Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 17:15:18 +0000 From: Grunff <grunffnopsam.com> Subject: Re: Service rating of turbos
Everett M. Greene wrote: > It is my understanding that light-duty turbos as used in > passenger automobiles and pickups are not rated for > continuous use at anything near full capacity unlike > those used in heavy trucks, airplanes, etc. Is this > true? Service ratings don't really work in the same way in cars. The vast majority of cars are built with a certain life (mileage) expectancy. Say the engine is expected to last x00,000 miles - where x is anything between 1 and 5. Any other major non-wear components are engineered to last about the same amount of time - given average driving conditions. Interesting you should mention turbos, because they are an exception. The simplicity of a car turbo means that it has only two failure modes - eroded turbine/compressor blades and worn shaft bearing. This means that as long as the incoming air stream is clean (good quality, clean air filter with no air leaks anywhere else) and the supply of oil through the bearing is of adequate quality, flow rate and temperature, the turbo will last almost indefinitely! Sure it will eventually fail due to metal fatigue, but this will be after millions of miles, not hundreds of thousands. -- Grunff