I finally got my turbo charger on and withing a two days and after three back to back runs the turbo locked up. I tried moving the fins with my hand and they are frozen tight. I'm trying to figure out what happened, I've come up with two theories.

1.) My oiling system is messed up. I'm running a 3 or 4an line to the turbo with a Nitrous jet regulating the flow. Its a 26 nitrous jet. The return is then done by a Chilton differential pump. I think the pump is 8 gph. Could there have been enough oil comming in?

2.) I may have overspun the turbo. I'm running a heads and cam LT1(ignore the sig I blew that motor up last month). I ran it to about to 5000rpms maybe a tad more and it's a 60-1 HIFI turbo going at 7psi. Just from watching my boost vs rpm curve I think I might have outdone the range of the turbo.

I've got a t-76 lying around that will fit with some modifications, but I need to figure out why this happened before I put the expensive turbo on there. Thanks for the help guys.

 

sounds like good old turbo wear to me.i doubt you over spun it.are you running a turbo timer?and also are you using synthetic oils?these two can improve turbo performance and extend turbo life.the turbo timer works like this when you turn you car off and get out the engine runs a little longer until the oil temp is cooler.this allows the oil in the turbo to cool slower than running full blast then shutting it down.when you do this the oil in side sludges up and causes lubrication problems, i lost a few this way.but now im smarter.and synthetic oils have i higher tolerance to heat and are less likely to sludge up.i think the death of you turbo is from oiling if your not running these or atleast the turbo timer. and getting on it does not hurt the turbo thats what it was built for,to make power.but they have sensitive oiling systems and need to be kept cool.add a oil cooler just for the turbo if you want, i did and always will run one of those.anyway hope this helps

 

Just curious as to why you are runing a restrictor in the oil line? Most turbos a -3 or -4 supply is just right.

Also, if you made hard passes and then shut it off, it will kill the turbo fairly quick. Or if the turbo was bought used, it may have been dead already.

 

The turbo was new when I bought it, I've been using it as a base turbo for my project so its got maybe 500 miles on it. It locked up in the middle of a run. Looking back at the datalog it was decreasing in performance and then after my second to third shift it just stopped moving and I was getting vaccume instead of boost. I always run Mobil 1 and I try to let it cool down as much as possible. Its a few minute slow drive to get out of my subdivision and about 10 minutes to where I would test it so it should be cooled enough by then. I have a turbo timer, but it is useless since it won't lock my doors with the engine running, I'll fix that after the turbo is running.

The reason that I'm running the nitrous jet as a restrictor is because when I first started this I would blow the seals on my old turbo if I didn't. But I've redone some things with the pump that may make it ok now. Doesn't there need to be some kind of restrictor in the line? Are those seals ok to take 80psi? I guess I could try it and see what happens. I guess I'm not worried about hurting the turbo now.

 

What color is your Vette? I'm curious if I've seen it around.

 

It's polo green, there's another one running around town too so you gotta check the liscense plate. Mine says "CANTLUZ"

 

My guess is lack of oil supply to the turbo...That would explain the failure during the run. I bet if you pull the center section the bearing will be blue. Pull that restrictor out.