After completely installing my lovefab gt1 kit, I ran into a problem. Whenever I drive the car and hit 2500 rpm the car starts making a rattling sound. So I checked it out and it was actually the turbo rattling. So I spun the fins on the turbo and hear a little clicking sound kinda like wheel of fortune. I was wondering why its doing this and if the garrett warranty will cover it?

 

Koji, i'm not sure if the rattle is because your turbo is bad or not, but I also had a bad rattle coming from my turbo when I first installed my LoveFab kit. The turbo was actually rattling on my setup because the charge piping that comes out of the turbo on the passenger side was hitting my fender liner and causing the bad vibration/rattle. I needed to dremel out a decent amound from the opening behind the passenger headlight to get it to clear. Make sure that your IC piping is not hitting there also. Next, I had a bad rattle coming from under my car where the testpipe bolted up to my exhaust and the flange was hitting into the heat shield underneath the car. I don't think my compressor wheel made any clicking noises, but I figured I would let you know just in case. I hope that it is maybe that the IC pipe is hitting and rattling instead of a bad turbo.

 

Thanks, but when I disconnected the turbo to the IC piping, the rattlng was still there. =\

 

Unfortunately, you have to have oil pressure to really know if it is the turbo that is bad. Most turbos, aren't super tight without oil pressure on the bearings.

Idle it without the intake pipe, if you still hear the rattling, it probably is the turbo. If it doesn't rattle at idle, I don't see how it will do it at 2500, as RPM increases, so does oil pressure, which makes the turbo float even tighter and better.

BTW, I've seen turbos on the shelf click without oil pressure.

 

All the oil lines are hooked up correct and there is oil going into the turbo. I checked by disconnecting the oil line and cranking the engine and oil spat out so that is fine. I heard that turbos are VERY RARELY defective so I just want everyone else's opinions before I undergo the long process of getting a new one. Any other suggestions? (Thanks for all the comments so far)

 

Has the compressor or turbine housing been off at all? If they are not seated correctly the fins will hit and cause a noise. You can easily see the effect as it will mark the housing. I'd suggest pulling the compressor housing off and inspecting. If it's hitting there is your problem. Try reseating and if that doesn't fix it, send it in for repairs.

If it's not the compressor the next thing to check is the turbine housing. Same thing. Look for marking and incorrect seating. And whilst you have the cartridge out you should check the axle for play.

 

I took the compressor housing off before, but put it back in correctly and it is not hitting anything. I got a second opinion about what the problem is from a local turbo installer. He said that the oil line going into the turbo is has too much oil pressure which will rattle the turbo. Do you guys think this is the case?

 

Hmm, I run oil pressure straigth from the oil filter and have no rattling. I used to run it from the VTec solenoid, but felt like I wasn't getting enough pressure, or robbing the vtec solenoid of pressure. I think that if you had too much oil pressure for the turbo, you would blow oil past the seals. Doesn't sound right.

 

I had the oil feed sans restrictor with my kit and didn't have a problem but thought a restrictor should be in place. Try a restrictor and if it cures your problem then you have a quick and painless solution.

 

The restrictor should be in place for a GT series turbo. If there isn't one in the line now, you really should add one. I've never heard of it causing a turbo to rattle though.

Tim