Well after 3 months of boosting the car fine, today I decided to finish the timing map from 11.5lbs onward on the rtek 2.1 ecu. I take the car out for a spin and everything is running perfectly, and I mean perfect. So boost is hitting 10lbs consistently 1st - 4th. I make two passes from 1st to 4th with no problems, everything sounds good. I go for one more, and when I stomp on it, the turbo doesn't a thing, no boost whatsoever. I pull back in the driveway, check the couplers, bov, wastegate, and vacuum lines. Everything checks out fine. I removed the TID and now the turbo has major shaft play. It was too hot to test in and out play but it would move up and down with ease. So I drive it to a friends house for a second opinion *30 min drive with no attempts to boost*. I get there and the there is no longer any shaft play up and down but the wheel is nearly seized in place. It requires a bits of force to turns, and does not move freely. I there is no oil coming out the exhaust so I assuming no seals or blown but I know something has to be broken. Tomorrow I plan to pull the turbo and check things out before I make any drastic decisions or jump to conclusions .

So my real question is what failure can cause the turbo to seize up, or no longer spin freely without any other signs of failure. You really can't tell a difference until you try to get into boost.

Thanks in advance for the help, I need all I can get on this one.

 

no oil.. old worn out bearings rebuild it... or have someone rebuild it for u http://bnrsupercars.com/

 

Thanks for the quick response.

Would either of these have no warning signs or abnormal noises?

 

I would check the engine oil just to be sure that theres no metal flakes in it . If your turbo stopped spinning, it seized up, if it seized up, the bearings might be shot and since oil flows through them, metal flakes might make its way into the engine oil.

As for noises, it would make a high pitch whine sound. Ive heard turbos with oil starvation and it sounds high pitch as the shaft grinds against the bearings.

 

Well i just pulled the downpipe off today. The turbo actually spins, It still doesn't spins as it use too, but its way better than yesterday. I was going to run it in 1st and 2nd to see if it made any boost whatsoever, but my computer crash while loading the old timing map, so I'm in the process of trying the palm, then I can take it for a spin and see if boost comes on at all. But there are no abnormal noises or anything. What I didn't notice is not hearing the turbo spool.

So I took off the downpipe to see if I can hear the turbo now. Hope something works

 

Don't load the old timing map in. Just keep what you've got. Don't full throttle it to test the turbo; you can do it with light throttle. Ya don't need to hit peak boost to see if it works. Always err on the side of conservatism and caution.

B

 

Well there was an error loading doing it from the laptop which wiped everything out. But in short I used the palm and was able to reload the new map in and not do it all by hand for 3 hours *beep beep beep*. So with no downpipe, I get no boost anywhere even full throttle. I redid all the couplers and checked for leaks, but the doesn't even sound like its spooling. So now im headed to get the replacement turbo.

Thanks!!!!

 

maybe ur wastegate is fucked up or ur bov is stuck open or something. but if ur gonna get a new turbo might as well get it from that site i linked only problem is i hear sometimes it can take a few weeks to get it back

 

I picked up one locally today, needed it asap since that is my daily driver. Anyway, I put the turbo on with no downpipe. I did a little 1st and 2nd gear test. It seemed to hit boost fine 5lbs at like 3 - 3.5k on. I put the downpipe on and now Im at like 2lbs til 6k then it hits 5lbs. The only thing I did was put the downpipe on, I dont get it. I took the downpipe off and tried again but still only 2lbs til 5k. All couplers look ok, but I now have a small tear on my tid, from me yanking on it while removing. Shaft play is still normal, and its spins freely as it should. Also while driving the thing with no downpipe you can hear the turbo spooling, which lead me to believe the wastegate maybe open because the clamp that holds the rod in place popped off, but everything is still there. I guess I can try my other wastegate actuator, but for now I'm at a complete loss.

At this point I feel like running the car smack into a wall!!!

 

yeah since the turbo its self did little to nothing

 

Just move the clip over from the other turbo and give it a try. You could also temporarily use some safety wire to hold the arm on the wastegate lever.

 

I did use that one, its still there. The actuator is in fact attach to the wastegate. There might be a leak somewhere though. I will check things out tomorrow.

 

You know.. When you run a turbo outside of its intended parameters, failure is inevitable..

 

For the 1st turbo I could understand, although it wasn't at 10psi consistently but I know where your coming from. Although on this one that I put on today that doesn't make sense. I throw it on, and from nearly instant 5psi to super lag from hell. It doesn't make sense. There should be no restriction anywhere. Hopefully I get to the bottom of things in a few hours.

 

I am just curious what the original condition of the replacement turbo is, or if your feed line has become clogged.. That could nuke turbos fast.

 

boost leak pressure test

 

The replacement turbo looked very good. No major shaft either. I took an air compressor to the oil and coolant passages before use. The problem may be the coupler I put on between the new bov and the turbo. In theory if thats the case, with the last turbo, I could have been seeing 10psi in the car while the turbo was making 16+ and it was venting some off through a leak in that coupler. That would account for it dying out of no where like that, but not sure why there was no symptoms. Its all a guess. I just but the original pipe back in place with the old bov and coupler to test it. I already did this with the old turbo but since it was dead it was too late. So here is round 2!!

Thank everyone for all of the input.

 

Be careful-that turbo I sent with you is not ported!

 

Well, nothing I did has worked so far. I took all the piping, the intercooler, and throttlebody off and inspected everything. I can't find a single thing wrong or out of place. I have no idea what the problem is. If a constant flow of oil wasn't getting to the turbo would it still make boost properly? The thing is spooling but not a single lb of boost. I'm feel like taking this thing to the crusher!!! HELL!!!

 

Just tried different couplers at the intercooler to tb and intercooler to charge pipe with new clamps. Still same thing. I don't know where else the air could be exiting. This may be a dumb question but is it possible for the turbo to spool and not make boost? No matter how fast its spooling...

 

You can be sure that if the turbine is spooling, the compressor is moving air.

Can you pressurize the intake with an air compressor? I remember a thread where they took a pvc fitting and closed off the intake before the afm. They put a Schroeder valve in the end of the pvc fitting. Then they pressurized the entire intake. I think they were looking for vacuum leaks, but this might work to find your elusive boost leak.


Just thinking out loud.

 

I got it!!!!! I feel so stupid. Some how the turbo manifold wiggle itself loose. I tighten the two nuts up and bam!!! Boost again. I didn't stomp on it lol, half throttled it through 1st and 2nd. Everything is back to normal.

After getting new couplers for the turbo to charge pipe, and TID, I put the rest of the exhaust back on. Then I could here this ugly flapping sound. That lead me to the turbo manifold. The manifold was still up against the block but two of the nuts were not all the way tight. I can't believe a space so small was doing so much.

Thank everyone for the help!!!!