CDi Turbo failures?

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jgevers

Active Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2004
Messages
324
Location
Scotland
Car
ML270CDi again, Golf TDi, Legacy Turbo 280PS, RS6 Avant
Hi all,

Is anyone seeing more and more turbo failures on 270 and 320CDis?

We are replacing quite a few in our workshop now. The reason for posting is that I can't see a real pattern to come to a conclusion why the turbos are failing. Oil quality and mileage do not seem to make any odds. Last week my own ML270CDi's turbo started to squeal. At 79000 miles and oil changes every 3000 miles with Motul 300v should be ok. My Subaru turbo has now done 228000 miles with this regime and has never had a replacement turbo.

Last week it was a S320 CDi with the same symptoms, only 48000 miles, always been serviced by MB with Shell oil.

Anyone have an idea why these failures are happening?


Regards,

Job
 
Sorry, don't know on the Turbo's, but intrigued to know why you change the oil (fully synth?) every 3000 miles - that'a a lot of oil changes in 79,000 miles?

Of course you might not have had it from new, so maybe it wasn't so well cared for earlier in its life?
 
happened on the, now gone, family w-reg e320 cdi estate. All was fine until i came onto the m25 in a '2 into 1' slip lane, floored it and there was no whistle whilst a smug g*t in his bmw 320 touring flew past me.

Bah
 
Turbo failures are rarely siezures of the shaft. Far more common is the wastegate sticking open or the variable vanes jamming.

To answer the first question, yes there are now quite a few failures accross all CDi engined cars.
 
Rory said:
Sorry, don't know on the Turbo's, but intrigued to know why you change the oil (fully synth?) every 3000 miles - that'a a lot of oil changes in 79,000 miles?

Of course you might not have had it from new, so maybe it wasn't so well cared for earlier in its life?

Having worked in the motor (racing) trade most of my life it became apparent after having oil analysed on racing vehicles that changing oil every 3000 miles and using the best oil available, allows a much longer engine life.

The vehicles I have caned in the past with this regime include a VW Golf GTi (sold with 345000 miles, still going strong with new owner), Subaru Turbo (still have this car at 228000 miles), VW Golf TDi (still have this car at 186000 miles), MB w124 e230 estate (sold with 525000 KM).

Yes, it does cost a fair amount of money to keep this going, but I can't help being a bit fastidious with car maintenance:).

regards,

Job
 
Dieselman said:
Turbo failures are rarely siezures of the shaft. Far more common is the wastegate sticking open or the variable vanes jamming.

To answer the first question, yes there are now quite a few failures accross all CDi engined cars.

Hi Dieselman,

On the Mercs it seems to be the bearings that give up and allow radial and some axial play.

A few BMWs are coming through with stuck vanes now. They tend to overboost or have very slow boost pick up.

regards,

Job
 
Hello Dieselman
I,ve bought a c class cdi 220 estate 05,
do you know if these engines have had turbo failures or too much oil consumption?

Have I made a bad choice?

Best regards Ivan
 
I saw this chap at George Fraser's who has a 04 E220 CDI. He has had the turbo replaced 3 times in 80k.
 
KLP 92 said:
I saw this chap at George Fraser's who has a 04 E220 CDI. He has had the turbo replaced 3 times in 80k.


According to my knowledge driving habbit can also cause turbo failure(s). It might be the reason for changing it 3 times for that guy.
 
twice said:
According to my knowledge driving habbit can also cause turbo failure(s). It might be the reason for changing it 3 times for that guy.


what about the driving habbit?
 
Out of interest, what is the cost of a turbo replacement for a modern 270/320CDi engine?
 
twice said:
Reving the cold turbo and turning off the engine after a long shot (no oil pressure).


I think this could be the answer to the failures.
Drivers that are used to petrol cars are now using all the new found torque right from cold, and not allowing and spool down time at the end of a hard run.
Both these driving habits will cook the oil on the turbo shaft.
Heat soak is the biggest reason for running a turbo car on full synthetic oil.

There may be nothing more than poor quality turbos here. A few years ago we had a load of new Peugot 406 at work. A few dozen of them suffered with blown engines due to turbo seal failure.
Goes like this:
start engine, it revs to about 10,000 revs and belches smoke. It can't be shut off with the key.
After about 30 seconds it goes BANG!!

Very exiting!!!! :eek: :eek:
 
GrahamC230K said:
Out of interest, what is the cost of a turbo replacement for a modern 270/320CDi engine?


Anyone know?

After ECU and gearbox repalcement I want to know I could have had equally large bills on a nice sensible C220CDI!!
 
I suspect you would be looking at a bill of at least £2k. (assuming the work was done at a main dealer)

If you want to minimise the potential for big future repair costs, I would think going for a well proven naturally aspirated engine would be your best bet (thats what I did!)
 
Last edited:
You can get a recon turbo for £600
 
In the van side o things turbos arent overly comman and some of the people that drive fleet vans really dot give a damn so i wouldnt put it all down to build quality.
 
Since the majority of turbo's are made by Garrett, I fail to believe it's down to build quality.

Driving style and habits DO have a lot to do with turbo failure. I for one treat mine with respect - gentle when cold and at least 1/2 minutes idle after a long/fast run.

Sticking to oil changes and not leaving it too long helps although I feel the idea of 3k oil changes on modern cars unnecessary (of course if they only do 3k a year then fine!)
 

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