so out of this car.. We shall see how that goes!