Have Ford caused my turbo to go?

3 hours ago, JW1982 said:

The conductivity / insulation resistance of the oil fully depends on the type of oil (and most important) the added additives.


Back in the days I worked for a company that services and repairs pleasure boat engines (both inboard and outboard). Some of the older engines uses electric shifting which basically consists of a pair of 12 Volt electric coils that are mounted in the transmission. On these engines using regular transmission oil results in the electric coils blowing up due to insufficient insulation resistance of the oil.

Nowadays I work for a company that services and repairs (large) electric motors, generators and transformers. One of our specialties are (large) high voltage, submersible oil filed motors. These motors are completely filled with hydraulic oil. This used to be a conventional mineral/synthetic oil but due to environmental concerns the owners had to switch to a biodegradable hydraulic oil. The major downside of this biodegradable hydraulic oil is that it is hygroscopic. The oil absorbs water/condensation which seriously affects the insulation resistance of the oil. Even on brand new barrels of oil we actually perform an insulation resistance test (Megger test) before the oil is even used.


The WSS-M2C948-B and WSS-M2C954-A1 oil specifications that are used on the 1.0 ECOboost (and many other Ford engines) is also known to be hygroscopic. This is also the reason why this oil forms a sludge when the vehicle is not used for a longer period (more than 12 Weeks). This sludge can completely clog the oil pump inlet and also affect the material of the wetbelt(s).

The combination of hygroscopic oil, condensation, dirt, etc. results in a conductive, corrosive substance that you definitely do not want in your wiring harnesses. This is not directly a problem on the short term. On the longer term however, the wiring will corrode from the inside which can cause all kinds of electrical issues. Due to the capillary action and most of the connectors being sealed the oil can actually travel quite far and affect entire harnesses or even travel to different wiring harnesses. Therefore, it is very important to replace the affected wiring immediately to prevent the issue from spreading any further.

 

interesting - do you think the effects you see day to day are because you are working on silly voltage stuff - and is the risk lessened greatly on the 5v rubbish engine sensors and ECUs work on ?

Merc have been blowing up engine ECUs for 19 years - claiming oil from nasty leaking bosch cam sensors, track contaminated oil down the harness and into the ECU - but when the loom is external, of course we also get the rain, moisture from the atmosphere and salt from winter added in the mix - another factor, Merc like to bake the ECU to death with engine heat and that kills them regardless of whether you have leaky cam sensors or not