Ok, my car is a 90 turbo 2. with 71,000 miles. Boosts very well. A few weeks ago I was driving it around for awhile and was about to start laying in to her when at 4500rpms I hear this loud high pitch screaching sound coming from under the hood. That was in 2nd gear, shifted into 3rd quick brought it up to 4500-5k again same screaching sound!! I was freaking out. Pulled over, popped the hood and nothing. Drove home with it happening once or twice more. Went away for a week. A week ago it happened again, but not as much. Then last night and today its there again. Right about 5k rpms it'll do it. Not every single time I shift but its getting more frequent. its making the noise on the passenger side, right by the turbo. HELP!!!! Any thoughts? Is it a bearing? I am currently running castrol gtx 20w50 for the summer. Previous owner ran 10w30. Sorry for the lenght of the post. Please help! Thanks.
-Seth

 

"help me, im dying" Pull the inlet duct off the turbo and check the play on the turbo. If youve spun a bearing, youd see significant play on the shaft and most likely burning oil as well. If its really really bad, the compressor will contact the housing.

 

it is not related to my actual shifting. Sorry for any confusion. I shift when it happens so it goes away. it is definitely a "Metal on Metal" screaching sound and happens when I'm building boost.

 

For awhile when I would start the car no smoke. Then after maybe 30secs to a minute I would get a rough idle and the car would start smoking white smoke. This would last for a for 30-60secs , idle would smooth out and smoke would stop. Is that related in anyway?? I will pull the inlet duct off when I go get the car tomorrow and check for play. Thanks Seth

 

ttt

 

The only way to know for sure if it's the turbo instead of a leak is to pull the inlet duct off and check for shaft play on the turbo.

A metal grinding sound at high speed didn't sound high pitch on my turbonetics turbo. I could actually hear metal grinding (at a high frequency).

J

 

I heard Triagle Power's Turbo last night. After we drove around for 10-15 minutes, we started to hear the "sqweal" everytime we boosted. At first we thought it was a slipping bet, but the sound is way too metalic. We pulled over and popped the hood...

Have you ever ground 2 ball bearings together in the palm of your hand? Imagine that sound, just a lot louder coming from the turbo area everytime he reved the engine.

 

Hey Seth,
Remember I told you that my turbo went about a year ago? It all started about a month or two before that when I heard a squealing noise coming from the engine area whenever the turbo was spooling up. You could hear that is was definitely the turbo. Anyway, it kinda sounded almost like a siren that was off in the distance-- kinda like a high-pitched whirring sound. I checked the shaft for any play and found none. The compressor shaft was tight up until the day that it snapped. I am guessing that the failure was caused mostly by heat and lack of oil flow through the old turbo (107k miles). So as luck would have it, the turbo went out about midnight while driving home from DC on the Capitol beltway. She's all better now though, $1200 later!
---Jeremy

 

Hey Jeremy,
I remember you telling me that at Carlisle. That's not good. Sometime this week when I have a chance I will check it out and see what it looks like. Right now I'm preparing for the worst and considering hybrid turbo options. Anyone got suggestions?? It will be on the stock intercooler still. I'm not looking for HUGE gains, just an upgrade over stock. Must have fast spool and power throughout whole bandwidth. Thanks.

-Seth