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Has anyone broken a compressor wheel before?

Lithium

By Lithium,
in Engines & Forced Induction

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Lithium Grand Master

Lithium

Posted
Posted

I've finally sorted out a new turbo for my car so pulled off the stock turbo off my R33 Spec2 which crapped out at the drags a couple of months back - and pulled it apart to find out what the damage was. Turns out that there is a bit missing from the nylon compressor wheel!!!

This isn't something I've heard of, and I'm not too sure what could have caused it - I always run it with a filter. Anyone seen this before? Should I be concerned about where the nylon went? (The ballbearing core is stuffed too...)

Cameron_Datto Contributor

Cameron_Datto

Posted
Posted

I have same Turbo and My Turbo had the same things happen as yours ,, piece missing on the Plastic Compressor wheel .. ALso Turbine SHAFT where the BAll BEARINGS run on had excessive wear on about 180deg of ball bearing running contact face on both bearings BUT the other 180deg of the bearing contact was normal this would make the turbine shaft to run off center when it rotated ,due to the Egg shaped wear on the shaft

.. Just before the Ceramic Wheel let go ,, there was excessive oil smoke from the exhaust .. also it idled higher i guess it was from the pieces of the compressor wheel jamming throttle body ,, when i started to boost it was noisey from the Turbo and then no boost..the CERAMIC wheel said BYE BYE .. Just before this all happen i have driven the car HARD the previous time i used it .. And i thought what may have caused it was that the oil was to thin and broke down under the high temps causing the bearings to wear .. and put it out of balance which caused the compressor wheel to brake .. which made the balance worse causing the seal to leak .. then the ceramic wheel lets go ..

if any one has other ideas on what happened let me know .. as i havent got a reason for the Oval shaped bearing wear on the turbine shaft .. which i recon is the start of the problem .... DID YOUR Ceramic Wheel let go ? Cheers Cam

Lithium Grand Master

Lithium

Posted
  • Author
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Some of that sounds similar - I get a click when rotating the wheels, but the ceramic exhaust wheel is perfectly in tact. I shut the car off as soon as I heard dodgey noises from the bearings, and the only time it has moved again was to drive it on the trailer to tow home. When it was idling on the trailer it sounded perfectly normal.... I'm kind of worried about where the nylon may have got though.

Has your engine sustained any damage?

Cameron_Datto Contributor

Cameron_Datto

Posted
Posted

i Dont believe its any thing to do with the air filter ..because of where the compressor wheel brakes .. most of the chunky bits would end up in the intercooler inlet side while the finner bits would filter though that .. so the internal damage of the engine would be minimal ,, Due to being Nylon .. BUT if you dont clean out you intercooler you might have problems ..

Lithium Grand Master

Lithium

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Now that I think about it, I think I know what happened to the broken piece of compressor - we were sure we heard something drop out when we removed the piping which comes off the compressor and heads towards the intercooler, but couldn't work out what it would be. There is probably a piece of compressor wheel lying on the floor in my garage somewhere :rofl:

It was only later when we pulled the turbo apart that we realised what had happened inside.

Also, just out of interest - the turbo otherwise appears perfectly healthy. The amount of shaft play is normal for a healthy turbo, and there was NO smoke.

r33gtst196 Contributor

r33gtst196

Posted
Posted
I have same Turbo and My Turbo had the same things happen as yours ,, piece missing on the Plastic Compressor wheel  .. ALso  Turbine  SHAFT where the BAll BEARINGS  run on had excessive wear on about 180deg of ball bearing running contact face  on both bearings BUT the other 180deg of the bearing contact was normal   this would make the turbine shaft to run off center when it rotated ,due to the Egg shaped wear on the shaft  

..     Just before the Ceramic Wheel  let go ,, there was  excessive oil smoke from the exhaust ..  also it idled higher i guess it was from the pieces of the compressor wheel jamming throttle body ,, when i started to boost it was noisey from the Turbo  and then no boost..the CERAMIC  wheel said BYE BYE ..      Just before this all happen i have driven the car HARD the previous  time i used it ..     And i thought what may have caused it was that  the oil was to thin and broke down under the high temps causing the bearings to wear ..   and put it out of balance which caused  the compressor wheel to brake  .. which made the balance worse causing the seal to leak    .. then the ceramic wheel lets go ..

 if any one has other ideas on what happened  let me know ..  as i havent got a reason for the Oval shaped bearing  wear on the turbine shaft .. which i recon is the start of the problem  .... DID YOUR Ceramic Wheel let go ?    Cheers Cam

What boost were you running when ya did this

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