Some years ago, turbochargers seemed to be considered service items, that may or may not last the engine life of the vehicle. We're thinking of getting a new midsize SUV, that will be able to do light towing (2000-2500 lbs.)that will use either a small V6 or 4 cylinder gas engine, with a turbocharger. We haven't figured out the make yet, we need to go out check them out, test them, evaluate, etc. At one time I would not of considered any turbocharged gas engine, due to concerns about durability and expensive replacement if needed. Are the turbos and related engine parts generally good for the life of the engine...or can you expect to have a lot of work done of them to keep them working ?Any additional maintenance / service or parts required for the turbo charger on a gas engine ?Am I missing anything else ?Also, it seemed awhile ago that before you shut the turbo engine down, it was always wise to sit in the vehicle and let the engine idle for a couple of minutes so the turbo could slow down in rpm and dissipate heat from the bearings, other components in the turbocharger. Do you still have to this ?I don't know if any of that is still the case anymore. Most of the guys on that have turbo gas engines on this forum have the 3.5 liter turbo Ford truck engine (F 150, Expedition, Explorer)...some have the 2.7 liter Ford Turbo V6, etc. These Ford turbo engines seem to be durable, reliable and able to rack up significant miles and I haven't been aware of any issues with them. But are there ? Now one turbo vehicle we might consider is the Ford Explorer with the 3.5 turbo V6...or other manufacturers...like other American domestic vehicles or some of the Japanese vehicles. We plan to get an extended factory warranty no matter what. We've never had any vehicles with a turbocharger before. Is it safe to dip your toe in the water ? :D

Soon all gas and Diesel engines will be turbocharged. Get an alarm that has a turbo timer, walk away, arm the alarm and the vehicle will run for a few minutes to allow the turbo to cool down then **** the engine down automatically.

I have designed and owned and driven turbo cars since the late 70's.So to answer your question; it depends. For instance the 6.4 and early 6.7 Ford diesel turbo's are junk. They were a twin wheel design and they could never get them balanced correctly. They tried and tried and tried and finally gave up in 2015 and never looked back. All of their turbo problems ended when they went to a new design.I haven't heard much turbo problems with the Ecoboost. The ones I have heard about where people trying to clean their intake tracts and they dump a bunch of chemicals in the engine and blow up their turbo's.As far as cool down goes. I almost NEVER cooled my turbo's down. I drove it like an ordinary N/A engine. Never blew one up ever. And these were old oil cooled turbo's and not the new oil/liquid cooled turbo's. Now before anybody loses there minds I didn't go out and thrash on the engine and then shut it off red hot. Common sense needs to rule.As far as maintenance goes I like to change the oil in a turbo engine a little sooner because the turbo tends to beat up the oil a little faster.All and all today's turbo's are very reliable but like anything they are another part to go wrong.

Turbocharger technology has come a long way in the past few decades. Most older turbos were oil cooled only and many turbos nowadays like the one on the 3.5L EB are oil and water cooled utilizing thermal siphoning to cool down the turbo housing when the engine shuts down. This dramatically increased longevity and durability while not requiring you to idle down after running it hard.Another thing that increased turbo life and durability is the bearings themselves. Ball bearings have replaced the old journal bearing making today's turbos much more responsive. Ball bearings require less lubrication which decreases failure on cold starts where lubrication is low. They also hold the shaft in place better than journal bearing allowing for much higher turbo speeds and eliminates the need for a thrust bearing which is a common weak point on journal bearing turbos. Lastly, the forged and billet internals used in many of today's turbos are also much stronger, can handle hotter temps, and can reliably run at higher speeds than turbos of a few decades ago.

The old school turbo guys will tell you to idle the engine for X minutes prior to shut down, because the turbine needs lubrication as it spins down. but think about it, aren't most turbo'ed engines at idle long before they are shut down?Over the road trucks get great milage out of the turbine simply because they run the turbine for long periods of time between shut downs, which results in even temperature operation. the short hop guys don't do as well.

If I'm just driving around town, or on a normal hwy run, not towing, and not having just worked the engine, I just idle enough to get parked and shut it down..There are a couple of rest stops along I-90 in WA state going over the pass and if I'm towing, it's hot, and I've just pulled the grade to get to the rest stop, I idle into the rest stop, but I'll also let the engine idle for a few minutes while I do a quick walk a round the rig before shutting it down...No big deal.. I would do the walk a round anyway, so doing it while the engine idles after a hard pull just makes me feel better... Whether it makes any difference at all for my Eco??? Dunno, but I feel better about it..I'm an old guy that remembers the carbs, points, dwell, vacuum advance, etc, so there you go... :)Just what I do and works for me..Don't fear the new turbos because of old school thinking... As has been said, a lot has been done to resolve most, if not all of the old turbo tech.Good luck!Mitch

Turbochargers... durability, reliability ? | Good Sam Community

Bedlam
Moderator
Sep 28, 2017
As others have posted, I idle the engine for a couple minutes if I had just worked the engine hard and came to short stop. If you are pulling off the highway and working your way around to a fuel pump at a service station, that is usually enough time for the cool down without additional idling.

You will find most turbo gasoline engines require higher octane fuel than their normally aspirated versions which will increase your fuel costs. There are a few engines that run on lower octane and adjust engine tune based the volatility of the fuel. Additional heat and compression ratio is what drives the use of higher octane fuel, so there are engine management controls that can sense pre-detonation and back off engine output to prevent this.

I am actually surprised at longevity and reliability of the current turbos compared to 20 years ago or longer. I would no longer consider them limitations on how long your engine will run before needing an overhaul.
carringb
Explorer
Sep 28, 2017
The 3.5L Explorer EcoBoost is a fantastic combination. We bought one for my sister last winter, after a couple years of trying just about everything. We did a lot of research prior, and there's really very few complaint. There was those report about CO and exhaust smells a few months ago, and from what I can tell, this only happen if the trunk isn't fully closed and the HVAC is in recirc and you're idling for long periods (there may be some merit to up-fitters removing grommets and even air-balance flaps as well).

I do think good oil is a must on the EcoBoost motors. Ford requires full synthetic in every other market they sell them besides the US. In our 1.0 Fiesta, full synthetic nets about 4 extra MPGs highway. Plus, the more stable VOCs in synthetic oil should reduce carbon buildup.

That all said... Have you considered a Flex? It's like an Explorer but with more cargo space and better handling, and IMO looks better;)
SidecarFlip
Explorer III
Sep 28, 2017
My nephew has a Flex. I've teased him about making a large wooden handle for the top so it would look like a 4 wheel lunch box....
RSD559
Explorer
Sep 28, 2017
If I pull off the highway after a long push on my Ecoboost, I let it idle for a few minutes just to let EVERYTHING cool down. These can run hot. Especially if the turbos have been working. So I let the engine cycle some coolant and let everything cool down a little.
theoldwizard1
Explorer II
Sep 29, 2017
Turtle n Peeps wrote:
I have designed and owned and driven turbo cars since the late 70's.

I retired from Ford Engine Engineering shortly after the Taurus EcoBoost went into production.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
So to answer your question; it depends. For instance the 6.4 and early 6.7 Ford diesel turbo's are junk.

Are you sure you have your engines correct ? The 6.0L and 6.4L were joint development between Navistar and Ford and were a disaster ! The 6.7L is and "all Ford" design and I can't say I have heard of many issues.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
As far as cool down goes. I almost NEVER cooled my turbo's down. I drove it like an ordinary N/A engine. Never blew one up ever. And these were old oil cooled turbo's and not the new oil/liquid cooled turbo's. Now before anybody loses there minds I didn't go out and thrash on the engine and then shut it off red hot. Common sense needs to rule.

As far as maintenance goes I like to change the oil in a turbo engine a little sooner because the turbo tends to beat up the oil a little faster.

All and all today's turbo's are very reliable but like anything they are another part to go wrong.

Modern oil, even the non-synthetics, are SO MUCH BETTER than what you could buy even 10 years ago, let alone 20 years ago, I just go with what the manufacturer recommends.

A year or two ago, Ford did switch to recommending 5W30 oil in all EcoBoost applications. Something to consider if you own an older one.
Turtle_n_Peeps
Explorer
Sep 29, 2017
Here is some reading for you theoldwizard1.

Common ford 6.7 issues.

I used only 15/40 Rotella in my turbo engines. I tore a lot of turbo's down and never saw any coking ever. This is without doing any cool down at all ever. And with no water cooling.
1stgenfarmboy
Explorer
Sep 29, 2017
I have been involved with a lot of truck/tractor pulling, most runs are wide open heavily modified diesel engins with 1-2-or 3 turbos, a normal pull will last 20-30 seconds and the EGT's can reach 2,000* with ease, at the end most of the time the engine dies, so from 2000* and over 100 lbs of boost to not runing in 3 seconds... never have I seen a problem with the bushings with baked on oil film.

believe it or not the center part of the turbo rairly gets rebuild unless there is a problem, the wheels get changed aften.

turbo bearing failure is due to bad or dirty oil or lack there of.

I am on my 5th cummins truck and many many tractors/combines.. never have I done anything to a turbo other than change external parts, unless it has 500-700k miles.
Lessmore
Explorer II
Sep 29, 2017
Thanks for the replies. Information provided helped me a lot on bringing me up to speed on the current generation of turbochargers. We took one out for a spin. It was a new '17 Honda CRV, with AWD and the turbo 1.5 liter 4 banger...turbocharged.

I had driven a new 2011 Honda CRV with the 2.4 non turbo engine, a few years ago.

What a difference I had felt that the non turbo '11 CRV with it's 2.4 was a bit of a slug. The new CRV with it's turbo 1.5 liter...had good low and mid range torque and moved out the SUV with much less effort and seemed to have reasonable performance. It's no '64 super stock Dodge, but always seemed to have solid power. I liked it quite a bit, but it was too small for me in the driver's seat.

I think a turbocharged gas engine could be in our future.
Fordlover
Explorer
Oct 05, 2017
My wife put over 100K on her previous turbo vehicle, a 2004 S40 Volvo. Her current ride is a 2013 Ford Edge 2.0 Ecoboost with about 50K on it and neither had any issues with the turbo. Anecdotal of course, but my experience has been positive.
jus2shy
Explorer
Oct 06, 2017
Ha, on modern transit buses, their turbos usually last over 200k miles. That's the worst abuse you can put most components through, only worse duty cycle are refuse trucks.

I honestly don't worry so much about turbos. On most gas implementations, they don't have the complexity of variable geometry. Only a few high-end gas engines incorporate that tech. Usually the issue there is dependent on how they apply the variable geometry on the turbo's. You usually get some sort of buildup or corrosion on the mechanisms over time, but that just affects some performance. It wouldn't kill an engine entirely. And usually a good sanding or cleaning resolves the issues. One of the reasons why I went Cummins on diesels was because they use something like 3 moving parts they use to change turbo geometry (nozzle, motor, and gear linkage). The other diesels used multiple vanes and a synchronizing ring to alter geometry, along with actuators and linkages. But on gas engines, I can only recall Porsche's and maybe some Mercedes AMG's currently using that tech.

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Turbochargers... durability, reliability ?

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