3rd New Turbo in a Week

Randomswinger

Last week I had the turbo and air regulator replaced in my Alfa Rome GT JTD having been advised oil was leaking into it

On Wednesday I was driving to work and the turbo failed at 100 KPH. I took it straight to the dealer and he advised the new turbo had seized and would need to be replaced. Obviously this was under warranty

He called me yesterday to advise the latest turbo was installed however it was whining and would need to be replaced again. He's putting it down to a "faulty batch" and has said there is nothing else wrong with the car at all

Is this likely or could there be something more serious wrong

peasant

He could be installing them wrong. Some turbos need to be primed with oil on install or they will fail pretty much straight away.

Atomic Pineapple

As Peasant said it I would be suspicous that the turbo is not being installed correctly

500sel

sounds like a oil supply problem to the turbo. Faulty batch my ass.:rolleyes:

-Corkie-

Faulty or not thats an expensive hobby replacing them boy!!!! ur lucky its covered with warranty:)

JJJJNR

Its an Alpha do you think they dont do faulty batches or something.

ALFA

500sel

Alfa dont make the turbos, its most likely a garret turbo and no they dont make faulty batches as each turbo is qc checked

Redsoxfan

Is it a new car?
Are you dealing with an Alfa dealer (do you want to say who?)
Might be worth brining it to Gerry Campbell for a 2nd opinion (if you are near Dublin, or The Sweep in Waterford if you are further south)

mondeo

He is making a balls of the installation as others have already pointed out..

Kriter

Randomswinger wrote: »

Last week I had the turbo and air regulator replaced in my Alfa Rome GT JTD having been advised oil was leaking into it

On Wednesday I was driving to work and the turbo failed at 100 KPH. I took it straight to the dealer and he advised the new turbo had seized and would need to be replaced. Obviously this was under warranty

He called me yesterday to advise the latest turbo was installed however it was whining and would need to be replaced again. He's putting it down to a "faulty batch" and has said there is nothing else wrong with the car at all

Is this likely or could there be something more serious wrong

I found your post while looking for someone with a similar problem as mine. My 2004 alfa 147 jtd 140 is doing exacly same. I'm a professional mechanic.
I bought this car with a faulty turbo, it failed after a very short time since it was fitted. Ok, i thought, someone didn't clean out the air intake when changing turbo, maybe it was a faulty unit, I took it off, found turbine end nut in the turbo air intake and turbine shaft damaged and broken in half, and shaft housing discoloured from very high temp, and oil feed pipe for turbo kinked. I was thinking - I found the cause...
I was wrong.
I took it to Drive Shaft Services in Dublin, and obviously it was damaged beyond repair. So I spent almost e900 on new garrett Turbo, and I thought, I fit it myself and make sure I do it properly. I cleaned air intake hoses, from turbo to manifold including the intercooler, I replaced the air filter, which looked like factory unit, replaced kinked oil supply hose, I primed the turbo with oil, chaged engine oil and off I went. After about an hour of careful driving, I took her to the motorway, after roughly 4 miles of driving, not exceeding speed limit, I felt her losing power, stopped and horrified checked the turbo, It was making loud whining noises when revved.
Now Im sitting home and can't stop thinking, what went wrong???

Please let me know if you fixed the problem in your GT? maybe there's something that I missed?

DirkVoodoo

I feel your pain. My GT JTD had the turbo replaced at around 40,000 miles I think (thankfully before I bought it) but now the lower turbo hose has split. Love that car but it's expensive to run!

Mind me asking who your dealer is? I've been on the lookout for a decent Alfa specialist close enough to me and all I can think of are Alasta Autos.

Kriter

No, I bought the car as is at a small car dealer in Monasterevin, I generally don't trust any of the car garages. Car mechanics in Ireland are being paid very small money, and usually, you don't know, who will be fixing your car. I have very bad experiences with different garages and although I dont particularly enjoy working on my own car, I have to do it. The money is another factor.

gofaster_s13

Did you check the oil return pipe, I've often seen these carboning up also drop the sump and clean it out and the the oil pickup strainer, if the turbo failed it could have let small pieces of metal filing's from where the turbo was rubbing the housing into the oil.

gibbon75

+1 on what gofaster S13 said above
I would clean the oilcooler as well (if the Alfa has one).

500sel

500sel wrote: »

Alfa dont make the turbos, its most likely a garret turbo and no they dont make faulty batches as each turbo is qc checked

Having worked as a quality engineer I can safely say that unfortunately sh1t happens

Kriter

I'll remove the turbo tomorrow and take it to the shop, where I bought it, they rebuild turbos, so, they should tell me what went wrong,
As for your advice. I will take down the sump this time and clean it, and flush the engine, and check the oil return passage in the block. If the turbo cant be rebuilt, I will have to opt for a second hand unit this time. Cant afford spending another 900 euros