Volvo Turbo Seized?

[Max Simmons]

Hello,
Yesterday we were running a boat with twin Volvo KMD 300s, 1,300 hours. It was owned by a friend that recently passed away and the boat has not been out of the slip in a year, but ran fine last time out. I had started it up a couple times over the last few months just to make sure everything was in working order, but yesterday was the first time out and running with a load. Idle and low speed were fine, but would not get above 1,900-2000 RPM. No turbo whine. I pulled off the intake side of the turbo and it would not spin. This appears to be the same condition for both engines (I only opened one turbo up)
I'm more familiar with old school Perkins, so learning some new stuff here. The odd thing is that the same condition appears to be with both engines. I do believe that my friend experienced this same condition a couple years ago and was able to free them up. He was also a diesel mechanic that had decades of knowledge under his belt. I'm also researching on Boat Diesel, but thought I'd reach out here to see if anyone has had similar issue. Thanks!

 

[KnotYet]

Hello,
Yesterday we were running a boat with twin Volvo KMD 300s, 1,300 hours. It was owned by a friend that recently passed away and the boat has not been out of the slip in a year, but ran fine last time out. I had started it up a couple times over the last few months just to make sure everything was in working order, but yesterday was the first time out and running with a load. Idle and low speed were fine, but would not get above 1,900-2000 RPM. No turbo whine. I pulled off the intake side of the turbo and it would not spin. This appears to be the same condition for both engines (I only opened one turbo up)
I'm more familiar with old school Perkins, so learning some new stuff here. The odd thing is that the same condition appears to be with both engines. I do believe that my friend experienced this same condition a couple years ago and was able to free them up. He was also a diesel mechanic that had decades of knowledge under his belt. I'm also researching on Boat Diesel, but thought I'd reach out here to see if anyone has had similar issue. Thanks!

Turbos do accumulate soot deposits and that could be your situation.
Removal and cleaning by someone who is experienced with those engines may help.

Be aware that there are other problems that could cause this, like journal failure or FOD.

 

[Northern Spy]

Sounds like the turbine might be coked up from wet stacking (or a bad EGR if you have one). See if you can give it a spin. I've had a turbo hang up after a period of non use and all it took was a couple of revolutions on the compressor wheel by hand by removing the (air side) hose. Ran it up to speed under a load and it was fine. It's not a lot of work to pull one off and have a look to see if the turbine is coked up. The carbon will be immediately present. Often times soaking them in a cleaner (Seafoam) works. I've heard of people using oven cleaner too, but I would want to know the metallurgy of the components (specifically the journal bearings) before I used something as caustic as sodium hydroxide on aluminum or bronze.

If you have a bad oil seal, this may be the source of the carbon too. I have successfully rebuilt simple (CT26 and CT20) turbos without incident. Kits and info on the web are readily available.

If the turbo is more complex and has variable vanes or ball bearings, then I wouldn't consider too much DIY repair, personally.

 

[jleonard]

I would spray some WD40 into the housing around the impeller then use a socket and ratchet and try to rotate the turbo shaft that way. Don’t put too much torque on it but don’t baby it either. Only go clockwiseuntil it moves then you can gently work it back and forth
If it moves that way you should be good to go for a trip or two but sounds like you need to rebuild them.

 

[DavidM]

The turbos may be stuck due to age, soot andlack of use or there may have been sea water backing up into the turbo over the years which finally locked it up. Many boats have this problem, most owners know nothing of it happening until the turbo fails.

So, in addition to the good advice above, remove the elbow at the exhaust outlet of the turbo and look inside the turbo throat around the impeller. It should be relatively smooth with a light soot coating. If sea water has been getting in it will be quite rough with maybe orange rusty spots.

If that is the problem, think about redesigning the exhaust to add sufficient height above the water line to achieve the recommended 12".

David

 

[fgarriso]

Check the turbo bearings on both the HOT side and the COLD side. Turbos run at very high RPMs, and if the bearings fail from lack of oil, or crud in them the bearings will go out.

 

[Max Simmons]

I would spray some WD40 into the housing around the impeller then use a socket and ratchet and try to rotate the turbo shaft that way. Don’t put too much torque on it but don’t baby it either. Only go clockwiseuntil it moves then you can gently work it back and forth
If it moves that way you should be good to go for a trip or two but sounds like you need to rebuild them.

Jay, would this be from the intake side or exhaust side?

 

[Northern Spy]

Intake (air) side. The nut is usually on the compressor side. Plus it is easy to get to. Just remove the air filter/silencer.

 

[FF]

Turbos problems can come from running hard and then quickly shutting down.

If the turbo is not idled till cool, the lube oil can coke which is hard on the bearings.

 

[rslifkin]

Turbos problems can come from running hard and then quickly shutting down.

If the turbo is not idled till cool, the lube oil can coke which is hard on the bearings.

Agreed, and this is why many newer turbos are water cooled, not just oil cooled. And in automotive applications, some have an electric coolant pump to help cool them after shutdown.

 

[jleonard]

Jay, would this be from the intake side or exhaust side?

Intake side.

 

[Max Simmons]

We ended up pulling both intake and exhaust sides off. The exhaust side was the issue with soot build-up. Port wasn't too bad, a little penetrating oil and some cleaning and it was spinning free. Starboard was pretty bad, we pulled the turbo off and gave it a good soak with PB Blaster and blew it out with compressed air. Got it to spin freely and after a couple more rounds of soak and blast, we'll stick it back on and see how she does.