Cool thanks Nick, I would like to hear about the little details.

 

I hope that turbo works out well for you Chris.

 

Well I took the turbo apart to inspect it further and here is what I found.










Turbine wheel is all chewed up. It's not from heat, it's obvious something went through the exhaust side. There are 2 fins that are missing a bigger chunk and you can also see where the factory ground it down for balancing in the same area of the missing big chunks. I'm thinking it weakened one of those fins and it broke away then took out the rest.

The truck runs fine, never noticed a change until the lower boost and smoke. Pyro probe is still in tact as well. Well at least I know what actually took out the turbo now, turbine wheel got out of balance and took the rest out. If its not one thing it's another lol.

 

That sucks Chris

 

That is ugly for sure Chris.

 

Ya it's not what I was wanting to see. About had a heart attack when I took the exhaust housing off.

I forgot to mention the thrust bearing looked fine, so this turbo probably would have lasted a long time if not for the turbine wheel.

 

That's terrible Chris!

 

Wow. I have not seen anything like that before. Thanks for the pictures of the damage. At least you know how to move forward after finding this.

 

Is that a Chinese/Foreign WW2?

I've heard that most of the "fancy" billet upgrade wheels are coming out of: KTS Turbo Billet X and they are subsequently repackaged by the companies distributing them, as their own.

The thought of it was enough to keep me from ever trying a wicked wheel. I know how the foreign quality control it most of the time, and a precision turbo area is not where I want to take a chance on that.

I'm am curious though in your case. Was the poor QC and perhaps balancing (via grinding) the cause of your bearings going out and then letting the shaft eat the housing, or the bearings went out because they were old and turbo needed a rebuild, or the design put more stress on the shaft and a combination of things caused it.

I'm not a CNC guy, but I suspect that grinding isn't the best way to balance a wheel? If it is cut correct from the billet, shouldn't it be trouble free, and balanced?

I think I had seen a couple of more posts about wheel issues like this. I initially thought it may have been old turbos that people were running harder, or incorrect installation. But with the times I've seen this happening, I'm wondering if it isn't the wheels themselves. It would sure be good to get an idea of brand having the issues, to perhaps track down any QC issues associated with it.

 

The wheel in the pics that is all chewed up is the exhaust turbine wheel. They are one piece with the shaft and non-replaceable. The turbo was a brand new Borg Warner TP38 about 10k miles ago.

It is common practice for the manufacturers to grind down the "nut" area on the turbine wheel to balance it but I have not seen that done on the fin area before.

The compressor wheel is on the intake side of the turbo and is replaceable separately. I had the Riffraff wheel which is NOT the same as the WickedWheel2 from DieselSite. I don't believe the Riffraff wheel gave me any problems and I liked it.

The turbo was balanced fine but I believe one or more of the turbine wheel fins were weakened and broke away causing the damage and subsequently putting it out of balance. If not for that, I think this turbo would have lasted a long time.

 

Yeah I know about the compressor wheel, I just thought you referenced it being ground on, not turbine side which is normal.

Did you verify balance after you installed the new compressor wheel? Was the wheel changed with an impact wrench, or hand wrench?

Here is an interesting read showing some of the differences between genuine garrett and knockoff. Beware Before You Buy

 

I have no idea how to do this, so I have to ask. How do you verify balance, either before or after installation?

 

I didn't. But balance wasn't an issue until the turbine wheel went into pieces. The faulty factory turbine wheel was the cause of all the problems.

Edit. The compressor wheel was not installed or removed with a impact wrench, it was hand done.

 

Turbo Balancing Facts

 

Just to clarify. The turbine wheel is the wheel in the exhaust housing. The compressor wheel is the wheel in the intake side of the turbo.

The chewed up wheel in the last photos I posted is the turbine wheel. What happened to it has nothing to do with balance.