chips overboosting turbos
 

imma tech at a chevy/cadlliac dealer and this guy comes in with a brand new turbo diesel with 1500 miles and says turbo blew, we warranty it and R&R it and a week later hes back with the intercooler tubes blown off, the diesel turbo pushes 31psi and these tubes are sposed to hold. anyway we found a "chipped" ECU and well his warranty is null and void now and hes pissed, how do GIAC or any other "chip" manufactuers deal with this problem and has anyone here heard of this happening on a S4or A4 for that matter.

peace

RE: chips overboosting turbos
 

Okay, first of all, 31 psi is bound to cause problems with stock piping/tubing on most factory-turbocharged vehicles. That is an extreme case.

Second, intercooler tubes blowing (or leaking) is not synonym of "turbos blowing". A turbocharger "blowing" would be the casing cracking due to extreme heat/pressure, or the compressor/turbine breaking due to spinning beyond its physical limitations. Most turbochargers can spin fast enough to build up at least 50% more boost than factory ECU allows for. Weather or not it is efficient (from a heat standpoint), that's another story, but the turbos themselves will more than likely not suffer any physical damage. Their longterm reliability may be compromised, however, as is the case with any part that generates heat.

Most ECU upgrades for the B5 S4 limit boost to about 1 bar (14.5+- psi). Unless there's an underlying issue that could cause an infinite boost condition (the turbocharger continues to spool up and the ECU does not see more than 14.5 psi on its end), it is very unlikely to cause the kind of havoc you mentioned above.

The guy you worked with should've taken precautions by upgrading some of the components necessary to withstand higher boost pressures. I do agree with such cases nulling their warranty. Most people in the performance car scene have a general understanding of the consequences of upgrading thier vehicles and if they're dumb enough to not do it the proper way, they deserve getting in a situation where they end up having to fork out even more money for expensive repairs.