Hi guys

I am new to this site. Was searching for a forum & came across this one & i hope there is someone out there who can help me with this problem. Here is my story:

I have a Renault Kangoo 1.5dci which has a sick turbo. My van was giving off a noise (like a belt slipping noise) & whenever it made that noise it would drop in power. Eventually couldnt drive the van faster than about 40-50km/h. Then the van cut out on me. Started up again & revved up by itself but it didnt over rev on me as i switched it off before it got anywhere near over revving. Started up again & i managed to turn the van around then heard a knocking noise from the engine.
Anyway, it turned out to be coming from the turbo.

Stripped out the turbo, had it reconditioned, refitted. Drove fine for 2 days then started smoking very bad. I was quite a distance from home so had to drive like that all the way home with there being a loss of power again. Stripped the turbo out again & it broke again. Sent it back & redid it again only to have the same thing happen again.

There is quite a bit of fresh clean oil coming out the exhaust. Figured the smoking was just the old oil build up in the exhaust that was burning away but then noticed it was using oil according to the dipstick & noticed the oil coming from the exhaust. After long idling or driving the oil basically runs out the exhaust.

Sorry for the long post but my question is this: I am getting a brand new turbo but am a bit scared to have this turbo fitted just in case there is something messing up the turbo that we are not seeing.
Is there anything inside the engine or wherever that can be messing up the turbo? Or is it just a case of bad workmanship from the turbo guys???

I've chatted to various mechanics & they all have different advice. Some say there is nothing wrong with the engine its just the turbo & some say the rings are siezed. But if the rings are siezed then why would it be messing up the turbo after driving just one day after refitting. I've never had a problem with the engine. Never used oil until the turbo packed up.

So someone, anyone out there who has more knowledge on this please help. Its starting to become a desperate situation for me.

Thanks in advance

Jbay

 

What is breaking on the turbo?

 

Hi Disney

Thx for the reply. The shaft seems to go all the time because when receiving the recon'd turbo the shaft wheel has no play then when taking it out again it has quite a bit of play.

 

X2 on this question

 

Is the drain line clean to pan? Almost sounds like you have a plugged drain. With the amount of oil you are describing pushing through the unit..

 

yes the oil return pipe itself is clear. It was off so cleaned it out & blew through it. Could it be blocked inside the pan??? If so how does one clear that?

 

Replace the oil feed line to the turbo.
My money is its coked up.

 

Ok i've taken the oil feed pipe out as well. Clean it out & blew through this pipe as well & it blew free. Once the pipe is back in could it get coked up? Or could it be coked up at the point where the pipe screws into the head???

 

Also if the oil feed pipe is coked up then how does all that oil get thru the turbo & all the way thru the exhaust?

 

Is there excessive crank case pressure causing slow drain flow from turbo?
Have you done a leak down on cylinders to see what you have? What you are describing is a hell of a lot of oil..

 

Pull the oil fill cap or dipstick off with the engine running. If there is a lot of pressure it will usually be a quick indicator of excessive crankcase pressure.It really sounds like two unrelated issues.

 

Hi...yes the mechanic that said that there is nothing wrong with the engine did the test by taking off the oil fill cap & removing dipstick & said there was no pressure.
It is a lot of oil coming out that is why I am at a loss here.

 

Another thing is that a lot of people have said that this has to be 2 unrelated issues but the same thing has happened 3 times & each time we have to pull off the turbo & send it back. Can something be wrong inside the turbo that's causing this & the turbo guys are just getting it wrong all the time? I really don't see there being anything wrong with the engine as I never had a problem before.

 

Another thing i forgot to mention is that i've removed the cat on the 2nd time replacing the turbo as it was clogged up with oil apparently causing back pressure if that helps with anything. But it still did the same thing after that anyway so i really dont know.

 

Who has been rebuilding the turbo?

 

I am from Cape Town South Africa so there is a place called 'Louws Turbochargers' which i've sent it to.

 

They came very well recommended but through my research i've also come across guys that would never send their turbos there

 

Ok guys, so far i've removed the turbo, sent it back & got a new turbo in return. To scared to fit the new one before I am 100% that everything else is fine. I've removed the oil feed pipe & on the thread of the bolt that turns into the cylinder head I found small iron filings. Could this possibly be causing the turbo to break??

 

Run the engine for a few seconds with the oil feed line in a bucket and make sure it's not stopped up.

 

Oh yes...never thought of that. Thx for that. Will definitely try that ;-)