Thats the difinitive list of what to and what not to do Cyd, excellent stuff, should be made a ''sticky''...hows about that Avant?

I knew several people who had petrol turbos in the 80's, nearly all failed at some point, in all cases when i asked about their extra servicing regimes or warm up cool down procedures they looked at me blankly as a sheep would.

People with turboDiesel cars would do well to take heed of much of your list too, better than shelling out up to £1500 each time (if no resulting damage) and then looking here for guidance or to complain long after the event.

is considered by many to be twaddle

And they'll be posting here for guidance how to get the maker to stump up for their blown turbos, sheared timing chains and ruined engines in due course.

I can't think of any reason why a turbocharger should be any more or less reliable in a petrol engine compared with a diesel.

I can. Heat. Petrol exhaust gases are considerably hotter than diesels. When industrial diesels are converted to gas engines (sorry, designed from a clean sheet of paper-ha ha!), the big issue is cooling the exhaust gases to maintain acceptable turbocharger lifespan.

I am no engineer and may be talking through my hat here, but isn't the engine oil in my current 200 bhp Skoda doing more work than the oil did in my first car, a gentle old 50 bhp Austin?

The oil in your 200bhp Skoda is as similar to the oil in your old 50 bhp Austin as chalk and cheese.

And yes, most of the time the oil in your 50bhp Austin did work much harder than your 200bhp Skoda, if only because the mechanical efficiency was so bad that the engine had to be constantly thrashed just to get the one ton brick up to 50mph.

Not to also mention the pathetic fuel and thermal management that meant the oil was constantly being contaminated with petrol, water and all sorts of other pollutants

But on the other hand, a lot of the advice advocated in this thread is appropriate for a 1950's pushrod engine.

Edited by brum on 10/04/2013 at 01:39

I can't think of any reason why a turbocharger should be any more or less reliable in a petrol engine compared with a diesel.

Despite cars in general being more reliable than they used to be, turbos can still fail, and surely any reasonable steps to prolong theor life, as suggested by Cyd and backed by GB, make sense. Like many, I'm suspicious of the modern fashion for extended intervals between oil changes.

I am no engineer and may be talking through my hat here, but isn't the engine oil in my current 200 bhp Skoda doing more work than the oil did in my first car, a gentle old 50 bhp Austin?

If there's general agreement on the care of turbos I could ask HJ if it would be a possible answer to a FAQ.

Diesel exhaust temps are typically around 850C, whereas petrol will be around 1100, possibly more on a HOT motor.
This is why most petrol turbos are water cooled whilst most diesels turbos are not.

It doesn't take me much hard driving to get my Saabs turbo glowing a bright orange!

Petrol turbos also have much more shaft accelerations / decelerations as the throttle is opened and closed which places more stress on the whole assembly.

Brums snide comments don't really help his case much, do they? After 20+ years in automotive R&D, years building rally cars and much contact with engine engineers I know that oil is an engines best friend. Long service intervals are a sop to the fleet buyers who are consumed about "cost of ownership" and have been pushed to the max. Not forgetting cars are designed for a 12 year 125k lifetime. So if you want your car to last and perform like new with 167k on the clock, then follow my way. If you're not that bothered, well, you do as you please. A little preventative maintenance is way cheaper and less inconvenient than failure. Whilst there are no gurantees, you can stack the odds. I for one am not about to risk my expensive motor to short term marketing strategy.