Turbos Suck Nuts

[TNPhoon]

Long story short:
Got the truck up and running on Saturday with the help of the Keller BBQ clan. That day while driving it, stayed off of the boost since the motor is rebuilt, but when I was going up the hills over by Joe's house, I could hear it whistling and I kept it down to about 1psi (per stock gauge) because I don't want to be shooting boost into the motor until it's more broken in.

So Monday I realized I wasn't building any boost at all. The boost gauge would read negative vac but when it got up to 0, it would just sit there and stall out and no whistling sound. :rant:

Last night took the airbox out and as soon as I looked down into the orange elbow, I saw this little fella:

Picked it up and checked the shaft play on the turbo, and it's moving up and down, front and back, probably about 2-4mm each direction. Put the phone down there to take a picture and saw this:

So at this point I am pretty pissed off and want to kick my own ass because I am like "HOW IN THE F*CK DID I DROP A NUT DOWN INTO THERE AND NOT NOTICE IT???".

Then I logged into the trustworthy SyTy chat this morning and break the news and how I wanna kick myself in my nuts. Everyone looks at the pics and is like "yo dawg, why is yo turbo nutless?".

Good News: I didn't realize that nut actually came off of the Turbo and wasn't a rogue one that I dropped down in there, so now I don't want to kick myself in the balls. Even though I'm not happy about it, I am a little more relieved that it was a rebuild shop failure rather than my own incompetence.

Bad News: Gonna have to pull the turbo and take it back to Turbo Auto in Nashville. Fun times. Hopefully I can get the turbo off without having to remove the A/C bracket.

So, that's my story. I'll keep ya'll updated on what Turbo Auto says once I get the turbo off and taken back over to them.

 

[sy605]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Note to self...Don't use Turbo Auto to rebuild my turbo. That sucks man. Hopefully they will do you right, let us know for sure. I planned to have them do mine after you said they did a good job but wow...that sucks goat balls.

 

[TNPhoon]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Sure will.
I think I mentioned it somewhere, I was happy with the end result, but wouldn't be 100% satisfied until the turbo was in and tested to be working properly. And it didn't. LOL.
I understand that things don't always go as planned by shops, so I can't be overly upset with them. As long as they fix it and make it right, I won't have any problems recommending them again. Again, just have to see how they handle it.

 

[T-Bone]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

What really stinks is that the impeller shavings had to go somewhere and we all know where that was. I would definately change to oil and filter and hope the small particles of the impeller were not big enough to cause internal engine scouring .

 

[QWERTYphoon]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

That turbo is nuts!

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Hmmm....

The theme of 2011 is dropping nuts into your engine's delicate bits.

Hope it's an easy conversation!

 

[TNPhoon]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Hmmm....

The theme of 2011 is dropping nuts into your engine's delicate bits.

Hope it's an easy conversation!

I was starting to think I was going to be awarded Jeff's "Dumbass of the Day" award until they got me to realize the nut was from the turbo. LOL. Even talked to Rodney about "the award" last night.

 

[jwaller]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

you don't need to pull the entire turbo or AC. Just remove the band clamp and disassemble the remainder as normal. You can have it done in about an hour.

 

[TNPhoon]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

you don't need to pull the entire turbo or AC. Just remove the band clamp and disassemble the remainder as normal. You can have it done in about an hour.

Thanks. Will def try that when I get home tonight. I looked at it earlier and thought about attempting that but wasn't sure that I would have enough room to get the socket down there with the A/C bracket on. Will let ya know!

 

[TNPhoon]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Dropped it off at Turbo Auto Intl just now, the same company that did the initial rebuild. He's going to tear it down this afternoon and me today or tomorrow and let me know what he found and why it happened, so will keep everyone posted on that.

Also, in order to get the turbo out, my steps were removing the passenger wheel, the fan shroud and intercooler. No way I was going to be able to get to the two front nuts and oil drain line without removing the fan.

 

[TNPhoon]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

According to Turbo Auto, turbo wasn't getting oil and melted bearings and seized up.
More info in a bit.

 

[TNPhoon]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Not that this has anything to do with anything, but someone just mentioned this in our office and it made me chuckle a bit:

TOKYO — Toyota recalled 106,000 first-generation Prius hybrid cars globally on Wednesday for faulty steering caused by a nut that may come loose.
The single minor accident suspected of being related to the problem was reported in the U.S., according to Toyota Motor Corp.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43235940/ns/business-autos/?gt1=43001

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Did your oil line clog up? Sounds interesting...

 

[jpalmer]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Did your oil line clog up? Sounds interesting...

Probably did after the nut fell off and chucked a bunch of metal shavings into the motor. Just sayin. Also, if the bearings failed and the turbo locked up causing the nut to "fall off" why is it obvious that the damn thing was spinning against the nut after it fell off? Only one reason i can see a nut falling off, not torqued properly, or it cracked and slipped past the threads. either way, i don't see this as your fault. but i have been wrong before...

 

[TNPhoon]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Turbo Auto called a bit ago and said that it's ready.
I had a 2ndary turbo that I purchased off of here a few months ago as well, so it worked as a "parts" turbo.
Not 100% sure what they are saying now, but I am going to head over there here in a bit and pick it up and will see what he says. Will update you guys here in a bit.

 

[TNPhoon]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Okay, have the turbo back now.
Here's the best that I can "translate" what Turbo Auto said:
There was no oil in the turbo which caused it to seize.
He claims that "probably what happened" is it was seizing/unseizing/seizing/unseizing which caused the nut to back off of the shaft.
He also made claim that they use "thread lock" on all of their builds...But I don't recall seeing thread locker on the initial rebuild. And there was no "evidence" of any thread locker when I removed the nut and turbo. The first post picture was taken with the turbo in the truck...One would assume there would be evidence of a thread locker on the shaft and/or nut.
And here is a picture of the turbo after it was first rebuilt. I don't have an "up close" picture of the shaft though to verify if there was/was not thread locker that seeped out the sides and was visible:

Here's a pic that I just took of the "new" new turbo, where thread lock is evident:

While the absence of evidence of thread lock isn't a huge deal in itself, if in fact there was no thread lock on the shaft/nut, then it could also question that maybe the builder just "had a bad day"?

So if I have time tonight, I am going to disconnect the coil and turn the truck over a few times with a bucket under the oil feed line to verify that line is not clogged up in any way.

I'm not too skilled on the internals and workings of a turbo, so asking what you guys think. Obviously, if by chance that line DID get clogged (about 95% sure that I remember blowing air and water to it before it was put back on the truck to verify no blockage), then it's understandable that the bearings got hot and it seized up and possibly backed the nut off.

I didn't check last time, but just "blew" into the intake fitting on the turbo and can feel air coming out of the bottom return, so there is no blockage present at least in the turbo itself (now).

Also, I do have a picture of the two bearings that came out of it, but my cellphone battery isn't charged enough to use the flash, so will post those up here in a bit too for reference.

 

[jpalmer]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Those things dont add up to me. Hopefully someone on here can provide info, but that makes me scratch my head. Btw, what did they charge you on this rebuild?

 

[TNPhoon]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Here's some pics of the bearings that came out of the turbo for reference:

As far as the rebuild
ORIGINAL PRICE IN FEB:
Total cost + tax: $325.57

Cleaned and straightened shaft.
Bal shaft: 0.05-0.05
" " assy: 0.03 - 0.03
new service kit - bearings, seals, collar, blah blah blah
Polished shaft
Replaced heat shield
Blah blah blah

PRICE TODAY
$80
However, keep in mind that the new new rebuild (today), I supplied a 2nd turbo for any crucial parts that were needed that couldn't be salvaged.

 

[jpalmer]

Re: Turbos Suck Nuts

Here's some pics of the bearings that came out of the turbo for reference:

As far as the rebuild
ORIGINAL PRICE IN FEB:
Total cost + tax: $325.57

Cleaned and straightened shaft.
Bal shaft: 0.05-0.05
" " assy: 0.03 - 0.03
new service kit - bearings, seals, collar, blah blah blah
Polished shaft
Replaced heat shield
Blah blah blah

PRICE TODAY
$80
However, keep in mind that the new new rebuild (today), I supplied a 2nd turbo for any crucial parts that were needed that couldn't be salvaged.

Hmmmm, still fishy. ANY of that damage looks like it could come from metal in oil, but the bearings o look a little trashed. 80 is cheap, but as you said, you supplied. Their low cost ALSO says, hmmmm, unless you supplied all parts and they did less than an hour of work..