If you’re experiencing a turbo failure, you’re definitely not alone. We get a lot of turbocharger cores come through, so we see all different types of failure.
Something we see again and again, though, is carbon buildup.
Carbon buildup can lead to major issues in your diesel engine, not just your turbo. But these issues throughout the engine are often the cause of your turbo failure. If you’re wondering if carbon failure might be the cause of your turbo issue, we’re here to help! We’re going through what causes carbon buildup and how you can prevent it in your diesel engine. How Carbon Buildup Affects Diesel Engines We always diagnose failures when we get a turbo core in. We tear the turbos down every week to understand what failed. We evaluate why they failed so that we can learn as we go forward in the rebuilding process. A lot of times the cores point to the same cause of failure: carbon. What We Find Inside the Turbo Something that we commonly see inside the turbo cores is that they have heavy caking. This means that carbon built up inside of it and prevents proper movement of the turbo’s components. For instance, you might have a nozzle ring that is supposed to move 12mm back and forth. This is a precise motion necessary to maintain the oxygen ratio and back pressures inside the engine. If this is restricted by carbon, this doesn’t function as needed for proper engine performance. How to Address a Carbon Problem When you have carbon buildup in your engine, it’s usually because something in your engine isn’t working properly. It usually ends up causing a turbo failure, though. That means you can’t just replace your turbo and the problem will be fixed. The carbon buildup problem is still there. You’ll need to address the larger issue to actually fix the problem. Otherwise, you’ll have turbo failure after turbo failure due to excess carbon. Who wants to waste money like that? Anti-Polishing Rings If you’re looking for ways to stop carbon buildup, anti-polish rings might be an option for you. While they’re not part of the turbo itself, they can help to stop the carbon building up. Mainly, the goal of an anti-polish ring is to remove carbon buildup from the pistons. You have a ring that protrudes slightly from the interior wall of the piston. This means it will contact the top land of the piston. With this, there should be no space between the piston and the ring. The APR scrapes away the carbon before it becomes a problem. APRs can also help prevent liner polishing that can be a result of carbon buildup. In these situations, carbon can polish liners, or wear down the bore surface finish that is required for the best performance. This is actually why they are called anti-polish rings. Polished liners can cause problems in your engine, including:HHP Can Help! If you’re having problems with carbon buildup or other turbo issues, we can help! Our ASE Certified technicians can answer your diesel engine questions and help you diagnose your problem. We want to make sure you’re getting the parts you need to fix your engine problem. From diagnosis through delivery, we’re Highway & Heavy Parts!
- Increased oil consumption
- DPF regeneration
- Increased oil filter flow
- Problems with VGT actuators
- Clogged oil filters
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