Hey all, I have a 1989 760 turbo sedan with 105,000 miles on it. I change the oil every 2500-3000 miles, and baby the car to death. I was just wondering how much more I can expect out of the turbocharger before the dreaded replacement.

How far have some of you gone before replacement?

Had an 87 740T with 213K car died in an acciedent. Strong turbo, original. No signs of aging. Well with Jiffy lube charging the previous owner (young lady) an exta $5 bucks for 'turbo oil', you can't go wrong!!! I saw the old records.

Turbo tips: do reqular oil changes (3k), and wait 30s to let the turbo cool down before turning off. Also warm up. Also keep an eye on the oil and coolant supply hoses to the turbo. You don't want them to go bad. Ask my uncle, who replace a turbo, with an new engine on his 91 740 with 69k miles. The thing with turbo's is that if the wrong seal fails, it'll suck the oil right out of the engine. Very unlikely though.

Regular maintance. Don't worry untill you get to the 250K mark.

Depends on how you drive. My turbo is still original in my 91 740T sedan w/ m46, at 175k miles. Its still DAMN strong.

Well, now that you ask. There is hope for your car. I have over 260,000 miles on my 1986 744Ti. It STILL has the original NON-water cooled turbo in it. I haven't exactly babied it, recently, but it's still smooth and play-free.

Stop worrying.

Have a '87 745T with 213,000 miles. Original turbo. Only seen dino oil, no synthetics. Bought the car 4 years ago at 152,000. The car has always been well maintained, and I change the oil about every 3,000. Last spring I had the plumbing off the turbo as part of another repair. Checked the turbo shaft for play. Felt no lateral play, and hardly any radial play. Unless a major problem shows up, I would expect to get may more miles from this turbo.

By contrast, my wife's '88 745T was purchased 3 years ago with 133,000 miles. The PO did not take good car of the car, and it was evident oil changes were sometimes far appart. But hey, the price was right. There is a lot of evidence suggesting the turbo was replaced sometime before I bought the car. With continued poor attention, the turbo shaft has a lot more play than the '87 745T.

So the bottom line is, take care of the car, and the turbo should last a long, long time.

Good luck,