Automotive advice from The Under the Hood® Show
Dear Motor Medics,
I have a 2017 Chevy Cruise and I’ve put over 190k miles on the car.
During that time, I’ve had to replace three turbo chargers. One was under warranty and the other two I paid regular price for. After looking across the internet I have found many people who have had to replace them.
Are these turbos no good or do I need to do other things with the car to make them last?
I change the oil every 6k miles regularly.
Johnathan in Rochester, MN
Dear Johnathan,
Well, three turbos in 190k miles is not unheard of. We’ve seen cars with 200k with one turbo but not too many in our own shop. We do tend to see many more with early failures when the car is either driven hard, such as on a long drive then shut off right away so the turbo does not have time to cool down and when the oil is not changed often enough.
The 6k miles change is a long time on one of these cars.
We recommend around 4k miles to our customers and they seem to have better luck.
Small engines with high horsepower generate a lot of heat and the engine oil is the lifeblood of the engine. When the oil starts to break down it no longer protects itself and will start to burn on the turbo bearings. On another note, we don’t see many of these engines last over 200k miles.
Take care,
The Motor Medics
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