Catastrophic failure

emajen9 · Post by **emajen9** » 03 Jul 2020, 21:17

My son a 2006 XC90 2.5T. It had no engine lights on but failed inspection due to front tires and oil leak. He had the inspecting garage repair the seals where the oil was leaking from; the clogged PCV was addressed previously in hopes of reducing or eliminating the leak. They had the car a couple of weeks and hadn't gotten the tires so he brought it to another garage, had the tires replaced and brought it back to get his inspection sticker. They said he would have to leave the car and called back later to say he had an inspection light on. They had the car a couple of days, then told him he would have to drive the car a hundred miles to reset the monitors and pass inspection. My wife took the car about five miles and the low oil, stop car message came on. She put about a half quart of oil in and tried driving it again. Soon the check engine light came on; assuming it was all related she drove the car home. The car was towed to the garage, they said that the motor had puked and that they were going to replace it. The next day I got a call from the garage that they wanted to show me something. What they showed me was a badly seized (really bad, off center) turbo, and claimed that it caused the engine to seize. I'm not really buying it, but I'd like to get honest opinions from knowledgeable mechanics about what went wrong? Wouldn't the check engine light have come on before the low oil if the turbo was failing?

Post by **cn90** » 03 Jul 2020, 22:42

- Do you have more than 200K miles?

- Sounds like a classic case of infrequent oil changes (such as 8K-10K intervals) causing engine sludge.
Compounded by the oil pan O-ring issues causing froth (mix of oil + air instead of oil), the engine is probably damaged beyond possible fix.

- Get a 2nd opinion...

- The 2.5T engine can last 300K if well cared for...

Post by **oragex** » 04 Jul 2020, 02:57

As above, now easy for us to get an idea from a distance, but I'm guessing the following scenario: the clogged PCV caused the cam seals to start leaking. The garage who did the repairs doesn't know these cars properly. They removed the old seals, and didn't put the new seals in correctly (very easy to do this mistake on this engine) which caused a large leak - much larger than it was before the repair, so the car lost a lot of oil when your wife drove it home which caused the turbo to seize and surely more engine damage from oil starvation. The garage also didn't set correctly the cam hubs which caused the Check engine light. Unfortunately we hear such stories quite often on forums caused by mechanics who say "we know these cars" when in reality they don't know, do a bad job then leave the customer with a broken vehicle. Unfortunately, there is little thing you can do other than go in court, but now because your wife drove the car without oil without being aware - I doubt you can win the cause. Can still try, but it takes solid arguments to convince a judge. You can take a picture of the cam seals showing they are at the wrong position which will cause a severe oil leak. But it's going to be hard to argue why was the car being driven with a low oil pressure light on. One sure thing, I would never go back to that place, at least not with an european car. You can also look on local.google.com for that garage and see what reviews they have. Your option now is to replace the entire engine with a used one - not just the turbo because the engine is surely also damaged, or to sell the car as is. Sorry for your loss

emajen9 · Post by **emajen9** » 04 Jul 2020, 07:05

oragex wrote: ↑04 Jul 2020, 02:57 As above, now easy for us to get an idea from a distance, but I'm guessing the following scenario: the clogged PCV caused the cam seals to start leaking. The garage who did the repairs doesn't know these cars properly. They removed the old seals, and didn't put the new seals in correctly (very easy to do this mistake on this engine) which caused a large leak - much larger than it was before the repair, so the car lost a lot of oil when your wife drove it home which caused the turbo to seize and surely more engine damage from oil starvation. The garage also didn't set correctly the cam hubs which caused the Check engine light. Unfortunately we hear such stories quite often on forums caused by mechanics who say "we know these cars" when in reality they don't know, do a bad job then leave the customer with a broken vehicle. Unfortunately, there is little thing you can do other than go in court, but now because your wife drove the car without oil without being aware - I doubt you can win the cause. Can still try, but it takes solid arguments to convince a judge. You can take a picture of the cam seals showing they are at the wrong position which will cause a severe oil leak. But it's going to be hard to argue why was the car being driven with a low oil pressure light on. One sure thing, I would never go back to that place, at least not with an european car. You can also look on local.google.com for that garage and see what reviews they have. Your option now is to replace the entire engine with a used one - not just the turbo because the engine is surely also damaged, or to sell the car as is. Sorry for your loss

The clogged PCV was resolved by a different garage probably two months prior; we hoped it would resolve or lessen the leak. The only reason we had this garage work on the car was because they had it apart to determine where the leak was coming from. They are contending that the blown turbo caused the engine to fail; is that possible?

Post by **oragex** » 04 Jul 2020, 07:12

Once the camshaft seals start leaking, they will keep even with a new PCV - also, some places don't replace all PCV components or forget to inspect the lower block hole. But if the garage also tried to replace the leaky camshaft seals and they didn't install them correctly, or used a cheap brand, the seals will start leaking much worse. As for the turbo, I don't think a blown turbo can damage the engine, it's usually the other way around. However, oil starvation will damage both the turbo and the engine, perhaps the turbo bearings will blow first because they spin a high speed, then the engine will seize or throw a bearing

Post by **SuperHerman** » 04 Jul 2020, 22:13

You need to provide better detail. What and when was done to the car. Also what and when were the symptoms before and after each servicing, plus mileage and time gaps.

What kind of noise was the car making when it died? A turbo in that condition would make a tremendous racket before failing and would most likely smoke like a bug fogger.

It is really hard to tell you what happened based on the information you provided. I have theories based on knowledge and experience, but they are just guesses at best with the current information.