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Turbocharger is a compressor that compresses air, forcing more air into the engine’s combustion chamber to create more power. It operates under high temperature and high rpm, therefore if any foreign object enters the turbocharger, the turbocharger would be damaged. Signs of damaged turbo include noises from the turbo (when operating) and loss of performance. Examine the turbine, compressor, or bearing housing for foreign objects, this will cause the rotating wheels and/or shaft to be impacted. Make sure to check carefully as in severe cases fragmentation of internal components under very high rpm will cause irreversible damage to the engine,...

When driving a turbocharged engine vehicle and you encounter boost issues, here are a few things that you should examine first before concluding it to be turbo’s failure. Often times you would find the turbo to be fine which have wasted your time and effort in disassembling the turbocharger. First check your intake piping see if there’s any leakage that causes low boost pressure, this normally happens especially with the connections with the intercooler because of the pressure differences and bent pipes. When part of the piping loosens or damages it will cause black smoke from the exhaust pipe. It...

Often times we have customers ask us about turbo shaft play, certain shaft play is totally normal on journal bearing turbos while some excessive play should be considered as a failed turbo. This does not apply on ball bearing turbos as ball bearing turbos do not have shaft plays. For a new journal bearing turbocharger, a little side to side play is perfectly normal as the space between the shaft and bushing would be taken up by oil pressure during turbo operation. However, a brand-new journal bearing turbocharger should have zero forward and back (from compressor end to turbine end)...

Among the various compressor wheel options, if you find it hard to choose, let’s talk about their differences today. We will focus on cast wheel, flank milled wheel, and point milled wheel. The earlier generation turbochargers use casting wheels. By its name, you may notice that they are casted (pour casting), but do you know characteristics of a casted wheel? In general, casting parts tend to have air bubbles during the production procedure, and air bubbles effect its durability, therefore gradually, billet wheels are introduced. Billet wheels are forged wheels, they are machined from a solid piece, therefore they have...

Turbine housing is one of the essential parts on a turbocharger. If you have a difficulty choosing the “right” sized turbine housing, here’s a brief introduction and guideline for you. Before we start, let’s cover some basics. A turbocharger has two sections, turbine housing is on the hot side. Exhaust gasses flow from the engine into the turbine housing inlet, through the passage causing the wheel assembly to spin; therefore it must be able to endure high temperature. Usually a certain percentage of Inconel is added to its composition to ensure its durability, percentage varies according to engine bay configuration....