It has been proven over and over and over again, that the primary cause of turbo failure is NOT manufacturing defects, but instead is in fact 3 often overlooked, yet significant root causes that contribute to your turbo prematurely giving up the ghost.
The three turbo killers
Repair shops consistently report that about 99% of turbo failures are brought about by one or more of these three issues –
- Oil contamination
- Oil starvation
- Foreign object damage
And of these three culprits, more than 90% of failures are caused directly from less-than-ideal lubrication factors – oil starvation and/or oil contamination.
Oil Contamination
Diesel engines – Used diesel engine oil is readily identified. It’s black! It’s black because soot produced by incomplete combustion of diesel fuel contaminates the engine oil. This soot can also be evident as black smoke coming out of the exhaust. The soot and other combustion by-products that get past the piston rings and enter the crankcase and mix with the engine oil is a result of engine “blow-by”. The amount of soot entering the oil depends on numerous factors, including temperature, operating condition, engine condition, load, RPM’s, altitude, etc. However, all things being equal, the amount of blow-by controls the rate of destructive soot entering the oil.
Gasoline engines – the engine oil usually doesn’t get as jet black as used diesel engine oil, though it certainly is a very dark brown, almost black. A good way to check is to rub a little oil between your fingers. If it darkens your skin or you can feel fine grit, it’s got soot and other contaminants in it.
These contaminants congeal and form engine destroying sludge. The same things that cause sludge build up in diesel engines also cause sludge in gasoline engines.
Well, that’s how it gets there, but what causes the problem?
If combustion was 100% efficient, engine oil would not turn black with soot, and no black smoke could be measured.
It remains the case that combustion efficiency is a misnomer, as it is never completely efficient.
For numerous reasons, including fuel performance level, engine design, engine condition, etc., 100% efficiency is never achieved. The problem is that soot is an abrasive, similar to fine sand, but on a smaller scale. Between two sliding surfaces (e.g. piston ring and liner, or bearing and journal), the presence of soot can create abrasive wear if it bridges the minimum lubricating oil film thickness and interferes with the metal-to metal clearance. The more soot, the greater the potential for severe abrasive wear, which significantly reduces the effective life of the engine. Huge repair or replacement costs become imminent.
Oil Starvation
This catastrophic situation arises when the oil feed lines and orifices from the engine lubricating system become restricted or entirely blocked by dense, sludgy contaminants in the lubricating oil that have been building up for possibly years.
But where does this sludge come from? Some of it comes from engine component wear particles, but by far the majority of engine destroying sludge is produced by soot build up in the engine oil. This soot is a by-product of incomplete and inefficient combustion of the fuel. As mentioned, soot produced during the combustion process is forced past the piston rings and into the oil pan. When there, it mixes in with the oil and over time coagulates into dangerous masses throughout the entire engine lubricating system.
Turbocharger oil feed lines are a prime target for sludge build up as it doesn’t take a great deal of sludge to completely restrict oil flow to the critical shaft bearings of the turbo. Considering that modern turbochargers can rotate at up to 350,000 RPM, it is easy to understand that if these bearings are deprived of essential lubrication, they are quickly destroyed. Goodbye turbocharger! Sometimes even goodbye valves, heads or pistons. Hello huge repair costs in all its forms.
But shouldn’t oil filters trap the soot?
Soot particulates produced from internal combustion engines in good condition, using commercially available fuels are approximately 1.0 micron in diameter. Engines in not-so-good condition produce soot particles much larger. To give perspective to that, the average cross-section of a human hair is 50 microns.
The micron rating of a typical engine oil filter is between 25 and 30 microns. A micron rating indicates the size of the particles that the filter can remove and retain. For example, a filter with a 25-micron rating can remove particles that are 25 microns or larger.
In fairness, that’s impressive. However, it is not enough to capture the average soot particle. The average, abrasive soot particles continue to circulate within the engine’s lubrication system, and eventually create catastrophic conditions that will almost always certainly destroy not only the turbo, but also increase the risk of crippling engine failure.
How to pro-actively remediate premature turbo failure
FTC Decarbonizer acts as a true fuel catalyst when added to fuel, both diesel and gasoline. It modifies the chemistry of the fuel combustion process to completely burn significantly more of the available fuel. The realized result of this is at least two-fold;
- Much less soot is produced during each combustion cycle
- Significantly smaller soot particulates are produced
When FTC Decarbonizer is added to fuel, the resultant size of soot particles created during the combustion process is reduced from the average 1.0 micron to 0.2 micron!
The beneficial effect of these 2 fundamental yet crucial elements of using FTC Decarbonizer in fuel is it leads to substantial reductions in abrasive wear caused by badly contaminated oil, as well as oil starvation issues caused by sludge build up in the lubricating system. And this has been confirmed repeatedly.
It has been proven over decades that a fundamental method of reducing turbo failures and ultimately, premature engine failure, is to pro-actively introduce the ultimate fuel catalyst, FTC Decarbonizer into the fuel system. This procedure greatly improves combustion efficiency and reduces soot particle size and quantity.
Suitable for all gasoline and diesel engines of all sizes and types.
Finish the job right…
Flushing Oil Concentrate is a remarkable product and is possibly the most effective treatment in removing harmful and performance draining sludge, hard carbon and other contaminants and deposits from an engine’s lubrication system. Not only does it safely restore full cleanliness to the entire crankcase and oil feed lines, orifices and ports, removing all destructive sludge, but it also frees up stuck piston rings, restoring compression and oil control and reducing blow-by.
Ensure your turbocharger holds up for a long time…
Use these very-safe-to-use, highly effective products to ensure the long term viability of your turbo! Available as single products or in the Engine Blowby combination value pack.
