Fortuner Broken Turbo, Advice?

[nikster]

Our turbo broke - we've had this Fortuner since new for 6 years, never had any issues, but this is rather disappointing. Shouldn't happen at 150k / 6 years with service done religiously every 10k?? Or should it? I've now read up on it and we clearly have never done any "turbo warmup" or "cool down" or these things one is supposed to do.

Toyota wants 50k for a new one, or will rebuild it for cheap. So am having the Toyota dealer garage rebuild it for now.

Got a few questions:

- Why does the turbo break, shouldn't it last "forever", like the engine?

- Can I buy a high quality 3rd party turbo at one of the auto pimp-up shops? Will it cost more than 50k? I don't trust the Toyota stuff now. Like can I go to Max AutoPlus and get one?

- Does anyone know a mechanic / garage they can recommend in Chiang Mai?

- Anyone else have issues with their turbo in their Fortuner?

Thanks for any information!

[guzzi850m2]

I think moderator Soundman had the same problem on his Tuna a year or 2 ago.

It will most likely be cheaper to find a shop that specialize in turbo's, you can even

choose a slightly bigger T and get more power.

It seems to be a problem if you don't let the engine idle a couple of min, no oil to the bearings

in the T if you stop the car when you reach your destination, some mount a timer so it will run

a couple of min after leaving the car to cool down the bearings in the T.

If you been reeving the engine hard and stop without cooling down the T, it will be even more

short lived.

Yes I agree, Toyota should warn their customers about this.

[transam]

They do in the handbook that comes with the ride, mines in English .

Any ride with a turbo requires following manufacturers instructions. The best insurance is synthetic oil.

[nikster]

They do in the handbook that comes with the ride, mines in English .

who reads manuals???

Lessons learned, and paid for!!

[nikster]

I think moderator Soundman had the same problem on his Tuna a year or 2 ago.

It will most likely be cheaper to find a shop that specialize in turbo's, you can even

choose a slightly bigger T and get more power.

It seems to be a problem if you don't let the engine idle a couple of min, no oil to the bearings

in the T if you stop the car when you reach your destination, some mount a timer so it will run

a couple of min after leaving the car to cool down the bearings in the T.

If you been reeving the engine hard and stop without cooling down the T, it will be even more

short lived.

Yes I agree, Toyota should warn their customers about this.

Thanks for the info! As transam mentioned it's in the manual, I remember seeing it and promptly ignoring it. I even read about the turbo timer at the time. So it seems like this is all my own fault, good because if it was toyota's fault I'd be a bit pissed off.

Now to find a good turbo shop in CM...

[John 1]

They do in the handbook that comes with the ride, mines in English .

Any ride with a turbo requires following manufacturers instructions. The best insurance is synthetic oil.

What does the hand book say?

[nikster]

They do in the handbook that comes with the ride, mines in English .

Any ride with a turbo requires following manufacturers instructions. The best insurance is synthetic oil.

What does the hand book say?

The handbook says that you need to wait for the turbo to warm up when the engine is cold, and you need to wait for it to cool down after any extended trips. 1 - 2 minutes of idling at each end should do the trick, as far as I remember shutdown idling was especially emphasized in the manual.

An extended version with explanations can be found here: http://www.turborepa...faqs&Itemid=154

I didn't take any of it seriously.... oh well.

Edited November 20, 2012 by nikster

[VocalNeal]

Have had two turbo cars never did anything special other than on my Dodge spraying combustion chamber cleaner in every so often but nothing for the turbo.

Here in LOS, I think driving slowly in and out of a moobahn or small soi will be sufficient to meet the needs of the statement in the manual.

If one lives out in the sticks, right by the side of a fast road or at the top of a long hill then extra care will be needed.

[transam]

They do in the handbook that comes with the ride, mines in English .

Any ride with a turbo requires following manufacturers instructions. The best insurance is synthetic oil.

What does the hand book say?

[anon210]

Have had two turbo cars never did anything special other than on my Dodge spraying combustion chamber cleaner in every so often but nothing for the turbo.

Here in LOS, I think driving slowly in and out of a moobahn or small soi will be sufficient to meet the needs of the statement in the manual.

If one lives out in the sticks, right by the side of a fast road or at the top of a long hill then extra care will be needed.

Correct. It is what I do in my condo... I program my gps, check the radio, do small changes... and that takes easily 20-30 secs. of idle. And try to drive slowly as long as the clanking noise is heard (cold motor). When I come back from a long trip... in general, I am caught in city traffic, and in my view, that provides sufficient cooling time for the turbo.

[topt]

They do in the handbook that comes with the ride, mines in English .

Any ride with a turbo requires following manufacturers instructions. The best insurance is synthetic oil.

What does the hand book say?

So if you are doing a high speed run and pull off into a service station you shouldn't switch off straight away - even if you are desperate for a leak.

I appreciate if you are getting petrol you probaly leave it running for the aircon so not the same issue.

[anon210]

They do in the handbook that comes with the ride, mines in English .

Any ride with a turbo requires following manufacturers instructions. The best insurance is synthetic oil.

What does the hand book say?

So if you are doing a high speed run and pull off into a service station you shouldn't switch off straight away - even if you are desperate for a leak.

I appreciate if you are getting petrol you probaly leave it running for the aircon so not the same issue.

For safety reasons, you should switch off all electric devices and the motor in particular when tanking. Rule strictly enforced in Europe, over here, I noticed it is done in a very thai manner (they don't care!).

[transam]

They do in the handbook that comes with the ride, mines in English .

Any ride with a turbo requires following manufacturers instructions. The best insurance is synthetic oil.

What does the hand book say?

So if you are doing a high speed run and pull off into a service station you shouldn't switch off straight away - even if you are desperate for a leak.

I appreciate if you are getting petrol you probaly leave it running for the aircon so not the same issue.

Seems so.

Whether petrol or diesel you must switch off when filling up.

If one goes by the ''book'', after high speed and pull into a garage, take your time going to the pump. But as l said before, synthetic oil is the way to go.

[culicine]

maybe a turbo timer is in order...let's it cool down after you lock the car and walk away. I assume you can get them for diesels too.

[mcdiver]

buy a bigger turbo ca 25k thb and a bigger intercooler

install a piggy back like ecu shop, ben tech, monster performance...

then you have some real power

[transam]

OP, just curious . What type of oil have you been using, ie: mineral, semi-syn, or full syn and what km intervals did you renew the oil and filter ?.

[nikster]

OP, just curious . What type of oil have you been using, ie: mineral, semi-syn, or full syn and what km intervals did you renew the oil and filter ?.

All oil changes done at Toyota dealer, every 10k as per user manual. Mineral oil.

We do live right next to a freeway of sorts so that couldn't have helped. Getting out of the Moo baan takes a bit but probably less than 1 minute. And the wife's usually in a right hurry to go - your classic Fortuner driving soccer mom 555. She's driving the car most days so clearly it's all her fault

@mcdiver thanks for the price quote 25k is half of what toyota wants for presumably a better product...

[transam]

OP, just curious . What type of oil have you been using, ie: mineral, semi-syn, or full syn and what km intervals did you renew the oil and filter ?.

All oil changes done at Toyota dealer, every 10k as per user manual. Mineral oil.

We do live right next to a freeway of sorts so that couldn't have helped. Getting out of the Moo baan takes a bit but probably less than 1 minute. And the wife's usually in a right hurry to go - your classic Fortuner driving soccer mom 555. She's driving the car most days so clearly it's all her fault

@mcdiver thanks for the price quote 25k is half of what toyota wants for presumably a better product...

I thought that might be the case. My personal opinion is a 6000 mile oil change for a turbo engine is too long for mineral oil.

[rics21]

OP, just curious . What type of oil have you been using, ie: mineral, semi-syn, or full syn and what km intervals did you renew the oil and filter ?.

All oil changes done at Toyota dealer, every 10k as per user manual. Mineral oil.

We do live right next to a freeway of sorts so that couldn't have helped. Getting out of the Moo baan takes a bit but probably less than 1 minute. And the wife's usually in a right hurry to go - your classic Fortuner driving soccer mom 555. She's driving the car most days so clearly it's all her fault

@mcdiver thanks for the price quote 25k is half of what toyota wants for presumably a better product...

I thought that might be the case. My personal opinion is a 6000 mile oil change for a turbo engine is too long for mineral oil.

i tot only full syn = 10,000km?

[transam]

OP, just curious . What type of oil have you been using, ie: mineral, semi-syn, or full syn and what km intervals did you renew the oil and filter ?.

All oil changes done at Toyota dealer, every 10k as per user manual. Mineral oil.

We do live right next to a freeway of sorts so that couldn't have helped. Getting out of the Moo baan takes a bit but probably less than 1 minute. And the wife's usually in a right hurry to go - your classic Fortuner driving soccer mom 555. She's driving the car most days so clearly it's all her fault

@mcdiver thanks for the price quote 25k is half of what toyota wants for presumably a better product...

I thought that might be the case. My personal opinion is a 6000 mile oil change for a turbo engine is too long for mineral oil.

i tot only full syn = 10,000km?

They say 15k for full syn. I have read somewhere that a heavy goods truck in USA ran full syn for a million miles with never a change, just top up and regular filter changes.

[mogandave]

6 years and the turbo goes south, what's the big deal? I think that's pretty good.

2 minutes a day for six years is 73 hours

[nikster]

Lots of great info guys, thanks a lot!!

[philipm]

Turbos, are prone to damage.

no matter in std form and modified cars, frankly speaking yes it should last for some time but in reality it is not the case.

We have had many customers who have damaged there turbo, damaged there transmission etc etc on all std cars/trucks its just like any other car, after a few years you can expect some issues here and there.

VN turbos are most prone to damage due to the vanes design, if one vane is not working 100% the turbo will damage nearly instantly. Unlike traditional type turbochargers, which is the reason why we never replace a turbo with a VN or VG for modified cars.

I would avoid a rebuild by non toyota authorized dealers, as the boost actuator adjustment sensors on the VN are very sensitive and can overboost very quickly with wrong adjustments and damage the turbo within 5mins, so do it with a place that will give you a warranty.... and if toyota refuses to do so, look else where and pay significantly less without warranty.

there is many turbos 2nd hand good and bad condition, the best bet is to check those out. its about B30,000 for one and you can find some with very low millage.

I would also recommend a turbo oil filter, which is designed to keep the oil going into the turbo clean, obviously engine oils is related going FULLY SYN is the best option, cool down period and warm up period is required for all turbo type engines.

[Lickey]

Nickster, what is the state of your broken turbo, Have the vanes broken off? if so these will go into the intercooler and at a later date possibly go into the engine, perhaps causing bent valves ect,

If its only the spindle bearings broken, you will need an oil & filter change, if they have gone big time, the sump has to come off and the oil pick-up strainer cleaned, perhaps thats why Toyota want 50k?? to do the clean-up job properly..

[IMHO]

Nickster, what is the state of your broken turbo, Have the vanes broken off? if so these will go into the intercooler...

Unless the broken vanes really disentegrated, in which case they made their way straight into the head & cylinder..

Edited November 20, 2012 by IMHO

[Lickey]

Nickster, what is the state of your broken turbo, Have the vanes broken off? if so these will go into the intercooler...

Unless the broken vanes really disentegrated, in which case they made their way straight into the head & cylinder..

Well yes, that would have been the case with a pre-intercooled engine, OPs fortuna is an intercooled model, any broken charge vanes will go to the cooler, Exhaust driven vanes will go down the exhaust pipe, also [iforgot in my previous post] with the turbo bearings gone, this will fill the intercooler with an oil mist, and will smoke long after the turbo is replaced, this is what i mean by a proper clean-up, it really is up to the mechanic to evaluate the extent of the failiure, as to what is needed for a 100% repair job,

[rics21]

So most diesel turbo engine last for 6 years? How many km?

Sent from my XT910 using Thaivisa Connect App

[transam]

So most diesel turbo engine last for 6 years? How many km?

Sent from my XT910 using Thaivisa Connect App

Time scale has nothing to do with it, kilometers does but if it is taken care of it could go on for zillions of km, same as most stuff mechanical protected by oil.

[Lickey]

One thing is for certain, we will never know what the OP has done to fix his truck!!!!!

[soundman]

I think moderator Soundman had the same problem on his Tuna a year or 2 ago.

It will most likely be cheaper to find a shop that specialize in turbo's, you can even

choose a slightly bigger T and get more power.

It seems to be a problem if you don't let the engine idle a couple of min, no oil to the bearings

in the T if you stop the car when you reach your destination, some mount a timer so it will run

a couple of min after leaving the car to cool down the bearings in the T.

If you been reeving the engine hard and stop without cooling down the T, it will be even more

short lived.

Yes I agree, Toyota should warn their customers about this.

Yes, we ended up getting a second hand one and once it was installed, "oh your control unit is stuffed, you need a new one". I am convinced that the mechanic stole it. He said it had been affected by driving in water, but the car hadn't been driven in water, and this was the time when there were many flood affected cars and Toyota was out of stock.

The turbo was stuffed on the exhaust side, the vanes were all deformed and burn't - at about 150 - 170 K km's from memory. This lead to bearing failure from the the vanes being out of balance.

The second hand unit, and control came off a Vigo, but the Fortuner has never been the same since. Doesn't have that hold you in your seat acceleration from 60 - 110 like it originally had.