nize

lou; where is the starter solenoid located and is there an easy way to check for oil fouling?

nize

okay i found the cause of the turbo failure. the nut holding the center shaft in place on the cold side backed out. here's a picture of what it should look like;


here's what mine looks like (notice the damage to the impeller blades and sides of the intake housing);


and here is the nut that fell out from the j-boot (notice the two 'nicks' from impeller impact on the round side of the nut) (update: i found out that these aren't nicks, and they are intentional cnc machined cuts performed by KKK which is part of the turbo balancing process)


apparantly, i'm also missing the lock-washer or c-clip that's supposed to prevent the nut from backing out. any idea where that might have gone? i'll check the intercooler tomorrow and see if it falls out of there. i pray it didn't make its way into a cylinder. (update: i have since learned that there is no lock-washer, and it is usually just loc-tited on.)

the good news is, i've figured out a way to remove the turbo without having to drop the steering rack. if you remove just the steering rack heat shield (two bolts from the top) it will allow access to the last allen-bolt holding the turbo from the bottom by using a hex socket connected to a wobble-extension and ratchet. it's precision-tight, but it's possible.

the other good news is, the turbo didn't fail because i over-spooled it. it was just a loose nut.

lleroyb

The starter solenoid is on top of the starter, drop the starter and see if it is covered with oil. You can also bench test it with another battery. If it comes to that I can do it here for you in a couple of minutes. It looks like you have bigger fish to fry right now. I have never had a turbo apart but it looks like maybe the shaft failed. I have had my intercooler off to clean it and I would not worry about a lock washer passing through it to the intake. Let me know if I can help.

Lou

nize

thanks lou. it looks like right now at the very minimum, i will need to;

1) rebuild or replace the turbo (i'm planning on replacing with a turbo upgrade and rebuilding this one for re-sale)
2) remove the head and have it checked for warping and/or other damage
3) replace the head gasket
4) replace all accessible hoses while i have the car apart
5) pressure-wash the oil off everything

i'm 90% sure the motor has hydro-locked from the cylinders being flooded with oil, which caused the headgasket to blow, as when i removed the plugs and peered inside, cylinders 1 and 2 were filled to the brim with oil. this only occurred after i had shut the motor down, and attempted to re-start it, so the torque from the starter motor is what blew the headgasket.

hosrom_951

That's the genuine turbo that came from the car, 209K miles?

nize

yes sir.

Tms951

I doubt you hydrolocked the engine. You do have alot of oil all over the place but it would take alot of oil to fill the combustion space left at TDC with oil ad then oil is compressable unlike water which is not and is what bends rods when a car Hydrolocks.

I also think you turbo is not rebuildabe, If just the bearing cartridge was coked then yes. But if the damage to the wheels and housing is extensive enough then those parts, or at least on teh compressor side will need to be replaced bringing the cost of the rebiuld so hogh it is not worth it.

I think a 60-1 hifi in the right trim could close to your goals with the right suporting mods. I got mine from SFR because of a few options turbonetics offers and because I wanted to completely spec out the turbo myself. But you can get a super 61 from Lindsey racing and it is a 60-1 hifi, if you look at thier site they have 400whp graphs useing that turbo, it is also allmost half the price of the other turbo beig suggested.

nize

like i said earlier, i've removed the plugs and peered inside the cylinders and 1 and 2 are completely filled to the brim with oil. i've stuck a turkey baster connected to a straw in there to suck some of the oil out, and it's completely filled.

i guess once i have the head removed, i can try hand-turning the crank and measure each piston at TDC to see if any are higher/lower to assess rod damage.

thanks for the turbo suggestions, i know what my target goals are, but i'm still confused about all the turbo options for the 951 and the surrounding secrecy makes it difficult to choose the best turbo.

lindsey's super61 seems to produce full torque at 4100rpm which is unacceptable, as my target goal is full boost at 18psi before 3k rpm. i was able to acheive 18psi boost by 2700rpm with the stock k26-8 turbo-s turbocharger, so i'm thinking it's not too far-fetched to attain this with a newer turbo and make more power. i'd also like the garrett dual ball bearing center, which limits turbo options. i'm still doing my homework though.

i just hope i didn't bend any rods.

2bridges

yeah nize - hope the best for you on con rods.

You should also visuals inspect very closely as the piston moves..... often a bent rod will make the piston "rock" in the cylinder in a visually noticeable way.
When bent rod is run for a length of time you see eveidence in cylinder wall/piston damage. Maybe you would not see that since it ran such a short period.

good luck!

______________________________________________________________

Also - please share what you figure out for turbo combo. I too consider 3k-ish spoolup fundamental for my wide range use.

hosrom_951

Dude, the shaft which holds that nut, also has the turbin blade (i believe) welded on, as well as two oil o-rings (which l\resemble piston rings as well).

I would not be suprised if you pull the turbo, look at the hotside and find the turbine to be comletely loose and wobbly.

nize

i actually just got back from the local turbo shop, and watched the disassembly. the entire hotside turbine AND the center shaft is missing! apparantly, it shot out through the downpipe and out the exhaust.

luckily, there was no car behind me at the time. photos to follow.

2bridges

Holy Crap!

sure it is not in the muffler LOL

nize

i have full 3" piping from the downpipe to the tailpipe, including a straight-through 3" magnaflow muffler. it could be in the exhaust plumbing somewhere, but i highly doubt it. i'll check tonight by running a wire through the length of it.

2bridges

I'll bet if you hit exhaust with the palm of your fist down the exhaust you will hear it rattle if it it in there.

sending PM on an unrelated matter

nize

so the local turbo shop opens up the failed turbocharger, and what we see (or rather, what we DON'T see) surprises us. the entire turbine AND center shaft is missing. it apparantly shot out the downpipe, and out through the exhaust system. good thing nobody was behind me when it happened;



have you seen this missing piece? i have lost it. reward if found;



the compressor on the cold side has apparantly been loose for a while, as the blades are damaged from grinding against the inside of the cold side housing;