turbo failure at 16200 miles - Page 2 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

hi all, the 997.2 engine might be bullet proof but the turbos aren't !! had a right hand turbo failure on my 2010 turbo cab, only got 16200 miles on it and was told the failure might be due to lack of use ! opc told me also to let the car run at idle for 40 secs or 1 min after every trip to get oil to the turbos. car is out of warranty and it was a very very costly experience

it was news to me, guess people only tell you after the fact !

It's pretty common knowledge to never boot a turbo car (or any car for that matter) from cold, give it a good rev once per trip and to let it cool down for 1-2 mins... Well now you know

Shaoxter said: It's pretty common knowledge to never boot a turbo car (or any car for that matter) from cold, give it a good rev once per trip and to let it cool down for 1-2 mins... Well now you know

lucky63 said: hi all, the 997.2 engine might be bullet proof but the turbos aren't !! had a right hand turbo failure on my 2010 turbo cab, only got 16200 miles on it and was told the failure might be due to lack of use ! opc told me also to let the car run at idle for 40 secs or 1 min after every trip to get oil to the turbos. car is out of warranty and it was a very very costly experience I did 17,000 on mine and the Porsche a Dealer reported my turbos were not properly functioning. He said mine was due to lack of use too (same year as yours and it is a cab). They managed to repair one with a bit of manual work and replace parts from the other but still £1500 bill - with a contribution from Porsche warranty. I think that is disappointing for such miles actually.

have never booted it from cold, always keep revs below 2k until oil normal operating temp, I might write to Porsche uk for some goodwill

They will all fail. If your car is using oil check the intake for oil. Leaking turbo needs to be replaced. Had that on a 997.1 turbo I had a while ago.

Looks like OP needs to change his name

mm450exc said: They will all fail. If your car is using oil check the intake for oil. Leaking turbo needs to be replaced. Had that on a 997.1 turbo I had a while ago. How does one check the intake mate? Where is the intake? Any pics? Mine is a 997.1TT btw. thanks

that's a lame excuse. I would say your mileage is typical for a cab. If I was you, I'd feel very hard done by. My 996tt is a 2004 and has only 20k on it. It did sit about for long periods as it came from a large collection. I've had to tend to a few items for this reason including a turbo wastegate but not the turbo itself. I wonder how common your issue is ?

bing said: How does one check the intake mate? Where is the intake? Any pics? Mine is a 997.1TT btw. thanks Take the Y-Pipe off. http://www.nineexcellence.com/performance/9ETuning...

how costly was it?

lucky63 said: have never booted it from cold, always keep revs below 2k until oil normal operating temp, I might write to Porsche uk for some goodwill Have you had it since new? The previous owner may have ragged it from cold and generally abused it. How many oil changes have you had? Turbo engines kill oil and then it becomes less effective. And of course, many nearly new OPC cars are ex PEC.

mollytherocker said: lucky63 said: have never booted it from cold, always keep revs below 2k until oil normal operating temp, I might write to Porsche uk for some goodwill Have you had it since new? The previous owner may have ragged it from cold and generally abused it. How many oil changes have you had? Turbo engines kill oil and then it becomes less effective. And of course, many nearly new OPC cars are ex PEC. Booted from cold? I thought with turbos more harm was caused to them if you just switched the engine off without letting the engine idle, which starved the turbos of oil as they spun down?

Wozy68 said: Booted from cold? I thought with turbos more harm was caused to them if you just switched the engine off without letting the engine idle, which starved the turbos of oil as they spun down? Yes thats true although modern synthetics have a wider operating window and so its less of an issue than it was. Booting from cold is bad on a turbo as the oil is still 'thick' and the turbo itself is not at its operating temperature, ie, its tight.

Regardless of how it's treated I'd expect a turbo to go for longer than 16k. I'd be hoping to get closer to 80k before I even begin to worry that they may go pop. Unless of course the car has been remapped and the boost upped, if that's the case then all bets are off.

2nd owner, bought it when it was 7 months old with 2k on the clock, have no idea how the 1st owner looked after it. have only had oil changed at the regular service interval. (should it be changed every year ?) cost for the new turbo/water line/pressure line/sensor and labour £4249.88 (they threw in a free valet because I spent so much money !!!)

A free valet? Thats pretty funny.

lucky63 said: it was news to me, guess people only tell you after the fact ! The recommendation to let the engine idle a bit -- 2 minutes I think -- is in the owners manual. The turbo failed at 16K miles. That's a new car failure. Which is not surprising the car is a new car, at least based on miles. I do not know what the warranty is there but in the USA the warranty is 4 years, 50K miles. In my opinion any problem that happens in under the new car warranty miles is a new car problem and had the car been driven more while under warranty this problem would have been dealt with under warranty. A low mile used car is always a bit of a gamble if there is no (extended) warranty. I bought my 2003 Turbo in 2009 with just 10K miles on it. The car came with a CPO warranty, 2 years, 100K miles. The CPO warranty came in damn handy. Among other things it covered a new tranny. The original one developed a leak and was replaced with a new one from the factory.

warranty on a new car in UK is 3 years, did not extend the warranty as I fitted a europipe exhaust 18 months ago. (car first registered june 2010) lets see if Porsche uk can help with some goodwill - watch this space

lucky63 said: warranty on a new car in UK is 3 years, did not extend the warranty as I fitted a europipe exhaust 18 months ago. (car first registered june 2010) lets see if Porsche uk can help with some goodwill - watch this space not a chance if they know you've changed exhaust - wrong as exhaust has nothing to do with turbo seizing

wont mention that in the letter !

That's very, very low. The turbos on mine is still go (touch wood) at 105k. There should be minimal wear to turbos on a standard car maintained well.

as a low useage car should I be doing any extra maintenance on the vehicle other than standard services every 2 years ?

Did both turbos fail? Surely that's got to be lack of use or abuse. In fact abuse in both cases, as others have said it needs to get up to temperature at least every couple of weeks. My low miler GT2 gets taken out every couple of weeks or so unless I've not naturally used it, and when I have a trip e.g. the Cornwall Easter trip I make sure and get reacquiained with all of the RPMs and some proper speed and braking to make sure it's all as it should be... However, in this case both going at the same time would suggest poor servicing but unlikely with mileage so more likely, shutting down when hot. Now the shutting down thing is a problem because if you've been on it hard then stop, all that heat soak in the exhaust will boil and burn the stationary oil in the turbos and leave a little hard burned residue which will block the bearing and I guess abrade it too. Advice I recieved was to just go a bit easy the last couple of miles and then let it idle just for a little while like maybe half a minute before shutting off. What actually failed? Siezed wastegate is a sign of pussying around...

lucky63 said: as a low useage car should I be doing any extra maintenance on the vehicle other than standard services every 2 years ? I know this is going to sound silly but you just need to use the car more. I think many people do not realize the damage they do sometimes by NOT using a car. The main issue from what I have been told over and over again is ALL THE SEALS AND RUBBER need the car to be used regularly to keep them in good shape. As soon as these are left to sit without regular use getting them up to temp and in fluid regularly they start to deform or go brittle from being dry and therefore start to create leaks and issues of all sorts. Happens on low millage diesels all the time. It is daft - no question about it but now you know make sure you do take it out atleast once every couple of weeks if you can and make sure the car gets up to temp and cooled down. Think of that trip as your maintenance. Edited by IATM on Sunday 26th April 18:34

righthand turbo failed, I think it did have a seized wastegate - car gets used 3 times a week but only very short trips of approx. 5 miles or so with 1 longer trip of 20 miles weekly

Ah so turbo fine then just the wastegate. When I got my car both wastegated siezed up or were already but sorted under warranty in my case. Apparently due to not making regular proper use of them by liberal throttle use. Certainly not had that issue in the 8 years since. Didn't need new turbos though just new actuators

lucky63 said: righthand turbo failed, I think it did have a seized wastegate - car gets used 3 times a week but only very short trips of approx. 5 miles or so with 1 longer trip of 20 miles weekly On your long drive, use varying levels of boost and at least full boost it once to make sure nothing seize up. Recommended by Ken at Nine Excellence.

lucky63 said: righthand turbo failed, I think it did have a seized wastegate - car gets used 3 times a week but only very short trips of approx. 5 miles or so with 1 longer trip of 20 miles weekly VTGs do not have wastegates do they? You mean seized actuator rod?

not 100pct sure, technician got car up on ramp and tried to push something next to the turbo but said it had seized, I assumed it was the wastegate

lucky63 said: not 100pct sure, technician got car up on ramp and tried to push something next to the turbo but said it had seized, I assumed it was the wastegate Sounds like the actuator. Mine had the same problem due to low use. Chester OPC applied a liberal dose of some specially ordered grease to free it up, considerably cheaper than the replacement actuator (but under warranty anyway), and told me to drive it more often :-) Worth a try asking them about this, I've not had a problem since.