causes of turbo shaftplay?

[ninety7gst]

hey guys, i just had to get a new engine because they said the turbo had shaftplay and was scraping the fins against the compressor housing and it sent metal shards into my engine causing oil to be rapidly consumed leading to engine failure. my question to you guys is what are the major (and minor ) causes of shaftplay? i know that bearings can go out from lack of oil, but there were no burn spots on the shaft. in any case i definally got screwed over on this car because once it blew the engine the shop said it needed a new clutch, flywheel resufaced, 1 motor mount was worn and one was broke, turbo bad, oil cooler needed replaced to warranty engine, ect. but i was wondering why the turbo had failed in the first place? fyi, its a Precesion SCM50 turbo. thanks guys

 

[oddrob]

Usually any metal shards are nicely caught by the intercooler. Seems an odd explanation. If a turbo totally goes it can lose oil through the seals and result in some damage. But generally they go bad from junk in the oil, low oil pressure or ingestion of foriegn materials.

 

[Jehu]

Exactly. Are you sure you can trust the shop? Did they give you compression specs etc? What was their justification in thinking that the engine is dead? As oddrob said, typically any type of material from the turbo would be caught by the IC, and usually other issues come up by the time the bearings have enough play for the blades to touch the housing...

 

[ninety7gst]

they really didn't give me stats to any tests they performed 2 see if the engine was shot. i think i can trust the shop, but then again i thought i could trust the guy i bought this car from....HAH, big mistake