1.6HDi Turbo Failure (again)

[Strudders]

Could anyone please offer advice on whether to replace the turbo on a 2007 1.6 TDi? The garage have advised that it's costly to repair and may well go again, but very reluctant to send to the scrap heap!

[Mohammad umer]

The problem is in a engine. Try to make high power engine on ancient base will cause problems like described below.

[Sol]

Could anyone please offer advice on whether to replace the turbo on a 2007 1.6 TDi? The garage have advised that it's costly to repair and may well go again, but very reluctant to send to the scrap heap!

If the vehicle is good otherwise, then yes. You must get the oil pickup, sump etc clean and checked, use the correct fully synthetic low ash oil, replace the turbo oil feed and banjo bolt when fitting a new turbo (there is a small mesh filter in that original line that should be removed and must never ever be reused) so no carbonised or contaminated oil can reach the turbo cartridge and so that the oil feed flow is good.

If they replaced it and it has failed again, I would be looking at these things - were they done the last time? Cleanliness and a good oil feed is critical to the lifespan of a turbo on ANY diesel, these HDi's are no different. It's not a weakness in the HDi, but people never comprehend how clean the oil supply must be. You must not use the old banjo bolt & mesh filter and really should replace the turbo oil feed pipe for peace of mind. 

It will go again if they haven't followed the correct procedure. This is where everyone goes wrong. I've attached the Citroen factory procedure for this, your engine should be near identical (it's an early B9 but is pretty much the same as the M59 version) so you can give it to the garage...I had to zip it to attach, it's a microsoft word (.doc) file.

[saskak]

What Zion said.

I did it all myself, not too difficult and fairly cheap. It took me 4 full days to do (mainly removing the shields, etc.). With the best possible components I can buy, it was ~£300 (turbo cartridge, oil feed, sump, etc.).
I also made a video out of it, in case you want a more visual guide. Part 1 out of 5 parts is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7S0qDBo314

4 months on, still works without a problem.

Best wishes,
saskak