Hi first time poster long time reader.

Can anyone tell me what actually goes wrong with the electronic actuator?

I'll tell you what just happened to me,

I was on EBay and I spotted the adds "REPAIR YOUR OWN TURBO ACTUATOR FOR A FRACTION OF THE PRICE" there was a picture of the small 12 vdc motor that controls the arm going to the turbo, the listing was by a guy that offers an actuator repair service for about £200 but he was selling the motor for £125+P&P
so I emailed him saying

"Ah ha, Is that the culprit that breaks on the electronic actuator?
I have a facelift ST TDCI (2.2) and I’m getting the Actuator fault code along with the dreaded flashing coil light/limp home mode.
Will this fix the actuator on the 2.2 engine? or is there any way of testing the one I have?
Any advice would be much appreciated."

He then sent me a reply saying

"OH Dear it isn’t the only part that breaks but this item is for people who know what has failed on their own actuator.
unless you know what has failed.?
I test them but has to be sent in to us."

All seems fine I thought.....Until I went back to the listing for the motor and found he had (in the space of half an hour) sold all 10 of them and all 20 of the other motors he had for sale on other listings???????
What I'm wondering is has this guy let the cat out of the bag so to speak on what actually breaks on the actuator and has he realized that if people can source the motor for themselves he will be doing himself out of a job so he removed all the motor listings???
Lets face it doesn't cost £125 for a small 12v motor.

I'm a civil engineer my dads an old school mechanic(when you didn’t need a laptop to fix a car) and my brother is an electronic engineer so we pulled the actuator out and opened it...on one side you have the circuit board and on the other side you have the motor, Obviously you would need to know what you were at to fix the circuit board but if its the motor that breaks that’s an easy fix just swap like for like.

My brother is going to bring some test equipment home on Monday to test the motor, It will be interesting to see if this is the problem.

Is this the secret all the turbo guys want to keep quiet?

Just thought I’d get your thoughts on this. just in case I’m being paranoid.

 

Often it is the moving parts that wear out 1st in electronics, like switches, motors etc

or electronics may fail because they are subject to heat and vibration.

Over time the variable vanes on the turbine can get coked up, untill they sieze or the movement is restricted, this can have a knock-on effect on the actuator rod, and on the electronic actuator - which can burn out (whether its the motor or the circut that burns out 1st, i don't know)

it is worth checking the rod/ vanes operate as they should - or you may pop another electronic actuator

 

as above the vanes in the turbo stick and then the motor in the actuator fails, if left long enough the wiring can also be damaged going to the ecu