Epic turbo thrust damage

[GSRWRC]

Hey guys, finally took some pics of the thrust collar/plate from a turbo I pulled apart a few months back. Symptoms were "Turbo started to smoke heaps". After pulling ti apart I came across the worst thrust wear I have ever seen.

So Pics:

Below is the damaged thrust (top) vs a near new Evo X thrust collar/plate (bottom). You'll notice the thrust collar itself is cracked.

Popping the collars off the plate reveals the extent of the wear.

and back in, you can see how much the worn plate allows the collar to sit "in". This will cause 1-2mm of in/out play which in turn signals complete death for this particular turbo.

Sadly nothing was salvageable from this unit. The play caused bot the turbine and compressor to connect with their respective housings and damage them beyond use. This also caused wear to the bearing housing itself rendering it unuseable as the rear piston ring/oil seal will allow oil past and cause it to smoke, even if new stuff is put in. The compressor housing had deep grooves in it and would only be usefull if I decided to have it machined out to suit a larger compressor. The turbine housing itself could also be recued with a quick tidyup on a lathe, but not worth the effort as it was only a cast Iron Evo I jobbie.

 

[dj_konix]

was this with the td06? what boost were you running regularly?

 

[GSRWRC]

was this with the td06? what boost were you running regularly?

No this was a TD05 that I bought to rebuild. Anything I build for myself uses upgraded thrusts like so:

Notice the larger thrust collar and extra machining in the thrust plate for the twin oiling holes.

Side by side comparison of stock vs enlarged thrust collar.

And in this pic you can see the twin oiling holes. This provides better lubrication for the thrust collar. Notice how small these holes are, highlights why we change our oil/filters so frequently (~ every 5,000kms), wouldn't take much for these holes to be blocked.

 

[EVO-00X]

:blink: fark me thats some decent wear! I bet it was blowing a lot of smoke and making all sorts of noises with the play in it :lol:
Did you manage to clean out the inside the intercooler for bits of metal from the compressor? maybe even remove and empty your cat converter from bits of the turbine wheel as well :unsure:
Was this from one of your cars Jarred? any reason why you dont opt for a full ball bearing turbo setup?

 

[GSRWRC]

:blink: fark me thats some decent wear! I bet it was blowing a lot of smoke and making all sorts of noises with the play in it :lol:
Did you manage to clean out the inside the intercooler for bits of metal from the compressor? maybe even remove and empty your cat converter from bits of the turbine wheel as well :unsure:
Was this from one of your cars Jarred? any reason why you dont opt for a full ball bearing turbo setup?

Nah this was a turbo I bought for $50 to rebuild. The compressor and turbine weren't badly damaged, had just touched down on their respective housings. Enough to render them as paperweights sadly.

Now that I'm down to the one car (Mirage project now shelved), with only modest power gains and budget build planned, I don't see the point in the added expense in going for an aftermarket ballbearing jobbie. Plus I'd like to keep the simplicity of the stock frame turbo, less expensive if it gets damaged and I can fix it myself if need be.