I don't recall if the Sciex software allows you to monitor the turbo speed or %speed.  If any of the vacuum region is leaking, the turbo should only run so long before it will overheat and shut off in an effort to prevent damage.  However, it could be that an ion gauge is going bad.  This would tell the turbo that the pressure in the forepump region isn't low enough and subsequently shut the turbo off.

Dear Kevin,

Thanks very much! No, the software doesn't really tell you the turbo speed, just whether the turbo is "accelerating" or "normal".  Someone else also suggested it might be the ion gauge.  Do you know of a way to check this to be a little more certain that that's the problem before we go buy a new one?  We're on a tight budget....

Dear John,

Thank you very much, no I didn't have this.  The vacuum gauge reading does get to 1 x 10e-5 torr without apparent difficulty.  And you're probably remembering correctly about the diagnostic software.  I'm beginning to think it might be worth tracking down.  Thanks again.

It has been a while for me as well (dealing with a Sciex).  The last one I saw was in a 5600 and it was closed (I couldn't see the filament).  If you can identify them, you may be able to see.  John is right though, usually they either work or don't, but they are much less expensive than a turbo refurb.  Unfortunately, this may be the scenario.  This was happening with my Thermo Exactive.  It would get up to 100 % speed then shut off.  After a reboot, it would get to about 80%...the next time 60%, then it died.  I sent the turbo out to be refurbished ($3500) and put it in myself (they shouldn't be too hard, but take lots of pictures).  Listen for a high pitched whine in the turbo if you can, but this is not always indicative. Good luck!

It sounds that the problem might not come with the turbo pump, just the system shut down. This might be the reason that you thought the problem came with Turbo pump. In my opinion, if the problem came with Turbo pump, then either you could not start up again or you will hear a noisy noise. I will suggest the problem might come from the high voltage cable which provide high voltage (8KV and 5KV) for detector behind of HVPS board. The system will be shut down because of arching between 8KV connector with mother board. This resulted System Controller thought "someone" turned off the power switch. If so, just replaced the connector (cost you around 5 USD), or SCIEX engineer will replace the whole cable set (will cost you 1200 USD maybe).

Aries, thank you very much for posting this. You are probably correct. Some weeks after we started having this problem with the turbo, I noticed a clicking noise when the MS was running. When I took off the back panel, I discovered that the clicking was due to arcing between the high voltage board and a cable. It never occurred to me that that might be the cause of the turbo pump problems, but you may very well be right. It sounds like you think it might only be necessary to replace the connector? We were afraid we would have to replace the board, which costs something like 9000 USD.

It just needs to replace the connector, but the cable set is often replaced. No, you don't need to replace the board (HVPS) at the case, but if the HVPS damaged which caused by arcing. If so, you will lost signal at all on positive or negative mode. I mean the signal will be very low or just some hair-like peaks.

To replace the board, yes, it would be higher than the cable set, but would not take you so high as 9K USD. It should be around 4.5K or less. I will suggest to fix the problem asap otherwise the problem will make worse, then you might need to replace the cable set, HVPS and mother board, even the turbo pump will be damaged.

Hope this help.

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