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I haven't owned a car with a turbo for years; I have never been a big fan of turbos on "normal" cars, I understand about the improved thermodynamic efficiency over a NA engine, but when they are a 10 years old a failed turbo will probably be a one way trip to the scrapper, due to the expense of a turbo swap. Now it seems every common-all-supermarket hatchback has a turbo or supercharger.On a Porsche 944Turbo, I seem to remember they lasted about 80K mls. So how long do they last in the modern hatchback, for the sake of this I am assuming it has been manufacturer serviced, so the oil has probably changed on schedule.I know they can last for the life of the car, I did read about a Mondeo a few years ago that was on 300K+ mls on its original turbo, exhaust etcSo what is typical?I was looking at a Skoda Fabia 1.2 for a friend the other day and it got me thinking. Turbo replacements aren't that common I don't think, it's all dependant on the specific vehicle.Someone's cranked the boost up via an eBay chip or £100 remap, that's gonna shorten turbo life. Owner misses every service interval by 5,000 miles, that's gonna shorten turbo life. Well over 100k miles shouldn't be a problem if looked after. 
If properly designed, treated and maintained, pretty much indefinitely. I'd say that from my experiences they seem to last a fair while if looked after. I've got a car outside on its original turbo and over 170,000 miles on it running very well. For the last 50,000 miles it has had the boost turned up too. But that car has a bigger engine and will almost certainly be driven more sympathetically and with more frequent oil changes than your average VAG turbo hatchbacks I am on my third turbo on my Esprit. The first two went in about 25,000 miles because at high boost the shaft would flex slightly causing the blades to contact the inside of the shroud, pinging one off. My engineer looked into this and consulted with the local turbo specialist. They came up with a plan to clip the compressor blades slightly. Also fitted a 360 bearing.It appeared to solve the problem. I have run the same turbo for another 40k but with 3 racing seasons. No problems so far.Also, interestingly, my rebuilds cost about £400. My mate had turbo problems with his 320d and it cost him in the region of £1500. My Dad had his turbo go in his 2nd hand (ex-lease) 730d SE. It had covered about 60,000 miles or so if I remember correctly. Luckily it was still under warranty (just!) Based on experiences of my circle of friends, the answer is 80,000 miles.But yes I had an Astra which did 100,000 miles on the original turbo. - but it had a new cylinder head before that! Had a Saab 9-5 that was letting a bit of oil through seals and was getting ready for a replacement at 130k.Nowadays though they are not that expensive, can be refurbed. Cost mostly comes from whether they are difficult to access or not (Landrover Disco I'm looking right at you!) and if you ask a dealer to do it or someone more 'economical', Warm it up properly ( by that, I mean use it off boost for 15 miles or so 'til the oils up to temp ) let it idle or drive it off boost for a minute or so at the end of a journey, and change the oil and filter every 5k and you're giving it a lot of life support, and a much better chance of long term survival.Manufacturers specifying 15-20k service intervals on anything is ridiculous, but on something with a turbo it's just plain stupid. Ive never had much trouble over about 30 years , but I'm fussy about oil changes, the main causes of failure seems to be lack of oil ,dirty oil blocking the feed pipe and old or poor quality oil will carbonise much more quickly with heat which fubars the bearings, and the other cause is mecanical damage if something gets sucked in even a tiny lump of something knocks it out of balance so the thing grenades in no time.. so clean oil and air it will live a long and happy life.....oh my last toyota 245k still ok and dads clio has 150 k [ diesels] petrols are harder on turbos as there is much more heat but with sensible servicing IE every 10k or less they don't give much trouble...Edited by powerstroke on Sunday 24th January 14:44 My bro's Passat 130tdi did 120k on the first one, another 100k on the second one, and is on around 40k so far on the 3rd one, an expensive business. It is however still on the original exhaust and clutch. The VW garage quoted £3000 to swap the first one over, about the value of the car at the time. I wouldn't touch one of these small, blown cars once out of warranty. Remember, they are frequently thrashed in order to get the performance out of them. The second hand market will be a different place in 5 years time, with many of these turbo'd cars facing big bills due to knackered turbos because the original owner didn't treat it properly, and only adhered to the 2 year oil changes. It's a bit like buyers of used diesels now, big repairs due to dpf changes, injection pumps, turbo's etc, when they were expecting a bombproof engine and huge mpg's. The future looks like petrol hybrid for reliability, you only hear good things about Honda and Toyota hybrids. All the cabbies everywhere seem to be changing over to hybrids, perhaps they are fed up with big bills from their tdi's. 145k and counting on my 11 year old turbo.Correct spec oil every 10k is what mine gets, key to keeping them good is clean oil. Dirty oil does them no favours. sunnydude said: My Dad had his turbo go in his 2nd hand (ex-lease) 730d SE. It had covered about 60,000 miles or so if I remember correctly. Luckily it was still under warranty (just!)Unlucky 
mine was on 190,000 when I sold it and still on the original turbo. Oilchange said: Also, interestingly, my rebuilds cost about £400. My mate had turbo problems with his 320d and it cost him in the region of £1500.There's a difference between rebuilding a damaged race turbo and installing an oil-starved turbo in a cramped road-car engine bay, together with replacing any oil feed pipes etc which may cause a replacement to fail again soon... Totally dependent on oil used / changes.Hence with the better quality modern oils it's rare for turbos to go unless they are abused. Like for like (ie same capacity) a turbo engine is LESS thermodynamically efficient. Just thought you'd liked to know. GrizzlyBear said: On a Porsche 944Turbo, I seem to remember they lasted about 80K mls.With correct servicing and not running excessively high boost usually double that. blade7 said: GrizzlyBear said: On a Porsche 944Turbo, I seem to remember they lasted about 80K mls.With correct servicing and not running excessively high boost usually double that.Yeah, have to say my friend's 944 turbo lasted well into 6 figure mileage (i.e. well over 100k mls )Then again, he did have it serviced and didn't run it on cheap oil My K04 will be getting to 120,000 miles fairly soon and touch wood seems to be fine.I expect that changing the engine oil fairly regularly is pretty important. GroundEffect said: Like for like (ie same capacity) a turbo engine is LESS thermodynamically efficient. Just thought you'd liked to know. Care to expand on this? Reply OP Posts Only Prev of 323 Next OP Posts Only Reply OP Posts Only
GrizzlyBear
Original Poster
1,086 posts
157 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 I haven't owned a car with a turbo for years; I have never been a big fan of turbos on "normal" cars, I understand about the improved thermodynamic efficiency over a NA engine, but when they are a 10 years old a failed turbo will probably be a one way trip to the scrapper, due to the expense of a turbo swap. Now it seems every common-all-supermarket hatchback has a turbo or supercharger.On a Porsche 944Turbo, I seem to remember they lasted about 80K mls. So how long do they last in the modern hatchback, for the sake of this I am assuming it has been manufacturer serviced, so the oil has probably changed on schedule.I know they can last for the life of the car, I did read about a Mondeo a few years ago that was on 300K+ mls on its original turbo, exhaust etcSo what is typical?I was looking at a Skoda Fabia 1.2 for a friend the other day and it got me thinking. emicen
9,106 posts
240 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 Turbo replacements aren't that common I don't think, it's all dependant on the specific vehicle.Someone's cranked the boost up via an eBay chip or £100 remap, that's gonna shorten turbo life. Owner misses every service interval by 5,000 miles, that's gonna shorten turbo life. Well over 100k miles shouldn't be a problem if looked after. kambites
70,613 posts
243 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 If properly designed, treated and maintained, pretty much indefinitely. MrMoonyMan
2,621 posts
233 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 I'd say that from my experiences they seem to last a fair while if looked after. I've got a car outside on its original turbo and over 170,000 miles on it running very well. For the last 50,000 miles it has had the boost turned up too. But that car has a bigger engine and will almost certainly be driven more sympathetically and with more frequent oil changes than your average VAG turbo hatchbacks Oilchange
9,560 posts
282 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 I am on my third turbo on my Esprit. The first two went in about 25,000 miles because at high boost the shaft would flex slightly causing the blades to contact the inside of the shroud, pinging one off. My engineer looked into this and consulted with the local turbo specialist. They came up with a plan to clip the compressor blades slightly. Also fitted a 360 bearing.It appeared to solve the problem. I have run the same turbo for another 40k but with 3 racing seasons. No problems so far.Also, interestingly, my rebuilds cost about £400. My mate had turbo problems with his 320d and it cost him in the region of £1500. sunnydude
907 posts
149 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 My Dad had his turbo go in his 2nd hand (ex-lease) 730d SE. It had covered about 60,000 miles or so if I remember correctly. Luckily it was still under warranty (just!) M4cruiser
4,865 posts
172 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 Based on experiences of my circle of friends, the answer is 80,000 miles.But yes I had an Astra which did 100,000 miles on the original turbo. - but it had a new cylinder head before that! surveyor
18,581 posts
206 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 Had a Saab 9-5 that was letting a bit of oil through seals and was getting ready for a replacement at 130k.Nowadays though they are not that expensive, can be refurbed. Cost mostly comes from whether they are difficult to access or not (Landrover Disco I'm looking right at you!) and if you ask a dealer to do it or someone more 'economical', Heaveho
6,740 posts
196 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 Warm it up properly ( by that, I mean use it off boost for 15 miles or so 'til the oils up to temp ) let it idle or drive it off boost for a minute or so at the end of a journey, and change the oil and filter every 5k and you're giving it a lot of life support, and a much better chance of long term survival.Manufacturers specifying 15-20k service intervals on anything is ridiculous, but on something with a turbo it's just plain stupid. powerstroke
10,283 posts
182 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 Ive never had much trouble over about 30 years , but I'm fussy about oil changes, the main causes of failure seems to be lack of oil ,dirty oil blocking the feed pipe and old or poor quality oil will carbonise much more quickly with heat which fubars the bearings, and the other cause is mecanical damage if something gets sucked in even a tiny lump of something knocks it out of balance so the thing grenades in no time.. so clean oil and air it will live a long and happy life.....oh my last toyota 245k still ok and dads clio has 150 k [ diesels] petrols are harder on turbos as there is much more heat but with sensible servicing IE every 10k or less they don't give much trouble...Edited by powerstroke on Sunday 24th January 14:44 grumpynuts
1,022 posts
182 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 My bro's Passat 130tdi did 120k on the first one, another 100k on the second one, and is on around 40k so far on the 3rd one, an expensive business. It is however still on the original exhaust and clutch. The VW garage quoted £3000 to swap the first one over, about the value of the car at the time. I wouldn't touch one of these small, blown cars once out of warranty. Remember, they are frequently thrashed in order to get the performance out of them. The second hand market will be a different place in 5 years time, with many of these turbo'd cars facing big bills due to knackered turbos because the original owner didn't treat it properly, and only adhered to the 2 year oil changes. It's a bit like buyers of used diesels now, big repairs due to dpf changes, injection pumps, turbo's etc, when they were expecting a bombproof engine and huge mpg's. The future looks like petrol hybrid for reliability, you only hear good things about Honda and Toyota hybrids. All the cabbies everywhere seem to be changing over to hybrids, perhaps they are fed up with big bills from their tdi's. A.J.M
8,309 posts
208 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 145k and counting on my 11 year old turbo.Correct spec oil every 10k is what mine gets, key to keeping them good is clean oil. Dirty oil does them no favours. robsa
2,442 posts
206 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 sunnydude said: My Dad had his turbo go in his 2nd hand (ex-lease) 730d SE. It had covered about 60,000 miles or so if I remember correctly. Luckily it was still under warranty (just!)Unlucky mine was on 190,000 when I sold it and still on the original turbo. TooMany2cvs
29,008 posts
148 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 Oilchange said: Also, interestingly, my rebuilds cost about £400. My mate had turbo problems with his 320d and it cost him in the region of £1500.There's a difference between rebuilding a damaged race turbo and installing an oil-starved turbo in a cramped road-car engine bay, together with replacing any oil feed pipes etc which may cause a replacement to fail again soon... V8RX7
28,982 posts
285 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 Totally dependent on oil used / changes.Hence with the better quality modern oils it's rare for turbos to go unless they are abused. GroundEffect
13,864 posts
178 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 Like for like (ie same capacity) a turbo engine is LESS thermodynamically efficient. Just thought you'd liked to know. blade7
11,311 posts
238 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 GrizzlyBear said: On a Porsche 944Turbo, I seem to remember they lasted about 80K mls.With correct servicing and not running excessively high boost usually double that. s m
24,133 posts
225 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 blade7 said: GrizzlyBear said: On a Porsche 944Turbo, I seem to remember they lasted about 80K mls.With correct servicing and not running excessively high boost usually double that.Yeah, have to say my friend's 944 turbo lasted well into 6 figure mileage (i.e. well over 100k mls )Then again, he did have it serviced and didn't run it on cheap oil rohrl
8,984 posts
167 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 My K04 will be getting to 120,000 miles fairly soon and touch wood seems to be fine.I expect that changing the engine oil fairly regularly is pretty important. Scuffers
20,887 posts
296 months
[report] [news]Sunday 24th January 2016 GroundEffect said: Like for like (ie same capacity) a turbo engine is LESS thermodynamically efficient. Just thought you'd liked to know. Care to expand on this? Reply OP Posts Only Prev of 323 Next OP Posts Only Reply OP Posts Only Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff
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