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Just absorbing info on these vehicles as considering buying into one.
On the subject of turbocharger failure, although there are many reasons that stack up for saying they might blow if this, that, the other conditions of use prevailed, my experience is as follows:
Volkswagen Passat, an early 1999 model, estate tdi. Often used it on the school run 2 miles max, in bad weather, late, etc. Didn’t even get the car until it had 120k miles on it. Aircon never needed charged in the next 70k miles I owned it, and no turbo problems at any time, of any sort. I think I spray-greased the big piston-rod actuator these things have, once, as a precaution.
I did any and every run, shops locally, school, that my spouse did in her Clio 1.2 petrol car. I always warm the car up, spin it around 1500 rpm for a couple minutes, but i do that with a petrol car and my motorcycle. If you wanna just drop in and ‘interceptor launch’ you really want an electric car. It won’t be caused a problem with that.
I do subscribe to the point of view that any oil or fluid change for engine or transmission in an automatic, is an outer limit, in practice I changed at about 7k miles the engine oil if it said 10k miles. Use the cheapest stuff that meets the spec, and change it more often. I also have one important tip, worthy of mention regards French cars used in the UK: IT IS A LOT COLDER HERE ON AVERAGE so the oil ‘feels’ to me like it’s too thick for some of these engines.
So I also subscribe to using thinner oil in this country compared to France. I think the Clio mk2 said such and such oil, but I definitely always used 10W40, then found out it’s meant to be slightly thicker. But, that mk2 engine, albeit non-turbo, is still running, and it’s at 140k miles. It also only has 8 valves, so we have latitude with the cam belt, although I have done it, I think twin-cams with 16v put a lot more strain on these?
This, is bang-on, in the wheelhouse for turbo failures. I think it is the thick nature of the oil, in our colder climate on average, that means these cold starts are doing damage. In fact, when I see the oil darken, or I have left it a bit longer than usual to change, my first thought is the turbo. The oil cools it, the bearings in particular, as well as lubes it. So my tuppence worth is that it’s worth using the thinner oil in winter at least, in the UK, just for the turbo. I am not going against the handbook, but rather following it in this regard…it’s oil weight/viscosity is correct, for France. The damage is done, mostly when cold not hot, for normal cars.
My other example is an even bigger diesel - a 2.4 5-pot Volvo V70 D5 which has just been scrapped but it’s nothing to do with the engine. The engine sat there for 3 years, as I turned it over and kept the battery charged. It’s 20 valves and turbo, again were uppermost in my mind, when doing this.
Again, I literally did the exact same school runs, the local shops as if it were a vauxhall corsa. Again, I always warm it spun up slightly, for a minute or two before driving away. None of this seems rocket science and I think it takes a pretty mechanically-hostile person to NOT do this?! Again, go electric if you wanna fly out like a clay pigeon at instant zero.
So in summary: I treated my two big estate cars/wagons like they were any old compact runabout, but do adhere to the idea of changing oil about 2/3 of the miles the handbook or Haynes says. And the transmission fluid, Haynes are right, 40k miles is the outside limit, why some manufacturers say it’s for ‘life’ I have no idea. That stuff was burned brown on the Volvo, from someone towing. I changed that stuff at 20k miles, and there isn’t even a proper orifice to pour it into. And it cost £70 a time just for the fluid.
Bringing us neatly to cost. Patently, if the alternative to outrageously short engine oil change intervals is a blown turbo and frankly, a rather inflated and ambitious bill, suddenly changing the engine oil every 7 thousand miles instead of 10k miles or 12k miles, seems very cheap.
I’d question whether a special oil filter in the route to the turbo, is a good idea, and seriously believe, the oil up there is probably clean enough, if you do regular changes, that the bigger danger is starvation, even if for a few short seconds at start-up. Far be it from me, to suggest the very first action a turbo engine should take, is to start an electric oil-pump and run it for five seconds to pre-pressurise the lube system. I am slightly amazed, this is not a standard thing.
So, if you can, find the very next oil viscosity thinner, I can’t say do it, but I can say that I DID do this small change, and yes if doing it in the summer, maybe considered using thicker stuff, but truly, it’s very cold first thing even in summer in northern Britain. I can literally hear the engines I have had, running clunky until the oil thins. I bet, the feed for the turbo, is the mosty winding, narrow feed of all the oilways, and it’s usually uphill from the sump, and it’s an exposed cold pathway too, ie a metal tube in some cases, out in the open air of the engine bay.
That and doing the 100-second warming, and not flooring it for a minute or two, would probably sort this. Ina way I am saying it IS the fact they are French that’s partly responsible - because oil over there, is naturally going to be slightly thinner, it probably all works en France.
Yes, both the engines I cite are probably bullet-proof. The 5-pot of Volvo/Audi, and the tdi 110 PD of VW, are the standard for diesel really in my limited experience. But the French traditionally have been good with diesels. Thinner oil if at all possible by a smidge, and change it at 2/3 the intervals, and be kind to the engine when setting off.
I would also agree these prices are a wonder. In the end, a turbo is a bolt-on replacement part. You could buy an entire replacement engine for the price quoted, and turbo specialists probably dream of being able to charge these prices.
but, good luck. I feel we need some kind of limited-assistance insurance for these occasions, like we get for dental care plans? So we pay a modest amount, but the payout covers say a half of the big costs if they happen to catch us out, like this weird turbo damage has done here. Have a good year if you can.
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