Impending turbo failure?

mjt

mjt

mjt

Soldato
Joined
31 Aug 2007
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Well, I noticed a distinct whooshing sound under acceleration yesterday. It didn't sound like a split or loose hose as I've had that before, and there was no loss of power either.
It's coming from the right-hand side, so the driver's side in the UK, where the turbo is located. It sounds like a reverse DV if that makes sense.

Yesterday all I had was the noise, but today it's been joined by smoking under acceleration in 3rd and upwards.

The dealer had it up on the lift and had a play with the computer, and there are no faults registering, and there is no noise or smoke when revved in neutral.
So there were no faults found, visual or otherwise as it only whooshes and billows under acceleration..

So, am I waiting for an epic turbo failure or can the cause be a loose hose or split ring or something? I was roughly quoted €1500 for a new turbo fitted.
This seems rather steep, but a new turbo from the fatherland is around €1000 so that sounds right.
He also said that because it's a Cupra 4 it might be more difficult to work on due to having less space and the differential being in the way.
:rolleyes: was my reaction but he was adamant..

Opinions? :p
 
Weird noises and smoke definitely point to the turbo.

Is it more a whining/whirring noise? If it is the turbo, it's only going to get worse. You might find it'll start to smoke on idle soon.

My old turbo went from being absolutely fine to filling the street with smoke in about 30 miles.
 
Could you tell what colour the smoke was under hard acceleration?

From those symptoms, it would suggest that perhaps the oil seals on the turbo were on their way out - this would produce a slight blue tint to the smoke.

I can only presume that the smoke didn't occur until 3rd as it does not reach full boost in 1st and 2nd gear (the MR2 was like this, I'm not sure if other Turbo cars are though).

I don't know much about these engines though :)
 
Dangerous Dave said:
What colour is the smoke under acceleration ? Also if it is the turbo the best option is to get it rebuilt in the UK this is pretty cheap around £200.
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That would mean having the car off of the road for several weeks whilst he has the turbo removed, shipped to the UK, repaired, shipped back and refitted. With shipping of such a heavy unit, you are only looking at ~€500 savings
 
Black smoke, and it's not the cloud from the diesel unfortunately. :(

What's the realistic possiblity of it being a hose or pipe?
I'm pretty sure it sounds different to when my boost pipe blew off.
No loss of power either, although I haven't used anywhere near full throttle or past 3k revs since yesterday.

RE: a rebuild, are there any reputable specialists in the south east?
I'd probably take the turbo there myself, could well be cheaper than having it shipped. However, the problem would be getting it off.
There's no way I can do that myself, and I very much doubt the dealer would do the work, only for me to have it sent away to be repaired.

I'll investigate the reconditioning route locally.
 
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ci_newman said:
That would mean having the car off of the road for several weeks whilst he has the turbo removed, shipped to the UK, repaired, shipped back and refitted. With shipping of such a heavy unit, you are only looking at ~€500 savings
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I wasn't talking about shipping it here just an example of price. Most companies will have a 1 day turn around on the rebuild so less than a week off the road.

cmjt said:
Black smoke, and it's not the cloud from the diesel.
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That sounds more like it is over fueling due to not enough air , it could still be a split pipe that is not showing up until under full load. It would a load of blue smoke if the turbo seals went or white smoke if the water ways are cracked on the turbo. (I think the turbo is water cooled the petrol ones are)
 
It smokes under any load on boost though, I'm nowhere near full load.

Also, what is the actual turbo in the PD 150?
 
mjt said:
It smokes under any load on boost though, I'm nowhere near full load.

Also, what is the actual turbo in the PD 150?
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It is a VNT-17 Garret turbo, you need to test for a leak under boost the way the system works is the ECU requests a level of boost and then closes the turbo wastegate if a leak occurs it basically starts to work the turbo harder until the wastegate is closed and the turbo is flat out this could be the noise you could be hearing is the turbo working very hard due to a leak. Once the turbo can give no more it can then trigger the ECU light as actual boost is not meeting requested.

You can see this by logging data blocks to see what duty cycle the wastegate is at near 100% and you could have a boost leak. It can be very hard to see small splits in pipe until they are under full boost.
 
Matt82 said:
split hose and boost leak. thats my bet
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I ****ing hope so. It's just that yesterday nothing was found after a brief poke around, and the computer didn't find anything either, when it took it up to 1300 revs or whatever it does.
Unless the main dealer's computer is ****?
 
There was one hose that had a bit of oil around the seal, but the mechanic didn't think much of it. It was red, and only visible under the car.. Perhaps it was that?

It sounds different to when i had a boost leak though. And it only happens in 3rd and above, naff all happens in neutral.
 
mjt said:
Unless the main dealer's computer is ****?
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They are fine it is the people using them that cause the problem. He has just scanned for fault codes you won't get them until the turbo can no longer supply the boost being requested.

They need to go for a road test logging data blocks which I am almost certain will show the wastegate duty pegged at 100%. If I was you I would just replace all the pipe work between the turbo and inlet manifold.

mjt said:
There was one hose that had a bit of oil around the seal
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Starting with that one !
 
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Had a very similar thing on my Mondeo which turned out to be a blocked air filter. It was pulling the air filter up into the housing, causing a whooshing noise, power loss and smoke because of overfuelling.

It's unlikely, but a quick and easy thing to check
 
mjt said:
It sounds different to when i had a boost leak though. And it only happens in 3rd and above, naff all happens in neutral.
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wont happen in neutral, not enough load on the engine to make boost

just follow all the boost pipes and make sure theyre attached properly.
 
iaind said:
Had a very similar thing on my Mondeo which turned out to be a blocked air filter. It was pulling the air filter up into the housing, causing a whooshing noise, power loss and smoke because of overfuelling.

It's unlikely, but a quick and easy thing to check
Click to expand...
I tried taking the air filter housing off before and I failed miserably. It either needs some tool which I don't have, or I didn't want to damage it by forcing it.
Either way, it's on the other side of the engine bay to the noise (and turbo)

agw_01 said:
Is it a derv, mjt?
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Yes

Matt82 said:
wont happen in neutral, not enough load on the engine to make boost

just follow all the boost pipes and make sure theyre attached properly.
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The only pipe which I can't see properly is the red one that goes from the turbo to the intercooler (I think). This was the only one that was slightly oily yesterday. Looking back, I'm annoyed that i just accepted it to be normal.
At least I wasn't charged for 25 mins of lift, computer and mechanic usage.
I'll book it in for next week and they can look at it properly.
 
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