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Had left the car in the garage for alternator related issue and ended up diagnosing that the harmonic balancer had failed and not the alternator. Electrical systems working fine post the change to a new harmonic balancer and serp belt.
During this, the mechanic informed me that the hose connecting the air filter to turbo was damaged and they replaced with another hose cut to length and secured with hose clamps. Upon checking the internals of the inlet side of the turbo using an autel borescope, mechanic found the impeller was damaged as attached.
This is strange as i had never felt any loss of power before i took the car to garage barring minor oil stains on the inlet side.
Am i correct in assuming this is a foriegn object damage that happened during the time in garage? or could this have happend over time due to excess heat due inadequate cooling of the engine prior due to failing harmonic balancer?
The car is giivng me around 70% boost with minor whinning sound intermittently when i push the gas hard. Is it safe to drive the car as is?
Wonder where the broken fragments could have been lodged?
Difficult to speculate on what caused the damage as I've never run across anything which looks like that. But I can speculate on what could happen next. Turbochargers spin at insanely high RPMs and need to be precisely balanced, plus they rely on differential pressure to both keep the rotating assembly centered fore & aft and keep the oil from leaking out of the center section into compressor and turbine housings. But its clear that it's no longer balanced and can't be run much longer like that. I'd speculate that you risk a more catastrophic failure, such as the imbalance developing into larger and larger end shaft play until the impeller makes contact with the compressor housing, sending more little metal fragments into the intake, or disintegrating completely and sending much larger chunks through the intake or maybe dumping a bunch of raw oil into the very expensive catalytic converter. You need to get that turbo rebuilt or replaced right away before you drive it any further and incur even more expensive repairs.
Difficult to speculate on what caused the damage as I've never run across anything which looks like that. But I can speculate on what could happen next. Turbochargers spin at insanely high RPMs and need to be precisely balanced, plus they rely on differential pressure to both keep the rotating assembly centered fore & aft and keep the oil from leaking out of the center section into compressor and turbine housings. But its clear that it's no longer balanced and can't be run much longer like that. I'd speculate that you risk a more catastrophic failure, such as the imbalance developing into larger and larger end shaft play until the impeller makes contact with the compressor housing, sending more little metal fragments into the intake, or disintegrating completely and sending much larger chunks through the intake or maybe dumping a bunch of raw oil into the very expensive catalytic converter. You need to get that turbo rebuilt or replaced right away before you drive it any further and incur even more expensive repairs.
Noted and thanks for the suggestion.This was a previously repaired turbo. Am exploring the option of change.
New turbos
Borg Warner: 925 USD
Victor: 650 USD
Used from junkyard: 275 USD
Damaged Impeller in Turbo
