Boost Leak Or Blown Turbo?

[SSStagea]

OK, have a Ser 2 Stagea (RB25 NEO) manual, with a hiflow stock turbo. The problem I now have is, large whinning sound coming from the Turbo area (which has now quiet since having to limp the car home 100km's), and the car is making absolutely NO boost. Drove from Hervey Bay to Bundy tonight and back again. Was making boost on the way to Bundy and around there for about half hour, the Trubo seemed to be whining a bit louder then normal and then got to the stage of sounding like there was a Supercharger on there. Not making any boost according to the stock boost gauge.

Could I have just knocked a hose loose/ split a hose when I took the coil pack cover off the other day? Should I just start by taking all the hoses off and seeing if they are split or if any of them are loose? Would a boost leak make the turbo spool louder? And last off, would driving it all the way home with it not making boost, have caused more damage to things? I kept the revs under 3k in all gears and at about 2.5k in fifth gear on the highway.

Any help would be great cause I don't know where to start looking since this is my first Turbo vehicle.

Thanks

Dave

[ashneel]

blown turbo would result in car blowing smoke wouldnt it???

id check the small things first. check all the hoses then if nothing prob start looking into turbo.

but most of the time its always something small so ye check hoses first.

[SSStagea]

Well it isn't blowing any smoke which is a good thing. Will start checking hoses first thing in the morning and see if I can find anything. Thanks for the reply.

[ashneel]

no worries

also another thing ou could look at is see if your exhaust manifold has come lose. sounds silly but my 33 had brokend exhaust manifold stud which on full throttle sounds very bad and i was getting hardly any boost.

thats all i can think off. someone with more knowledge will prob give ya better advice.

how it all works out.

[DMAN#20]

does the stock turbo have a ceramic exhaust turbine wheel? if so pull the cat out and examine to see if any fragments of turbine are in there!

[mongrel]

the turbine wheel usually sheers outside of the core and the compressor and shaft stay in place in the core so quite often you won't blow smoke when it fails

[Jet 20]

^^^ second that.

check for a blown turbine (exhaust) wheel.

[2gceffy]

he said it was a hi-flow so wouldnt it have steel wheel??

[Jet 20]

even though. steel wheels still go bang.

i would stil unbolt the cat and check for bit's. it's a cheap check.

[SSStagea]

OK, taken of intake and checked front turbine for play/ bits missing. Everything looks normal on front side. Took off cat and there is no bits of anything in there. Will check all hoses again and look for anything split/ not on.

Thanks for the replies and the help.

One other question - when I put the cat back in place, will I need anything to go around the seals?? The gaskets are both in good order but does it need any type of sealant to go on with it?

[SS#eater]

yeah mate i would put some exhaust sealant in there......when you say its making no boost does it drive the same??? pull the same way it could be that your boost gauge is shagged...but the noise you heard isnt good.....my turbo made a wobbly wistle noise (best i can describe)turned out somwthing had gone through compressor.....got a high flow.....if you floor it and there is noticeable power loss something is a miss....maybe waste gate wont seal or is not closing at all....

[SSStagea]

Definite power loss. Was making boost earlier in the night, shown by guage, then later you could feel that there was no boost building at all. How do I check the wastegate? If it was the wastegate would it make the turbo sound different?

[mico]

i would definately be pulling my dump pipe off, and inspecting the turbine wheel.

[SS#eater]

remove your dump pipe from the turbo and you should be able to feel if not see a little arm with a round cirlce attached to it thats the waste gate it should be hard up against the turbo housing making a seal...look at your turbine wheel it may have seperated from the shaft......if there is no boost it has to bo turbo wheel or waste gate....if the acctuator arm is not attached to the waste gate opener then you waste gate will be open all the time not allowing boost to buil...hope this helps...waste gat should be shut at all times only opens to controll boost level

[SSStagea]

After having 2 people come and have a look today (both mechanics), both of them think the same thing. Either the bearing or the shaft is gone in the turbo. If it is either of these is it possible just to get those parts replaced? Haven't looked on the exhaust side of things as I ran out of time to rip the dump pipe off. Could I just send it back to GCG and get them to service it and if so any one know a ballpark figure of what it would cost to replace bearing/shaft?

Thanks greatly for all the help.

[mico]

im not familiar with gcg and how they operate. if they done the install, then they should replace it. but if u or someone else stuffed it then go figure. i think a re - conditioned turb is around $1200.

[skylinekid]

lol the good ole pialba brake and clutch banana on wheels tehehehe..... that thing wasnt fitted all that long ago... thought she woulda lasted longer then that dave..... how many k's has tha car done since u brought it.... and do u change ur oil very often?

and just a a chance pull tha vaccum line off the actuator see if the wastegate snaps shut. had a case a lil while back of the actuator got stuk open... but turbo wasnt making ne whining noise like u describe... check for shaft play aswell cant hurt....

if ya want me to come have a gander aswell im more then happy to come say hi... its simon here btw maroon 33.... 0432919092 let me know

Edited January 3, 2009 by skylinekid

[SSStagea]

Well, we pulled the Turbo off and it is definitelly the turbo that has shit itself. Looks like the bearing has gone in it and let the exhaust wheel rub on the inside of the housing.. Time to look for a new turbo..

Car has only done 7000 k since I have owned it and have allready done an oil change since getting it.

To make things more fun for me, the very last nut that we were taking off to get the turbo removed from the manifold, caught up on the stud and snapped so now that has to come off as well to be repaired. Oh the joy of it all.

Well, off to do some research for the new turbo..

[Tangles]

damn man thas heaps unlucky

go garrett such as GT3071 or GT2871

or rebuild the current turbo - get quotes from major turbo builders on the eastern seaboard.....

[Adriano]

3076 .63 or .82 FTW, about $1950+ dump pipe