Turbo shaft snapped in half

[heliolps2]

I was driving along when some youngsters pulled up an WRX STi , Great here we go..he he he I nail it ... I pulled away.... nice but then clank.. wtf , I thought i bent the valves, but when I turned the engine off something was still rattling for a few seconds afterwords, then i realized it was the turbo, When took the turbo out and apart the shaft was broken in half , why would this happen ? can some shed some light on this ? I have sense replaced the cartridge with a new one,

[mark houghton]

Wow, never heard of that happening. Flaw/stress crack in the shaft??? How does the turbin wheel look....did it suck something up and slam into the wheel?

Got me on this one. Brian B. most likely can shed some light on possibilities.

[heliolps2]

the wheel on the cool side was chewed up, don't know how, every thing was tight

[quattrorunner]

I feel your pain. My bearing$ let go and ruined my gt30r chra.
Through no fault of the turbo, I must have left a tiny object inside the up pipe and it went back into the compressor wheel nicking it. At high speeds, tiny nicks make out of balance problems as you probably know. My fault.

[JFairman]

how is your blow off valve working?

[heliolps2]

i probably should lube it up and make sure working freely , it uses a red grease,

[JFairman]

If the blow off valve isn't opening when you let off the gas quickly under full boost acceleration between upshifts the compressor surge pushes the compressor wheel against the thrust bearing hard and tries to reverse the direction the turbo is spinning.
That could cause the shaft to break.

[oilonly]

Originally Posted by JFairman

If the blow off valve isn't opening when you let off the gas quickly under full boost acceleration between upshifts the compressor surge pushes the compressor wheel against the thrust bearing hard and tries to reverse the direction the turbo is spinning.
That could cause the shaft to break.

Yikes, i'm gonna adjust mine a smidge softer after reading that.

[Tippy]

Quote de JFairman

If the blow off valve isn't opening when you let off the gas quickly under full boost acceleration between upshifts the compressor surge pushes the compressor wheel against the thrust bearing hard and tries to reverse the direction the turbo is spinning.

That could cause the shaft to break.

Yikes, i'm gonna adjust mine a smidge softer after reading that.

If it doesn't make a "chi-chi-chi" sound after letting off under boost, you're fine.

[Speedy Squirrel]

I would guess, and it is just a guess without some pics, is that an object went into your compressor wheel. Be sure to look in the intercooler for junk, or your new turbo might meet the same fate as this one.

[Tippy]

What kind of turbo? Did I miss it?

[heliolps2]

The turbo is an turbonetics / Garett hybrid dual scroll t3/t4 60-1 , 0 trim , 84AR , old school

[Tippy]

I have the same turbo lying around, unfortunately the bearings are shot and the wheels have kissed the housings on both ends.

The turbine shaft is salvageable.

[Tippy]

60-1's hit hard!!!

[heliolps2]

Tippy , I'm in San Antonio did you want donate your old turbo, I plan being Austin on the 4th of March

[Tippy]

I just reread. You are a T3, mines a T4 "P" trim. 64mm exducer essentially.

No worky.

I think the CHRA's are different for T3's and T4's?

[RarlyL8]

I think you got off lucky Helio. It would appear that something on the cold side went through the blades. It takes just a tiny piece of rock or metal to lodge between the turbine wheel and housing for a split second to pop the shaft. The blades can explode at that point if spinning fast enough when hitting the housing. I would inspect everything from the air meter assembly to the down pipe before putting on a new turbo.

[JFairman]

I just looked at your list of modifications and it looks like you have CIS and it's set up about as good as it gets. You even have 7.5:1 compression ratio which I think would be all around better than stock 7:1 for driving on the street.
Anyway, with CIS and it's convoluted intake air plumbing and airflow meter back there near the firewall I don't see how any solid objects could get into the turbo intake and destroy the compressor wheel unless you were running with no air filter and tossing stones at the air sensor plate.

I've heard the chirping sound when there is no blow off valve opening right when closing the throttle under full boost in EFI motors. With CIS I don't know if the CIS airflow meter housing would muffle it too much to hear it over a loud exhaust.
I think you would have still heard it and I don't know if you have an after market BOV venting to atmosphere.
Your hybrid turbo may have been defective too.
Good luck with it. Those things are expensive.

Light weight faster spooling ceramic compressor wheels are coming and when they suck in something hard they shatter and blow to pieces.

[BeeMaster]

I have seen more than one turbo fail like that (not on my car on big trucks) so you are not alone. Good luck with finding a new turbo.

[T77911S]

someone just posted a k27 7006 for sale