So having now replaced the turbo (for those that have seen the other thread it was the clips on the oil return that was holding it in place!!) & not having found a likely cause yet I've started stripping back parts to check their state. Quickly found that the EGR valve was gunked up & also the inlet manifold (the big plenum box thingy). I've soaked the EGR in petrol and its come up nice and clean (and fortunately still works) but I'm struggling to get the inlet manifold clean. I've basically got it soaking in unleaded at the moment but there is still lots of crud inside.

It's a 2002 Freelander 1 TD4 with 150k miles on the clock.

Soo...any ideas how I can clean the inlet manifold/ plenum?

And is it likely that the clogged up EGR valve caused the turbo failure (I've read lots of conflicting things about this)? I know the most likely cause is oil supply but when I removed the old turbo LOTS of oil came out of it so I'm guessing it was getting oil ok.

If I wanted to check the oil supply how would I do that? I did blow through the supply line (from the banjo bolt) and that wasn't clogged. I also blew through the return pipe and it was kind of tough to get air through BUT it was attached to the new turbo at the time (felt a little like blowing a balloon up - not the bit when you first start but once its already partly inflated).

Might I be overthinking this & its just age and wear that caused the turbo to fail?

Fritz

P.S. One other thing. I checked the crankcase filter as I had most of the bits out the way and discovered that there was no filter in there. Not the original LR part or the BMW version but as far as I can see its a sealed section so the oil simply drains back into the crank case. Could that missing filter be contributory though?

Do you have the filter for airvent to the turbo that dangles freely behind the engine. These have to be replaced when they become mucky. The turbo relies on air fuel oil. The gunk may have harden to a cake form so even with the amount petrol will not shift it. Alternative would be professional clean if it that bad.

I cleaned my inlet manifold recently - I started using paraffin in the thing that came with my compressor - you know - red can and long nozzle - and following up with a jet washer. I was getting nowhere and the literally 1/4 thick deposit was just not letting go and I was worried that if the job was not done thoroughly I could have lumps of gunk going through the engine with disasterous effect. Then I remembered my mechanic mate's answer to everything (when WD40 fails etc) CELLULOSE THINNERS - I was a bit nervous of injecting neat thinners in case the plastic could not stand it so I mixed 50/50 paraffin and thinners and blasted again with the red gun - WOW - next blast with the jet washer came out like thick soup - several more cycles of the mixture followed by the jetwash and you could have eaten your dinner off the inside of the manifold - RESULT - popped in stainless steel EGR bypass thingy off the net on re-assembly and now confident about my inlet tract - can't say I notice huge improvements but the vehicle was new to me and I was flushing the Jatco box at the same time. Now running pretty sweet. By the way - I removed and gently cleaned the sensor thing at the far end of the manifold during this procedure.

I use gunk as I know it is safe I would be careful using thing like thinners in engine components as it could damage them I can not see how the inlet could course a turbo fail

Steam clean it quick and easy

I used Mr Muscle oven cleaner on mine, soaked obernight, came up a treat.

Dr Magic oven and Grill cleaner, then a good jet wash, I carry four extra manifold so when we have our meets we can just swap out the gunked up manifold, always remember to remove the MAP sensor before cleaning, the map sensor can be cleaned with carb cleaner but do not spray direct into the port hole,

Hi thanks for all the replies.

So a good soaking in unleaded then a jet wash seems to have done the trick.

Finally getting it all back together, might even get it started again this afternoon.

Still unsure what lead to my turbo failure though. I've checked everything I can and replaced oil; filters (oil & air); cleaned all hoses/ pipes/ intercooler/etc. so fingers crossed it was just old age.

Fritz