WATSON
Member
Registered: 16th Jun 05
Location: Fife, Scotland
User status: Offline
|
Possibly blown the turbo on my mk4 astra gsi, The other day i had thick white smoke come from the rear of the car so pulled over shut the car off and had a peek under the bonnet, couldnt see anything started car back up ... no smoke
There is excessive oil in the intercooler pipe work but no smoke on or off boost car boosts fine also? 
Any ideas? or correct in stating the turbo is gone  Its a standard k04 astra vxr turbo running stage 4 map and 1.7bar of boost if that helps.
|
DaveyLC
Member
Registered: 8th Oct 08
Location: Berkshire
User status: Offline
|
What were you expecting to see under the bonnet ? 
Best thing to do is remove the intake hose and check the impeller for excessive or obvious signs of seal leakage... If its leaking on the exhaust side you'll normally get shit loads of smoke when throttling back up from over-run.
|
ianofbhills
Member
Registered: 10th Feb 01
Location: newcastle
User status: Offline
|
Is it using oil or coolant?
White smoke is more likely to be burning coolant. Burning oil is usually blue smoke.
|
--ToM--
Member
Registered: 23rd Nov 07
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
|
Had you just gobe fast round a corner before it blew smoke? Could be surge,
Funny that it's not done it since it turbo was on way out it would smoke on boost all the time pretty much
|
alan-g-w
Member
Registered: 9th Nov 07
Location: Glasgow
User status: Offline
|
Do you need to upgrade injectors to run 1.7bar?
|
--ToM--
Member
Registered: 23rd Nov 07
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
|
Yes
|
WATSON
Member
Registered: 16th Jun 05
Location: Fife, Scotland
User status: Offline
|
Davey, I have no idea why or what I was looking for under the bonnet!  Have removed intercooler pipework ect and there is a large amount of oil in them 
Ian, Isn't using coolant that I know of its been parked up since the issue but I have noticed the rear of the car does have soot/oil over it.
Tom, wasn't going fast was going past a school so 20mph limit, I thought it would smoke non stop if turbo was gone but in this case nope!
Alan, I run upgraded injectors ect cars fairly tweeked.
Oh some pictures,
|
--ToM--
Member
Registered: 23rd Nov 07
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
|
Run it like that with the boost pipes off mate see if it smokes without the turbo connected
Take the air filter side of the turbo off and look for oil down there, play the shaft see if it's got much movement, remove exhaust downpipe and look at that side of the turbo for oil, if there's oil in either of them areas turbo failure is likely were you running s restrictor bolt in your turbo feed pipe?
If engine smokes constantly normally piston rings
If it smokes on boost and over run normally turbo
Smokes on start up or when pulling away from being on idle eg from s set of lights normally stem seals which is common in these
That's just rule of thumb though
|
WATSON
Member
Registered: 16th Jun 05
Location: Fife, Scotland
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by --ToM--
Run it like that with the boost pipes off mate see if it smokes without the turbo connected
Take the air filter side of the turbo off and look for oil down there, play the shaft see if it's got much movement, remove exhaust downpipe and look at that side of the turbo for oil, if there's oil in either of them areas turbo failure is likely were you running s restrictor bolt in your turbo feed pipe?
If engine smokes constantly normally piston rings
If it smokes on boost and over run normally turbo
Smokes on start up or when pulling away from being on idle eg from s set of lights normally stem seals which is common in these
That's just rule of thumb though
There's next to no smoke coming from car unless from cold, There is slight smoke coming on boost when pulling away apart from that nothing. I haven't and don't fancy giving it full beans in case more damage is caused
Stem seals have recently been done so rules that one out, Surely with the large amount of oil in the IC pipework it would be turbo? I have noticed on the turbo side IC pipework there is quite a large amount of oil seeping out the pipework attached to the turbo.
I've taking air filter pipework off and there's little to no oil (slightly wet) can't check shaft movement because the VXR turbo has a sweeping up pipe so makes checking shaft movement difficult
Cheers for the help/information 
|
--ToM--
Member
Registered: 23rd Nov 07
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
|
Does sound like turbo best to be sure though before forking out for a new one
Run engine without turbo connected and see if it smokes at all then, do you have the restrictor bolt on your turbo oil feed? When running vxr turbo you can get s restrict or bolt to restrict oil flow to the turbo as the standard turbo bolt allows to much oil in and can piss past the seals
|
WATSON
Member
Registered: 16th Jun 05
Location: Fife, Scotland
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by --ToM--
Does sound like turbo best to be sure though before forking out for a new one
Run engine without turbo connected and see if it smokes at all then, do you have the restrictor bolt on your turbo oil feed? When running vxr turbo you can get s restrict or bolt to restrict oil flow to the turbo as the standard turbo bolt allows to much oil in and can piss past the seals
Not 100% sure on that one mate, I would presume there will be a restrictor in place as the car has ran the VXR turbo for some time and most of the work has been done by courtenay sport.
Will see if I can pick up a compression tester tomorrow and get that checked, HOPEFULLY all good on that side as I wasn't planning on going forge until near the end of this year 
|
--ToM--
Member
Registered: 23rd Nov 07
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
|
Worth checking there's only a few quid and easy to fit anyway they aren't essential but good to have for the reason I said above!
Does engine feel like it's lost compression though?
|
ShEp
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 05
Location: Dingwall, Highland
User status: Offline
|
PITA those astra's
rings, stem seals, turbos
You'll end up doing them all.
|
Steve
Premium Member
Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Worcestershire Drives: Defender
User status: Offline
|
Oil residue isn't uncommon in the turbo pipework. It's a result of egr buildups and breather pipes that go back into the air intake
|
--ToM--
Member
Registered: 23rd Nov 07
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
|
Not that much lol
|
Steve
Premium Member
Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Worcestershire Drives: Defender
User status: Offline
|
Non of those pictures look abnormal to me, except perhaps all the stuff on the fingers, but it can get quite thick in places where it collects. My landrover has build ups similar but doesn't use a drop of oil of smoke.
|
Steve
Premium Member
Registered: 30th Mar 02
Location: Worcestershire Drives: Defender
User status: Offline
|
I'm not saying there definitely isn't a problem. But just looking at a bit of oil in the pipework cannot be definitive. Is it using oil or burning blue smoke? If not the white plume could be surging
|
WATSON
Member
Registered: 16th Jun 05
Location: Fife, Scotland
User status: Offline
|
Shep, yes there a pain in the ass!
Steve, I'm not fully clued up on car's but that amount of oil in the top IC pipework can't be normal the oil was dripping off my fingers and dripping out the pipework.
It doesn't seem to use oil but then the rear of the car does seem oily/sooty also have noticed my front bumper is quite oily also where my front mount is.
Further search the VXR turbo's are very weak and are common to let go when running high boost/power. I'm running stage 4 courtenay @ 1.7bar, courtenay did however state on the phone yesterday that the amount of boost I run and power I should be fine but others state different 
|
DaveyLC
Member
Registered: 8th Oct 08
Location: Berkshire
User status: Offline
|
As Steve says its fine to have some oil residue on the inlet as the crack case breather will run through the inlet, but it isn't ok if you're literally POURING oil out of the intercooler
|
--ToM--
Member
Registered: 23rd Nov 07
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
|
There should be more at the bottom pipes on the inter cooler and only a mist / slight residue up at the top hat if there is the quantity at the top inlet pipe that there is on this car it's more than breather
|
WATSON
Member
Registered: 16th Jun 05
Location: Fife, Scotland
User status: Offline
|
So in this case were looking at a turbo replacement? Tomorrow I plan on dropping the the intercooler off and checking for play in the turbo.
|
Jambo
Member
Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
User status: Offline
|
Not being funny...
But can you not feel if the turbo is not working properly? Does it still boost when it normally should and feel like it always has done?
If you lost the turbo it would be 100% evident from the distinct lack of torque or "surge" of power a turbo brings?
|
Rick Draper
Member
Registered: 10th Feb 01
Location: Cheshire
User status: Offline
|
quote:
Originally posted by Jambo
Not being funny...
But can you not feel if the turbo is not working properly? Does it still boost when it normally should and feel like it always has done?
If you lost the turbo it would be 100% evident from the distinct lack of torque or "surge" of power a turbo brings?
The turbo has failed but its still producing boost as it should. A seal failure is not going to stop the turbo working properly.
|
--ToM--
Member
Registered: 23rd Nov 07
Location: Wirral
User status: Offline
|
Vxr turbos are known for chocolate seals lol
|
Jambo
Member
Registered: 8th Sep 01
Location: Maidenhead, Drives: VXR Arctic
User status: Offline
|
I'm aware of that but seals going would mean the seals have gone, not the turbo? Seals going usually accompany enormous plumes of blue smoke.
|
