Turbo goes out at 37,000 miles

[HHg_in_Austin]

Maybe someone can impart a little wisdom.....I have a Tiffin Phaeton (only 37,000 miles) with the 8.3 ISB, with 380 HP and 1250 foot pounds of torque. I maintain this thing as it should be, even have it stored in an enclosed facility. Driving down the road several weeks ago, the check engine light comes on, then the stop engine warning...I’m on a very small one lane road....before I can find a place to get out of the road, it goes into limp mode (derate the engine) and just a very short distance later.....shuts down. Coast onto the side of the road and that’s it.....tow to a very large Freightliner dealer where I get the bad news. I bought this baby brand new and maintain it like crazy. Any guesses as to what could have caused this??

[HHg_in_Austin]

Yes, you are right about it being too late. I had talked with Cummins and they indicated a failure analysis could be done which would very likely provide the cause…..unfortunately Freightliner had already pulled it and sent it back as a “core exchange”. The actuator was bad and had to be replaced as well…..the Air Filter was replaced along with complete service on the engine and chassis. I’ve learned enough from this incident to make sure of what to do if there is a next time…..

[Bikeboy57]

It may be too late for forensics. The answer to your question could be narrowed down from generalities if some quick inspections of the failed part were done. Were any of the blades broken? Which side, exhaust or intake? Did the shaft break? Were the bearings scored? Was the a actuator mechanism jammed?

Check your air filtration for holes.

[lfeather]

It helps to lubricate the linkage at the turbo with some heat-tolerant oil too

[Jarlaxle]

wolfe10 wrote:

HHg in Austin wrote:
Maybe someone can impart a little wisdom.....I have a Tiffin Phaeton (only 37,000 miles) with the 8.3 ISB, with 380 HP and 1250 foot pounds of torque.

Just a quick correction-- the Cummins 8.3 liter is the C engine-- depending on year it would therefore be the ISC.

I thought the ISC went to 8.9 litres and was rebranded the ISL9 for 2007 and simply the L9 for 2017. (Though called that, it is a stroked ISC and shares nothing with the L-series engines.)

[HHg_in_Austin]

Thanks to all who responded, I’ve learned a few things, hopefully others reading this thread did too so they won’t repeat bad habits. Thanks again !

[Bruce_Brown]

Just a side note on turbo heat; this is from my snowmobile. I took this picture sitting in my driveway after coming home from a ride this winter. Needless to say I always let it idle for a few minutes before shutting it down.

Yes this is a much smaller turbo and at a speed of 200,000 RPM it's a little faster than the Cummins turbo but the point is the same - turbos make a LOT of heat and they need time to cool down. And yes, this is normal for this engine.

[down_home]

Won't pretend to know what killed your turbo: defective part, sand from engine casting coming loose bad oil flow, overheating?
Overheating is common as another poster said shutting off,without letting the turbo cool a bit.
California and some other places won't let you idle more than five minutes, which is perhaps enough if you slow down into truck stop ro wherever. They demand and some say you don't need to let it idle but I doubt they have any experience with one. Our Cat manual explicitly suggested or said to let the engine idle for about 5 minutes I think.
We recently sold it so I don't have the manual to quote from.
I always thought turbos could use an extra oil cooler on the pressure line. Ours was 16 years old when we sold it,still dong fine.They make better than OEM turbos but they cost more.

[Edd505]

navegator wrote:
One item that kills a turbo really fast is driving down the interstate at full speed and getting off to get fuel, coming in to the gas station and shutting down the engine.
This simple little action is detrimental to the life of the turbo, while the engine is running the oil is circulating to the turbo and lubricating the bearings and cooling, shutting the engine down shuts the flow of oil, this oil not only helps lubricate the bearings it also helps with cooling the unit.
When the flow of oil is interrupted the residual oil begins to cook and slowly starts to block the passages and also starts to destroy the bearings.
Depending on the turbo, it will spin at about 17,000 RPM at idle and anywhere up to 150,000 RPM's running down the road.
Try to avoid this by letting the engine idle 2 to 3 minutes or more before shutting down, this helps the turbo slow down to near idle speeds and helps cool the unit a bit, this prolongs the life of the turbo.
I do not know if they still manufacture them or not, it is an electric motor 12vdc and a pump coupled with a timer that runs for about 3 minutes at engine shut down and pumps oil to the turbo after the engine is shut down, totally separate from the engine, runs from the engine sump to the oil line for the turbo, the oil then drains to the engine pan this helps cool down the hot end of the turbo while it spools down and prolongs it's life.

navegator

Detroit but yes, I still do with my F350.

[HHg_in_Austin]

navegator wrote:
I got in the internet and found 2 sites that are worth looking into, the first one is really good in explaining the different pumps and their pitfalls really worth reading, the second one is good to.
Hope this helps a little

www.rbracing-rsr,com/oilsystems.htm

www.team-bhp.com/tech-stuff/idling-rule-turbo

navegator

l

Thanks!! I will read them…..the URL’s make it easy !

[HHg_in_Austin]

wolfe10 wrote:

HHg in Austin wrote:
Maybe someone can impart a little wisdom.....I have a Tiffin Phaeton (only 37,000 miles) with the 8.3 ISB, with 380 HP and 1250 foot pounds of torque.

Just a quick correction-- the Cummins 8.3 liter is the C engine-- depending on year it would therefore be the ISC.

You are absolutely correct, you win the gold star for the day !! Thanks for the correction….

[wolfe10]

HHg in Austin wrote:
Maybe someone can impart a little wisdom.....I have a Tiffin Phaeton (only 37,000 miles) with the 8.3 ISB, with 380 HP and 1250 foot pounds of torque.

Just a quick correction-- the Cummins 8.3 liter is the C engine-- depending on year it would therefore be the ISC.

[navegator]

I got in the internet and found 2 sites that are worth looking into, the first one is really good in explaining the different pumps and their pitfalls really worth reading, the second one is good to.
Hope this helps a little

www.rbracing-rsr,com/oilsystems.htm

www.team-bhp.com/tech-stuff/idling-rule-turbo

navegator

[MountainAir05]

Bruce Brown wrote:

navegator wrote:
One item that kills a turbo really fast is driving down the interstate at full speed and getting off to get fuel, coming in to the gas station and shutting down the engine.
This simple little action is detrimental to the life of the turbo, while the engine is running the oil is circulating to the turbo and lubricating the bearings and cooling, shutting the engine down shuts the flow of oil, this oil not only helps lubricate the bearings it also helps with cooling the unit.
When the flow of oil is interrupted the residual oil begins to cook and slowly starts to block the passages and also starts to destroy the bearings.
Depending on the turbo, it will spin at about 17,000 RPM at idle and anywhere up to 150,000 RPM's running down the road.
Try to avoid this by letting the engine idle 2 to 3 minutes or more before shutting down, this helps the turbo slow down to near idle speeds and helps cool the unit a bit, this prolongs the life of the turbo.
I do not know if they still manufacture them or not, it is an electric motor 12vdc and a pump coupled with a timer that runs for about 3 minutes at engine shut down and pumps oil to the turbo after the engine is shut down, totally separate from the engine, runs from the engine sump to the oil line for the turbo, the oil then drains to the engine pan this helps cool down the hot end of the turbo while it spools down and prolongs it's life.

navegator

This - 100%, every time.

Plus very good oil and change out every 7000 miles. We don't put the miles on like a OTR truck does or we don't. Its get new oil when it put to bed and then 6 months later after we start using it again another oil change. I do have the oil check every year and so far that has worked out.

[Jarlaxle]

Sometimes they just...fail. These are very complex variable-geometry turbochargers and much more prone to fail than older turbos. (We actually lost one at work on a Cummins 8.9 about a month and a half ago.)

https://www.drivingline.com/articles/why-vgt-turbo-s-fail-and-how-you-can-prevent-it/