Thursday, September 24, 2015

Cummins ISC Diesel Engine Turbocharger Failure



Cummins ISC Turbocharger Replacement from John Whelan on Vimeo.

This failure occurred without any notice. In the video you can see the nut that loosened off and backed right off of the turbo shaft. Once this happened it caused seizure and a large amount of oil started pumping through the intake system. The turbo bearings are lubricated with pressure engine oil so there's a big mess when this type of failure happens.

The oil did help in a way flowing into the charge air cooler and leaking out a crack in the cooler core. So replacing the charge air cooler was added to the list. Once the turbocharger was replaced with a re-manufactured unit along with the charge air cooler this engine was back in business. It's important to flush out the air piping in case debris got trapped. The steam cleaner does wonders for this type of task.

Preventing this failure would be hard to do since normal preventive maintenance does not involve removing air intake and boost piping for inspection during a service. This would take too much time so the only other clue would be poor boost performance or turbocharger noise audible to the mechanic or driver.

I hope you find this video informative as food for thought. A failure of this kind will happen again undoubtedly somewhere...somehow. It falls under the "how the hell did that happen" category. If you have a comment please state it below. I like to get feedback form readers who have gone through something similar.

 





1 comment :

Bill Grimsley said...

Mr. Whelan, have 94 Winnebago Vectra with Cummins b5.9 coupled with Allison MD3060 using WTEC II. 'N' light does not come on when ignition is turned on. IF I leave ignition on and unplug TCU, then plug back in then the starter will engage and start engine. Turn off the ighition and have to go thru same procedure to start again. Any ideas, please? Bill