How does a turbo affect the operation of a diesel engine and what are the possible problems and effects to the engine when one goes?

Answer 1

the exhaust of the engine propels the turbo pushing the heated exhaust into the charged air cooler in which cools the air about 30 degrees before being thrusted into the intake manifold in which enhances the performance of the engine. If a turbo was to prematurely malfunction or fail due to lack of oil and antifreeze; it will blow apart sending shards of metal into the charged air cooler and maybe as far as the intake manifold causing internal engine damage. the end result will be no power and an engine sucked emty of all it's oil.

This is misleading. The exhaust gases are routed by the turbine side of the turbocharger causing the turbine wheel to rotate at speeds of up to 100,000 rpm. The turbine wheel is attached to the compressor wheel of the turbocharger by a shaft that is generally lubricated by engine oil and can be cooled by the engine oil alone or by engine coolant. Not all turbochargers have engine coolant routed to them. The compressor side of the turbo draws filtered air (not heated exhaust gasses) from the intake system and can pass it through a charge air cooler (CAC) which is an air to air heat transfer device, or possibly an inter cooler which is a air to engine coolant or air to engine oil heat transfer device, or even possibly no cooler at all. A turbo charger on a diesel engine does not operate as a power adder as it does on a gasoline engine. A turbo on a diesel engine works to match air to fuel and with the added air, more fuel can also be injected which is why turbo diesels can have more torque and HP. If the turbo starts to go on a diesel you will see losses in power and fuel economy. You may see oil in the turbine housing which means that a side seal is leaking, on the compressor side this can be a side seal or your air filter is plugged. They can come apart and send metal pieces into the intake stream possibly damaging your engine. The waste gate may malfunction and gate all exhaust gasses around the turbine never allowing it to spool up to speed therefor causing power loss. On newer diesel engines that have variable geometry turbochargers their are even more possibilities that have to do with the actuator (either a sliding nozzle ring (Holset type) or moving vanes (Garrett type)). These are computer controlled and that is another bag of worms. If you are having problems have a pro look at you engine before just replacing parts. Small and inexpensive problems can mimic a bad turbo.