Photo of my turbo impeller - Is it knackered?

tombardier · May 14, 2011

I bought a disco 200tdi engine last weekend to replace my tired old 2.5na. We fired it up in my garage, and it sound absolutely great. A lot of things looked really good as well, like the rocker/tappets had no play in and looked really tidy - and really, it fired up so nicely and sounded so good. However, when I saw the turbo, my heart sank in to the pit of my stomach. I thought I'd show a photo to see what people think. Basically, the fins have been mangled on the impeller, but the thing is that there is no play in the impeller and definitely no evidence of it touching the casing, but it's definitely chewed on something in the past! I would rather avoid the expense of buying a new turbo, but I thought I'd get your opinions to see if it would still be serviceable looking like this given that there is no play, and it's otherwise solid, having done 90k miles.

jamesmartin · May 14, 2011

run it with inlet off and see how it performs

tombardier · May 14, 2011

We did run it with the inlet off, and it sounds OK, I have to say.

Karlos28 · May 14, 2011

Looks to me like something has been in there and was being worn away, there is wear near the centre which suggests it isn't the compressor case that is what caused it. Get a boost gauge on it and see how it goes if it runs ok.

defcrazy · May 14, 2011

yea i think Karlos28 is right if there is no play and no marks on the housing then your ok but having the damage on the fins they are weak and pieces may break off under pressure

dogsbody · May 14, 2011

Don't take the chance, get it re-worked with a guarantee.
If it breaks up under load there's a fair chance the engine will swallow the bits.

tombardier · May 14, 2011

you never know, that might have happened once already, and that might be why i've bought the engine freshly rebuilt! I don't know the real history.

Karlos28 · May 14, 2011

The leading edges of those blades look abit iffy! Very thin.. Might not be worth the risk, I wonder what caused it!?

Shifty1962 · May 14, 2011

Its not the fins contacting the casing that's done that sort of damage. Something has been sucked or dropped in there. Maybe the previous owner ran it with no filter piping attached?

It will boost just fine but the rotor will probably be unbalanced which will make it noisy and it will slow down quickly so your turbo lag will be greater. You could try shaping the fins so as they are all the same but dont take any metal off the outer edge where it runs close to the casing.

The turbo rotor can spin at more than 20,000rpm so any sign of cracks in any of the rotor fins I'd not take the chance.

landowner · May 14, 2011

Wouldn't the intercooler catch any bits that broke off the turbo...?

Langers · May 14, 2011

I'd say that was fudged.

This any good to ya?

Land Rover 200 TDI Turbo and Exhaust Manifold | eBay UK

ed.poore · May 14, 2011

Same thing happened to me (300Tdi 110) - garage that did a service on the vehicle dropped a sump plug washer into the wrong side of the air filter. Thankfully they admitted responability and fitted a new one.

See this linky for piccys.

Cause of destroyed turbo? - LR4x4 - The Land Rover Forum

Shifty1962 · May 15, 2011

landowner said:
Wouldn't the intercooler catch any bits that broke off the turbo...?

It would catch the bigger bits but more than a few engines have been damaged eating stuff thats gone through the turbo and intercooler. It only takes a small piece of metal or stone to stop one of the valves seating fully and the piston will contact the valve.

Photo of my turbo impeller - Is it knackered?

tombardier

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jamesmartin

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tombardier

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Karlos28

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defcrazy

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dogsbody

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tombardier

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Karlos28

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Shifty1962

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landowner

Pensioner Pete

Langers

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ed.poore

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Shifty1962

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