Ok i just noticed that my turbo sounds different when spooling as of late....

At first it was almost like a small jet engine starting up. like a whirring whooshing noise.

Recently it added a sort of warble to that.... it still makes the same whirring wooshing noise, but now it there is almost a echo to it. like a kind of pulsating.
Kinda hard to explain... similar to the pulsating you get in some 4 door cars if you roll only 2 opposing windows down. same windy blowing noise as all 4 windows... but add a pulsating in and out noise to it. (but not that drastic at all)

Before people start talking about compressor surge and such, remember this is under spool up. and only up to like 5psi. and under the same situations that it was in before, and never did this.

nothing has changed lately, except for this sound.

I just fear that maybe it could be a journal bearing starting to go or something. The turbo still seems to work just fine. I just would rather ask about this now, then wait till it comes to some catastophic failure.

Anyone have any clue what i am talking about? or what this could be? what could i check to make sure everything is ok?

This is my first Turbo Car, so i am not familiar with what is supposed to sound like what when. If it sounded like this from day 1 I would never have given it a second thought. but the fact this is a recent change bothers me.

Could it be the wastegate or the blow off valve fluttering?

Neither of them should be fluttering under WOT and 5psi.... i would hope not at least....

But i would imagine that if one of them was, it would make a noise like the one i am hearing.

May possibly be a weak wastegate spring. It could be fluttering until the boost pressure actually opens it up. What kind of wastegate are you using?

it is a soft wastegate spring. But the spring has been the same all along, and this noise is relatively new.

it is the Tial 38mm.

oh boy... i hate when i am right....

I think my turbo just bought the farm. last week or so the turbo started making a kinda warbling noise when spooling. i feared bearings,
I looked for leaks or other things that could make noises...well everything looked fine...

today i took her for a drive and going up a hill under boost, she suddenly lost power and started squealing like crazy.
i pulled over and saw that it looked like the turbo was smoking. (it was cold, so alot of it could have been steam.. but it didnt look good at all)

I let her cool down a bit, started her back up and she idled just fine. wasnt till i cracked the throttle a lil that i heard the squealling agin, obviously cominng from the turbo.
the car runs fine as long as you keep it out of boost. at higher speeds you hear the turbo sqealling a bit..

so i i think i cooked my center section. i need to pull it off and see what kinda damage there is...

So... anyone know a good place that rebuilds turbos?

Sounds like you were oil starving the bearings somehow.

What kind of turbo is it?

-Chris-



-Sweetness-
-Turbocharged-
Slowly but surely may some day win this race...