I replaced my turbo yesterday... pretty scary story!!!!

Jay ne Ohio · **Joined:** Sun Dec 12, 2010 5:49 pm **Posts:** 216

The turbo on my Gold CRD went out on Sunday when I was 100 miles from home. It started making a whistling sound back in June (4 months ago), but I decided to keep running it. There were no other signs of imminent failure (did not use any oil, fuel economy was unchanged, no loss of power). I pulled the hose off in June to check for play and did not detect any significant play in the shaft.

I was on the highway when it failed and drove it to the next exit (about 1/2 a mile). There was a huge cloud of smoke whenever I gave it any throttle, but I limped it to a parking lot. My dad brought a trailer and I drove it on. Pulled it into my shop when I got home and drained the oil. There was only a quart left in the pan!!!! I pulled the turbo (about 2 hour job). I then pulled the turbo out of my Red CRD (I still have not found the problem with it,,, thinking it has a bad lifter or plugged oil passage to the lifter). The second one went faster (about 1.5 hour). I then installed the used turbo in the Gold CRD. I put new oil in the pan and a new filter. Did a quick lookover, and everything seemed to be in order.

Here is where the fun begins! I started the engine and let it idle while the oil pressure came up. It seemed to be running fine. I let it idle for a couple minutes while the oil warmed up. I then gave it a little throttle (2000 rpm) and it sounded great. So I gave it more throttle (about 3000 rpm). I sounded great for a second and then suddenly went to 4000 rpm. I instantly removed my foot from the throttle. And then it went to 5000 rpm ( I am guessing on the rpm)..... I quickly turned the key off. The engine continued to race as my shop filled with black smoke. It ran like mad for at least 30 seconds and then finally came to a stop.

I went to the house and ate lunch while the smoke cleared. Later I went to see what was left of my Jeep. Surprisingly, there were no puddles of oil or holes in the side of the block. There was a black stain on the concrete where the tailpipe turns down. The oil level in the pan was still on the full mark.

I figure that the intercooler was full of oil and when I gave it some throttle, it started sucking that oil right into the intake. Turning the key off probably saved the engine from going past the point of no return (limited the "fuel" to just the oil in the intercooler).

I pushed the Jeep out of the shop and fired up the engine again. It ran fine until I gave it some throttle. The rpm's danced around the red line again, but soon it smoothed out. I let it run for a few minutes while I varied the throttle. A little smokey, but no too bad. I decided to take it around the block to see if I could use up the rest of the oil in the intercooler. By the time I got back, it had quit smoking and seems to be running normal.

So the lesson here: if you have turbo failure, don't forget to clean the oil out of the intercooler.

ChooChooman74 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 12:25 pm

WOW!!! I think I would be crapping myself. I don't think I could have eaten lunch myself after that happened.

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 12:36 pm

I once owned a beat up 89 VW Jetta Diesel that ran away on the interstate. It did not have a turbo but the crank case breaths right into the air cleaner. One second all was well and the next it started smoking and banging like mad. Being standard shift I just put on the brakes and pulled over. It restarted and ran fine, I was sure it was going to be a goner :JEEPIN:

Yes, diesel engines run very well on used motor oil :dead:

painemann · **Joined:** Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:02 pm **Posts:** 607

Ya I wouldn't have been able to eat after that!!!
Awesome that its ok!

Question:
How much extra turbo whistle are you talking about?
I can her some whistle from my turbo, mostly when on highway and let off the throttle. I always thought it was normal, how much is too much?? I would hate to loose the turbo!

papaindigo · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 3:40 pm

I see geordi has not weighed in so I will. Take home message from the beginning of this string - when turbo goes as in you are being followed by a huge cloud of smoke stop driving like right NOW don't drive to the next exit or whatever; put tranny in neutral, switch key off, coast to side of road and call tow truck. As you can see from the chain of events 1/2 mile of driving pumped out 85% of the engine oil and undoubtably starved or nearly starved lubrication to #1 piston crank. Both are extremely bad things although the OP may have gotten extremely luck.

Good to point out that a failed turbo can pump the intercooler full of oil and result in a later runaway engine on restart with a "new" turbo. Probably would be good to post that as a warning on the TECH side.

Turbo whistle. How much you can hear is going to be directly dependent on how well you can hear high pitched noises which varies a lot between individuals. FYI I can hear mine, barely, during initial warm up but not at all afterwards. Take home from my perspective is that if you hear it more than normal best check for issues. First 2 issues I'd check is the airbox to turbo hose for the common tear on the bottom just in front of the turbo which can make normal turbo sound loud and while in there check the shaft for play (slight fore/aft ok - barely perceptable side to side ok - any more of either it's turbo replacement time IMHO).

Turbo Tim · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 6:26 pm

Hmmm, I guess this rules out the ACV or FCV (Air Control Valve) from keeping the engine from running away like other here have stated. After hearing this story there is no need to keep it or the EGR if you have a SEGR installed.

I have always wondered, but now we know.

CATCRD · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:09 pm

Turbo Tim wrote:

Hmmm, I guess this rules out the ACV or FCV (Air Control Valve) from keeping the engine from running away like other here have stated. After hearing this story there is no need to keep it or the EGR if you have a SEGR installed.

I have always wondered, but now we know.

It's up for debate whether his FCV is even functioning or not. Many are locked in the open position due to stripped gears and the owner probably doesn't even know it.

MrMopar64 · **Posted:** Tue Oct 30, 2012 8:21 pm

Just to quell any questions, the throttle valve was never designed for stopping a runaway engine.
You need it just to be able to recirculate higher amounts of EGR and for improving the shutdown of the engine (to make it slightly more smooth).

Jay ne Ohio · **Joined:** Sun Dec 12, 2010 5:49 pm **Posts:** 216

On this Jeep, I have always had the MAF sensor plugged in and the FCV is functioning. The FCV only closes for a few seconds on shutdown (maybe 5 seconds at the most). I think there was probably enough oil being sucked into the manifold to keep the engine running for 5 seconds while the FCV was closed. The FCV then re-opened after the five second time period and the rest of the oil was sucked out of the intercooler.

Need to install one of these air shut offs like they use on pulling tractors/trucks:

dennhop · **Posted:** Wed Oct 31, 2012 11:42 am

One thing I've done, when doing work on any of my or my buddies CTD's, where we're worried about runaway, is keep a 2x6 nearby, and disconnect the hoses off the front of the turbo. On an initial startup, I'm not that worried about dirt getting in, and I'd rather have the intake hose off, so I can choke the turbo if I need to. Just a thought-I'd assume it would work just the same on the Liberty as it does on the bigger trucks.

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Wed Oct 31, 2012 1:15 pm

I too experienced runaway.......the first time I ever started my CRD up.

My CRD was a rollover, so plenty of oil left the engine and ran into the air filter, intercooler, etc etc......I made sure the oil was filled properly, removed the nasty oil filter, bleed the air from the fuel system(all air, it sucked air when it rolled on its top) thinking I was good to go.

So I go to start it up, after a little bit of cranking it fires up and proceeds to rev WAY THE shame on UP! I just shut it off and luckily it died right away. I cleaned the MAP.....very oily, and then cranked it again, started up and run fine after than. I think it was sucking in some oil that had run around into the intake and it went runaway, and at the time I had a properly functioning FCV so it worked during shutdown to kill the engine.

Fun stuff.

I replaced my turbo yesterday... pretty scary story!!!!

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