I was driving on the highway in this 89 sunbird with the 2.0L turbo and all of a sudden I had no boost, no acceleration etc...

I'm assuming it's a problem with the turbo, does anybody have ideas, more specifically, on what the problem could be? and where the best place to find replacement parts is?

thanks

could be a toasted head gasket, as well as a hundred other things.....

check your oil for milky slug stuff, check you antifreeze for the same...

thats just a start....

check to make sure the wastegate didnt jam open. did the check engine light come on??? if so, pull the codes and find out why

sharkey wrote:check to make sure the wastegate didnt jam open. did the check engine light come on??? if so, pull the codes and find out why

checked the wastegate, not jammed. No codes.

Scrufdog wrote:could be a toasted head gasket, as well as a hundred other things.....

check your oil for milky slug stuff, check you antifreeze for the same...

thats just a start....

oil/antifreeze is ok.

I've found a rebuild kit for it. Is this a good way to go? How do I know whether or not the unit is rebuildable without taking it all apart?

Take the adaptor off the front of the turbo that goes to the air intake. IIRC it's just two bolts that hold on an aluminum elbow. That will allow you to see the compressor wheel of the turbo. Grab the center of it, the shaft, and move the wheel up and down. If the wheel is REALLY loose feeling or it can hit the housings.. or if you notice any of the blades cracked, you can't spin it, or there is evidence of it rubbing against the housing.. you have ourself a bad turbo.

Often this is accompanied by the oil seals in the turbo going and the car burning large amounts of oil... do you have blue smoke?

Also when a turbo goes you can ussualy hear it.. does the car sound different? when you had the problem, did it sound different then?

Does your check engine light still come on when you turn the key to "on" but not "start"?

Also have you checked compression?

This is probably an obvious question, but can you hear a large boost leak? It will sound like lots of presurized air being blown into the aptmosphere should sound like.
If there is nothing like that, you really have to do some testing around to find out the problem. It is quit possible that the headgasket blew between two cylinders and you are pretty much running off the other two. Smell your exhaust to see if there is unburnt fuel.
As protonus said, the turbo could have gone bad. If oil is unnable to get to the turbo it will get very hot and eventually lock up just like an engine would. Let everyone know what happens when you try to spin the compressor like stated above.
The basic stuff is all pretty much covered. Just check everything out.



Cardomain|Myspace

thanks, I'll check into the stuff you mentioned.

Dagen,
Sounds like you have a bad wastegate solenoid (an electronic module) - a $22 part from NAPA. I't's located just above the intake manifold, near the fuel rail. Took me a helluva while to figure out why I wasn't getting any boost (other than the 2-3psi default when this unit quits....). You won't get any error codes, either.....
To check further that your mechanical stuff (t'charger, w'gate, etc. - the expensive stuff!) is still cool, disconnect the vacuum hose to the w'gate vacuum motor. Then road test the car. Kick it in the lower gears, and watch your boost gauge. You should easily get 15+psi boost - until the computer gets smart and shuts off the fuel in about 2 seconds, or so. If this happens, you get off cheap! The electronic module is the culprit...... You'll have to ask a Pontiac dealer for the part #, tho....
Take care
Moe ('89 turbo 'Bird - SE coupe)

FYI, we replaced the turbo unit with a used one from an auto wrecker and its now back to normal, thanks for the help!

this happened in my clipse... first i was shooting blue smoke then it just died... no boost... once you are used to a 15 psi car there is a problem lol! but anyways check the turbine.. i've gone through 3 turbos so far they are a pain in the ass i tell ya

My car quit boosting at one time, other than the little that it does by default. It was one of the vacuum lines that come off the bottom of the throttle body that caused it. Once I shoved it back in everything was okay.

I have also had a turbo die on me on the car, but it gave me plenty of warning since it blew blue somke for a few weeks before self destructing and taking the engine with it. Want to know what it's like to pull peices of turbine wheel out fof youe engine? Have a turbo die a horrible death.

Scotty Bishop wrote:My car quit boosting at one time, other than the little that it does by default. It was one of the vacuum lines that come off the bottom of the throttle body that caused it. Once I shoved it back in everything was okay.

I have also had a turbo die on me on the car, but it gave me plenty of warning since it blew blue somke for a few weeks before self destructing and taking the engine with it. Want to know what it's like to pull peices of turbine wheel out fof youe engine? Have a turbo die a horrible death.

I doubt you pulled peices of turbine wheel out of your engine.
You may have pulled peices of compressor wheel out though.

Oops, I know what I meant, and so did you.