Chance S2K

Last week I started to hear a high pitched, light rattle coming from what (for some reason) sounded like the drivers/intake side of my car under a certain ~3000RPM range and while under load. If I put the car in neutral and revved the noise went away, and it also seemed to go away if I revved beyond the rev range and higher while on the road.

I looked around my car several times but wouldn't find the source. It wasn't until today that I thought to take my intake off and look inside the turbo... My compressor wheel has started to make contact with the housing, and is getting chewed up and shot through my intake. Basically means I've been shooting tiny shards of metal through my engine for a week.

I haven't had time yet to check for shaft play, but regardless if the wheel has been making contact with the housing that means the turbo will need a rebuild right? At least which components would need to be replaced?

Also, I'll be compression testing my engine at some point again but how big of a risk is it that I did some damage? I'd imagine that after going through the intercooler and throttle body that whatever dust could make it through to the cylinder would just be blown out, but I'm still a bit concerned.

I'll be taking a closer look at this in the next couple of days when I have time and don't currently feel like just taking a hammer to my car.

Chance S2K

My turbo is fed through the tapped oil pressure sensor, and goes through a -3an line and a .065 restrictor to the turbo.

Are other people with journal bearing Precisions using a restrictor? I need to figure out why this turbo failed. My turbo didn't have a restrictor on it until my shop recommended it.

Chance S2K

I can't imagine that this could be a problem with my feed/drain. I recently had to re-clock my turbo housing (completely removed the exhaust side) when I replaced my manifold, is it possible that the housings somehow aren't completely aligned?

Here's pictures of the wheel right now. Shaft play seems normal, I think... Turbo doesn't really want to spin properly right now but I don't know if it's because of the bearings or if the housings are blocking it somehow. I feel like a f@#king moron for not checking this before starting the car.

Let me know if you guys think this is a big issue and is going to need a CHRA replacement/rebuild, or if it may be salvageable... I never hear good things about what happens once a turbo starts making contact. First turbo I bought was busted off a user form this site and had the same issue, and ended up costing me $600 in a rebuild.







Pic of the oil feed:

spdracerut

It may be possible the turbine housing wasn't properly aligned to the center housing. Or it may be possible the turbine housing itself warped a bit which then caused a wheel rub on the turbine side which then translated to the compressor side. Either way, you won't know for sure until you take the turbo off.

Chance S2K

If it's an alignment issue, is it possible that I can fix/adjust the housings and carry on with the turbo the way it is? Or is it probable that I've damaged the cartridge/bearings?.... The wheel definitely doesn't seem to want to spin by itself right now.

spdracerut

Meh.... if it has moved enough to rub, then there's probably excessive wear on the thrust bearing. Plus, even if you fixed the bearings, your wheel to housing clearances are a bit jacked because of the rub damage to the turbine and compressor wheels which will reduce efficiency. Well, assuming it's not the turbine housing that is warped causing the rubbing to begin with, you can get it rebuilt and just accept the reduced performance due to the damage to the wheels.

Alloy Craft

Ill bet when you clocked the compressor housing it misaligned it enough to hit the compressor wheel. I would check the bolts on the housing to see if they are tight. All of the retainer bolts should be torqued equally. As for damage, I had a gt30 that this happened on, and I ran it for over a year with no issues. Journal bearings are way beefier than ball so I wouldn't think your bearings are damaged.

I just noticed in your pics it looks like it is only rubbing on one side of the hosing, this is further evidence that your housing is misaligned.

Chance S2K

Excellent... Fingers crossed.

Should I be concerned about any of dust of metal that I've sent through the car? I know the amount is super minimal, but should I consider flushing any fluids? Since it was just going through the chamber I can't imagine that it could have somehow entered my coolant/oil, but I don't know if that's possible.

Chance S2K

I think my problem was different amounts of torque/pressure on some of the retaining bolts like you described. I think that was pulling the housing in one direction.

There's a bit of side to side shaft play, not too much I think but definitely there. No in/out play though, so that's good. The compressor wheel hardly lost any material so I think that's good too.

Got everything straightened back out and the car feels fine, and the noise is gone now. Should I be at all concerned with whatever small amount of metal dust I sent through my intercooler/engine? I'd imagine most of it just got shot out the exhaust.