[bikestuff]

Gurus,

Today was a ruff day.   I was making a leisurely three hour cruise to Bella Terra RV resort when I encountered an electrical problem.  (That is for a different thread). I made it to the resort but am now wondering what to do next.  

While I was paying close attention to the engine due to the electrical issue....I noticed a high pitched whining coming from the engine.   The pitch of the noise varies with the RPM of the engine.    I might be imagining this but it seemed to go away when decelerating.  The source of the noise was the driver’s side of the engine.

My best guess is that it is a turbo getting ready to fail.   So I have some questions.

1 - Have you ever had a turbo fail?  What are the symptoms?   
2 - If the turbo fails completely, will it stop or harm the engine? 
3 - Is there a test that I can do to identify the turbo?
4 - Are there other explanations for a whining noise that varies with RPM?

Thanks in advance,
Bill

[Georgeb]

Bill
My guess is you have a hose (from turbo to engine) leaking
Check all of these for leaks
Set your fast idle.....check
Did you lose boost?
Turbo going should make some noise
Lots of smoke from exhaust

G

[Richard]

If you can take the boot off the entrance to the turbo, you should be able to spin it freely by hand with no scraping noise. .

[folivier]

Gordon back when I had my '99 the turbo went out while I was in the middle of Colorado. Not a great place to be due to the altitude and mountain passes I had to climb. Since we were on the way to Creede and inside the passes we enjoyed our time until it was time to head back. I had a loss of power on acceleration and hard pulls and lots of black smoke along with the engine overheating. I spoke with a mechanic before we drove back and he said to baby it, pull over frequently to let the engine cool down and watch the exhaust to try and minimize the black smoke. The loss of power and smoke got progressively worse but by then I was out of the mountains and just had the hills in the Texas panhandle to drive through. I made it back to the mechanic in Nacogdoches without any further damage. When I pulled in he walked to the rear of the coach and listened to the engine running and said the turbo was definitely bad. So there definitely was a different sound even though I couldn't hear it. Pulled the cover (or hose, don't remember) and when he spun it by hand we could feel the bearings were bad. I also had a leaking radiator replaced but that wasn't the cause of overheating.
You should be able to access the turbo to spin it by hand and feel what the bearings feel like if there is any play or rough feeling. Also look at the tips of the blades for any cracking or missing tips. If it fails the worse case would the blades breaking off and entering the engine. Other than that it would cause loss of power and lots of black smoke on acceleration and climbs.
Good luck!

[bestgenman]

Bill,  All correct answers above.  If you’ve lost turbine blades or have damage or have a coupling hose failure, you won’t have much turbo boost and would be noticeable on your gauge.  

As a the good steward you are, I wouldn’t think it is a turbo just yet.  Exhaust other avenues first.

I’m with George, hose blown!

[bikestuff]

Gurus,

I took the input side of the turbo loose today.  Removed the boots and the down pipe from the filter to the input of the boot that connects to the turbo.  That allowed me to reach in and feel the blades of the turbo.  The blades spun easily with no noise or chatter. 

I also ran my bore camera down to get a look at the blades.

   
   

The blades all have a weird “split” in them but since the edge is not rough, I am assuming it was like that from the factory.

Running the engine at high idle give no hint of any unusual noise.

I will travel tomorrow and will post when I get home if the noise is still there.

Thanks for all the help!

Bill

[folivier]

So no black smoke when accelerating?
Are you making normal boost on hard acceleration?
If not then it is probably a leak somewhere.
Don't know why I thought this was Gordon, must have been before coffee

How long will you be at BT? We're going to Pandion on the 25th for a week.

[Doug Musick]

They can fail in different ways but one common symptom as mentioned several times is large amounts of black smoke.  The cause is oil being sucked out of the engine.  If yours does this you don't want to drive far.  You can gallons of oil in a few miles in some cases.

[bestgenman]

This is a new posting under this thread.  I’m on I-76 alt / US224 eastbound and catch a traffic light.  Light turns green and can barely get across the intersection.  A short distance ahead is a wide spot so I pull over.  Fuel filter is black and I immediately suspect algae and change the filter even though it is only half full.  Usually, a plugged Davco will show fuel all the way to the top.  Try to get back into the flow of traffic but nothing doing!  I glance at gauges and NO boost, fortunately there is still a wide spot.  Pull the inlet elbow from the turbo and this is what I see.  
 [attachment=8517]

The turbine is still intact and spinning,  the compressor side has broken the shaft.  It is amazing that 15mph is maximum speed without turbo boost!  Fortunately, a Detroit distributor was 30 miles away and more amazingly, had one in stock.  The hardest part is gaining access and removing the mounting nuts.  The next hardest is holding the turbo up at arms distance in order to slip over studs.  Even the young skinny mechanic, I was able to locate, had trouble.  I could have never accomplished this by myself.  I don’t like roadside repairs!

[Richard]

Glad you had a quick diagnosis, and a relatively straightforward repair. All of that saved you from the dreaded tow.