Turbo failure: worth fixing or get a different car

I bought a Grand Megane scenic 54 plate last tuesday and when I took it to work the day after the turbo charger failed causing a huge cloud of black smoke smoke and significant lost of power. I could not stop immediately due to the road I was on and probably drove for 1 mile.

The dealer is willing to replace the turbo and is reassuring me the car will be fixed to high standards. The engine has got 80k miles (genuine). The car has been regularly serviced by a renault dealer. It had a few majors (instrument panel, oil pump/switch, engine mounting) sorted by Renault dealer.

My dilemma is will the engine survive such a blow? Will I have the same problem in the near future? Should I get the vehicle checked privately after the job has been done or should I try to get the money back?

Asked on 6 December 2012 by ivanuccio

Answered by Honest John
Never replace a turbo without replacing all the oil feed pipework as well. Turbos usually fail because the oil in the bearings cokes up from the engine having been switched off when the turbo was too hot. The oil in the feed pipes to the turbo can also coke up, starving the turbo (and the replacement turbo) of oil leading to another disaster within 1,000 miles.
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