Not Good. Cranked her up a few hours ago and everything seemed/soung /felt right. Let her idle for 5 minutes and took her out for a test drive around the block.

I slowly brought her up to 30mph, everything felt okay,..then I decided to take her up a little (to boost) and that's when I heard the Turbo(s). They sound like Fire Truck Sirens. Loud as hell. Really, really loud. And they're not boosting.

The only thing I can figure is that I think I may have over tightened the Compressor Nut on both Turbos. The blow-off valve not is working when I let off the accelerator at high rpm. Probably because of no boost.

I'll take them off tomorrow and loosen the Compressor Nuts. This time I'll torque them to the specs that were in the rebuild instructions.

 

Too many variables for the zero boost problem I'm having. In the morning I'll check the vacuum hoses that hook up to the Wastegate and Turbo Pre- Control Actuator. Maybe crossed??. I'll check the vacuum lines going into the Y-Pipe and the CRV as well.

The loud whine I'm suddenly getting may be that it's because of the 99' JSpec Y-Pipe that was installed today. Another possibility is that I disconnected all my Air Pump hoses. Also, the hose going out from the Primary Intake which connects to the air tube was not connected either. ???

Anyway I'll double check this areas tomorrow morning. If everything checks out okay, then I'll have to pull the Turbos. What a PITA!!

 

Well, That's not good news man. You got me scared now of doing mine. What if there is a problem with balancing them or something? Damn it. I so didn't want to hear this Good luck with tracking down the problem and i hope it's not the turbos

 

Loud whine is possible due to an imbalance. When you pull the turbos check your wheels to see if they kissed the housing. I seriously doubt that they did. If you lined the wheels back up you should be pretty darn close to proper balance. Usually balance specs are very tight for noise reasons. I've tested turbos before without running a dynamic balance (just component balance) and have never had issues with noise or performance. Yours isn't component balanced any more but I doubt the balance could be that far off.

Did the noise change with rpm or turbo speed? Sorry, I can't help you with the hose routing, I'm not familiar enough with the plumbing on this damn car (mine's been converted to non-seq).

Are you getting good exhaust flow? If you weren't then I'd worry about the turbos - otherwise the turbos are spinning at least.

How much vacuum were you seeing when you started getting on it?

 

Don't let my little set-back discourage you from doing your own rebuild. It's obvious that I'm experiencing these problems because of human error. Mine!!

I'll get to the root of the problem and fix it. I'll post all my findings later.

Hopefully we'll all learn from my mistake(s) and take the necessary preventative measures for future pre and post Turbo Rebuilds. Thanks for your concern.
-Jimmy

 

(A-1) Yes. They started whining at the point boost was about to occur. The higher the rpm climbed, the louder the whine was getting.

(A-2) Same as before the rebuild

(A-3) Vacuum was same as before. 15-16 at idle (it's an Auto) And about 11-10 in gear.

FYI; My mods are: Blitz SUS Intake....just installed 99' Jspec
Y-Pipe....DP....MP w/HiFlow Cat...Dual 3'' Magnaflow.

 

Dumb question - but you've got oil in your engine and you've plumbed the lines, right?

Was vacuum odd at all going up to 0" of vac? Ie, did it require a LOT more rpm/load to get up to 0"?

 

Yes sir.

Nothing odd about it. Just like before the rebuild. It didn't require a lot of rpm to climb to 0. It just stayed at 0.

I took the Turbos off and I quite certain that I over torgued the Thrust Bearings (3 hex screws) on both Turbos. The instructions state that these screws be torqued to 11 Lbs. I know I had them at least at 20-30Lbs.

I also had the Compressor Nut(s) to tight. Instructions say to torque to 17.5 Lbs. I had them at least at 30 Lbs also.

I'll go to AZone later to buy a Torgue wrench. I won't have time to install them tonight. It'll have to wait till later during the week. I'll update the thread after I test drive the car later next week.

 

keep us up to date on that issue. I hope you didn't mess up any internals

 

Everything looks good. The new components don't show any damage or wear. Both Compressor Housings are still clean, internally and at the Wheel opening. No wheel scrape marks anywhere, Turbine or Compressor side.

I just F---ed up by not torqueing to specs. Stupid mistake on my part. I'll keep you all posted.

 

I do have one question for you, which i don't understnd quite well from the instructions you posted. When you said that you marked the wheels before you took them out. I don't know where exactly to mark, on exhaust side or intake?

I understand when you separated everything from that turbo snail, cause you showed a picture of the marking, but the wheels are a little tricky for me. Do you maybe have a picture of what you mean or can you explain it for someone as dumb as me

Thanks

 

Easy step. Make an alignment mark (pick any one blade) on the Turbine (exhaust) wheel and also an alignment mark on the edge of the bearing Housing (right in line with the mark that's on the Turbine Wheel Blade.

keeping those marks aligned,...go to the other side (compressor wheel) and pick a place between the blades and place a mark on it and also one on the Plate Cover, aligned with the mark you just placed on the Comp. Wheel.

These are your reference points for making sure the wheels will align exactly as they were before you took them off, when you put them back on . Make sence????

 

Makes perfect sence, however. the plate behind exhaust wheel moves and the plate behind intake wheel moves. So if i do mark it, I don't know how good is it? Is it acurate?

By the way, did you fix yours yet?

Amel

 

The exhaust wheel you refer to is the Turbine Heat Cover. DO NOT place the alignment mark on it. Place it on the actual Bearing housing (in-line with the mark on the Turbine wheel).

Keep the marks aligned while you place alingment marks on the Compressor side.

The other plate you refer to is the Seal Plate (Compressor side). Place a mark on it in-line with the mark on the compressor wheel AND ALSO place a mark on the edge of the Seal Plate and one on the Bearing Housing (in line with each other). Presto. You can start taken everything apart.

YES. I located my boost problem (I'm almost positive). A little vacuum line somehow got/was disconnected. It was one of the hoses coming out of the Wastegate Control Solenoid Valve. That has to explain my "0 boost". I'll install the Twins Saturday morning and post my results, ....again

 

what did you use to make these marks?

 

I'm really anxious to see how it turned out areXseven. I have a few questions...

1. Does anyone sell a "rebuild upgrade" kit? (similar to BNR's stage 2's or 3's?)

2. Would it be hard (or worth it) to clip your turbine wheels while you're in there?

3. Where would you get new turbine wheels if, say, an apex seal had gone through one of them? (if from mazda does anyone know how much?)

You've done a great job on the write-up. This type thread keeps this forum alive.

Thanks, I'm considering doing a rebuild myself now.

 

I used the tip of a small file to place/scratch thin alignment marks on the components.

 

A-1)... I don't think "rebuild upgrade kits" for the stock Hitachi twins exist.

A-2)...Clip ??,.. as in damage?? Please explain.

A-3)...Not sure the Turbine Wheel/Shaft assembly is sold seperately. Maybe through Mazda??. Or perhaps through a Turbo Shop?? I'll make some calls to Mazda to get some info.

 

Do what i did, Get a used set for 100 bucks and then rebuild that one.

 

areXseven, cool thanks for answering the questions. However, I was thinking of the upgrade as in seals with less friction and whatnot. Kindof a longshot, but never hurts to ask as I am on this forum to learn.

I mean clip as in to "trim" or "shave" the tips of the fins. Anyone care to elaborate?

Thanks for offering to check on the prices.

I think BNR paints the compressor and maybe the exhaust side with high temp paint, to give them a "new" look after the rebuild. When I got mine back I think I remember them being nice and clean. Did you ever think of doing that to yours?

Sorry for the amateur questions

 

I think if you paint them, the paint will fell off no matter how much F it can handle. Nobody is going to see it down there anyway so what's the point of painting?

 

I just thought I'd give this thread another bump.
AreXSeven did you fix your problem?

 

I too am rebuilding my turbos this weekend! (unless St. Patty sucks me in first) Thanks for the write-up despite your initial outcome it has still given me enough confidence to do the job. My only problem is I have no before to judge it from, I bought the car and never drove it before I took the whole thing appart.

X...

 

Actually, there's no such thing as an "amateur question" .....Only immature answer(s)

I actually bought the paint before I took the Turbos off. I didn't paint the assembly because I got a little anxious and wanted to install them asap. As you all well know, I've got them off again,... and this time their getting a fresh coat of paint before they go back on Thanks.

 

I found a little vacuum hose that had disconnected off the Wastegate Solenoid. I'm hoping the "no boost" problem was attributable to that diconnected hose.

I ordered all the Manifold studs, nuts and two longer 14mm bolts from Malloy on Monday. Ray said I should get them by tomorrow, Friday. I intend to install the Turbos on Saturday if weather permits. I'll keep you guyzzz posted.