AET Blogs

Compressor Wheel – Minor Impact Damage This example illustrates the damage that can be caused by inadequate or faulty air filtration. It’s a common problem and in these examples, small pieces of dust, dirt and grit have been able to enter the turbos on the air inlet side. Over time, these particles have begun to…

Seal Plate Damage – Corrosion In this image, you can see a seal plate with the tell-tale signs of corrosion damage. On a new, undamaged back plate, the surface would be smooth, but here, corrosion has caused the face of the seal to become pitted, worn and roughened. This kind of problem is fairly common…

Seal Plate Damage – Excessive Play in Bearings Here, the seal plate has been damaged by excessive play in the journal bearings (also known as thrust bearings). On the face of the plate, you can clearly see that the bore has been chewed and worn down by the bearings. On the rear of the plate,…

Seal Plate Damage – Excessive Wear of Bearings If the thrust or journal bearings become excessively worn, then they can cause damage to the seal plates like in the example pictured here. When bearings become worn, this allows the rotor assembly to float on its axis. In turn, this allows the back face of the…

Compressor Wheel – ‘Mouse & Nut’ Damage You couldn’t make this one up. One of our customers had parked their car up for winter and during this time, some mice had taken refuge in the airbox. When the customer came to use the car again in the spring and started up the engine, some nuts…

Compressor Cover Damage – Scoring This image illustrates scoring out of the compressor cover profile, and occurs when excessive wear and movement in either the thrust bearing or journal bearing (or both) causes excessive movement in the rotor. In turn, this causes the compressor wheel to rub against the compressor cover, scoring out the profile.…

Compressor Cover damage – Corrosion In the image, you can see corrosion damage to the seal area and inlet of the compressor cover. This type of damage is extremely common with Porsche units as, with the turbos sited so low down on the vehicle, they catch all the road debris that gets flung up from…

Wastegate Actuator damage Faulty or damaged actuators are the cause of many of the turbo problems we see at AET, but they can be easy to overlook. The wastegate actuator acts as a pressure relief valve, which ultimately controls the boost output of a turbocharger. It works by holding the wastegate shut until the required…

Compressor wheel damage – Overspeeding In these images, you can see that the back of the compressor wheel has become rippled and pitted, which are early signs of damage caused by overspeeding. Overspeeding damage like this occurs when a vehicle’s engine causes the turbo to spin faster than it is designed to. This excessive speed…

Compressor wheel damage – serious overspeeding Here’s a more serious example of overspeeding damage - in this image, the compressor wheel has actually exploded into pieces due to extreme overspeeding! Damage like this can be caused when a turbo spins so fast that it starts to bend the turbine shaft at the thrust shoulder. In…

Turbine Shaft & Wheel – Broken Turbine Wheel Base This image shows a damaged turbine wheel base – look closely and you can see that the base has several sections cut out of it, which have been chipped off. Damage like this is caused by excessive thrust bearing wear, which has caused the turbine wheel…

Bearing Housing – corrosion damage Here you can see an example of bearing housing corrosion . Corrosion damage like this results in a loss of seal between the bearing housing and turbine housing, and can cause a series of knock on effects, including damage to the bearings, turbine, compressor wheel, and housing. This kind of…