GT4088R, lost after 80KM of use. Bad luck.

[Flateric]

Well, after exactly 80KM of use on my new garret GT4088R, I blew a rice crispy sized stainless weld bead through it. I know it was a weld bead because it lodged into the wastgate and I found it when clearing the gate.

Here are the pics for your examination.

Suggestions on where to get it repaired? I'm gonna get raped by the local people it appears. Estimates so far are only 100 bucks less than buying the turbo new again, that can't be right.

Damage has been inspected to be to the wheel only, no shaft, bearing or housing damage occured.

 

[Enraged]

talk to the vendors, they should be able to help.

 

[Zumtizzle]

Majestic Turbo.

 

[Dani87x]

Looks painful..

 

[IJ.]

You sure it's FoD?

Looks a lot like overspeed/overtemp damage.

 

[suprarx7nut]

How much boost were you running? Where did the supposed "weld bead" come from?

Btw, love the quote in your sig. :rofl:

 

[Flateric]

Boost was being limited by the wastegate spring and I was not running a boost controller or other means of boost control of any type. So, the wastegate should have limited my max boost to 8-12psi I believe. There shouldn't be a possibility to over spin the turbo in such a situation should there?

I was running very rich, after further checking my log files I find that at the leanest I was runnoning 13.5 and my average was 11.5 overall. I shouldn't be possible to run to hot with these values, should it?

There's no possibility to cause such damage from running to rich is there? There was no popping or other unusual engine noise I have heard.

I be completely honest I have not yet pushed the car hard even one time and be deliberately keeping my limited driving very much on the tame side of things until I got a full dyno tune. Which was supposed to be happening this evening. Obviously cancelled now.

I am heading out to remove the manifold ATM and see if I can track down where this bead came from. I will see if my digital camera can get a decent shot of it for you guys. It was about the size of a large grain of rice. I only found the one, but that isn't to say that other bits didn't contribute also.

I wonder what a defective wheel possibility is? I'm more than just a little surprised at this point considering how paranoid I have been about preventing exactly this situation.

 

[CRE]

Just curious, what kind of cost estimates are you getting?

 

[IJ.]

If you had a really tight AR and the ecu was pulling timing it "might" over speed.....

[strike]Can you get a good macro shot of the damaged wheel?[/strike]

Saved the pics and blew em up, what ever did that was bigger than a grain of weld....

Got a bore scope?

 

[CajunKenny]

Man, you've had bad runs with turbo's! :aigo:

13.5 is pretty lean...

 

[nick88]

I would contact Garrett, cause that is what like 45-50 miles on a turbo before it blows.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Even if your wastegate was good a nice boost leak will increase the speed of the turbine to maintain same boost.

Very unfortunate. Keep us filled in on what happens.

 

[Flateric]

If you had a really tight AR and the ecu was pulling timing it "might" over speed.....

[strike]Can you get a good macro shot of the damaged wheel?[/strike]

Saved the pics and blew em up, what ever did that was bigger than a grain of weld....

Got a bore scope?

Yup I sure do have a bore scope. I will also go out and see if I cannot get a good macro shot of the one bit I did find. I can also get a closeup shot of a fin on the wheel if you like.

I begining to suspect that the one bit I did find may not have been the only piece that flew through. If in fact it was the culprit at all. I'm wondering if the bit I found wasn't perhaps a piece of balled up compressor fin, or melted bit of compressor fin. I am going to pull the mani regardless to see if it offers any further clues and just to check it out and such.

 

[pln]

I would contact Garrett, cause that is what like 45-50 miles on a turbo before it blows.

garrett dont give warranty on ball bearing turbos. At least thats the info I got from dealers here.

I think you have to have pretty big boostleak to damage turbo and you probably would have heard it. I have had some boostleaks without misshaps.. but ofcourse its not healthy.

 

[IJ.]

Yup I sure do have a bore scope. I will also go out and see if I cannot get a good macro shot of the one bit I did find. I can also get a closeup shot of a fin on the wheel if you like.

I begining to suspect that the one bit I did find may not have been the only piece that flew through. If in fact it was the culprit at all. I'm wondering if the bit I found wasn't perhaps a piece of balled up compressor fin, or melted bit of compressor fin. I am going to pull the mani regardless to see if it offers any further clues and just to check it out and such.

Have a close look at the chambers and valves with the scope.

 

[MDCmotorsports]

Thats indeed something larger than a weld bead. Possibly over heating. Did you have any EGT readings?

As for the turbo:

Garrett's ball bearing turbos use a rear "press fit" inside race on the rear ball bearing. Provided that the bearings & shaft haven't seen as much heat as what your pictures say are possible, then you may get away with the following....

-New turbine
-Balance job
-Front seal
-Rear seal

 

[Flateric]

All indications and logs point away from overheating or much possibility of.

Here is a pic of the weld nugget I found stuck in my wastegate. It easily could have been only one of many, however it is the only one I found.

I believe it to be stainless because it is not magnetic, neither is my manifold, I check both.

I have been told that the wheel itself is the only damage to the turbo, no bearing, shaft, seal or front compressor wheel damage. The front compressor side did not collide with the housing at any point either. Oh, and rear housing is completely undamaged also. Litterally just the exhaust wheel show is done and nothing further.

I have been told a few different things as far as cost to repair goes. Even as high as almost the cost of the turbo itself, is this right? Anyone know if the cost to repair a damaged exhaust wheel for a Garrett BB turbo is really only $100 less than buying an outright new one?

That seems insane to me, not even reasonable and if this is the case it makes a very strong argument NOT to get a Garrett BB turbo of any type.

 

[IJ.]

My "understanding" was Garrett only sell complete CHRA's for the BB turbos, this may have changed by now but I haven't head if this is the case so that explains the cost

 

[just90gs]

yeah I would contact Garrett

 

[dumbo]

How did you know this happened? Low boost, or some sort of noise? I take it your running a MAP based computer, or else any serious boost leaks would of been noticed.