300tdi turbo problems?

[Landi]

G'day, i have a couple of symptoms which I'm trying to diagnose on a recently acquired 300tdi 110 and am suspecting the turbo:

- Engine is smoky on start up and accelaration. Seems white/grey/blue, but not black
- The turbo does whistle under load, doesnt sound bad but you can hear it
- Had a quick check and noticed oil in the top intercooler hose

Anything else i can check? Are any of these things normal? Cheers

[86mud]

Sounds normal to me.

Be wise to remove intercooler and flush out oil residue, clean all intercooler hoses and either clean out or replace the crankcase breather which is attached the tappet cover.

Has the pump been touched? ie, wound up for more fuel?

[Sly]

Sounds normal to me.

Be wise to remove intercooler and flush out oil residue, clean all intercooler hoses and either clean out or replace the crankcase breather which is attached the tappet cover.

Has the pump been touched? ie, wound up for more fuel?

I second that , best place to start.

[Landi]

According to the previous owner the fuel pump hasn't been touched, and he had it since new. Also going through the books and receipts, it had the injectors re-conditioned when the head was done about 3 years ago. Would it be worth getting a compression test done? Can a worn timing belt cause smoking issues? I dont think that's been changed for a while.

[Landi]

Also just a side note, the 90 degree hose coming out of the turbo towards the intercooler seems to be glued or stuck in place as well as clamped? It didnt budge when i loosened the clips. Could it just be seized? I plan on replacing them all with silicone hoses soon.

Sorry for the dumb questions...

[rick130]

As the blokes above have said, they blow a big puff of black smoke on start up as the pump goes rich to get it going, all normal.

A puff of smoke on full throttle acceleration is normal too.

White/grey smoke is a combustion issue, sometimes crook fuel.
I'd check that first, put a fresh load of fuel through it, rule out the easy stuff.

Oil in the hoses is normal, as suggested already, probably time for an I/C flush out.

[Landi]

Thanks mate, im having trouble getting the intercooler out. The plastic fan shroud seems to be in the way

[Landi]

Ok i figured it out and removed and cleaned the intercooler. It was full of oil down the bottom. Ill also replace the hoses with new silicone ones when i put it allback in

[Landi]

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[Landi]

Please help! So i cleaned out the intercooler, let it dry, put it back in, topped up coolant after removing top hose to get the viscous fan out. I also replaced all hoses with silicone hoses. Took it for a drive and theres now an EXTREMELY loud high pitch turbo screem. So i stopped, checked all the new hoses, made sure they were all tight, and it was still happening. I then changed all the hoses back to the old ones and still making the same noise! What have i done?? No loss of power and it actually now seems less smoky

[loanrangie]

How many k's on the motor, turbo probably worn causing the excess oil sure its not a bearing squeal ?

[Landi]

230,000km. I'm fairly sure its the turbo, i can modulate the noise with the throttle. I'm thinking that maybe now that the intercooler is clean(er) after flushing it out, that the turbo might be getting better airflow and therefore making it louder? Maybe? The truck definitely does seem to go better now

Whats the next course of action? Do i need to replace the whole turbo, or can i get it rebuilt, or purchase a new inner cartridge?

[loanrangie]

At 370k my TDI doesn't make any noise , possibly an air leak from intake gasket ?

[Landi]

At 370k my TDI doesn't make any noise , possibly an air leak from intake gasket ?

Is there any way to visually check for this?

[rick130]

At 370k my TDI doesn't make any noise , possibly an air leak from intake gasket ?

That's what I'm thinking, or pinhole leak somewhere to create a whistle.

A tech at DTS once told me a turbo will really only make noise if it's out of balance, eg bearings on the way out, sandblasted because of a bad air filter, etc.

[Landi]

By intake gasket do you mean manifold gasket?

[bee utey]

Breather hose not connected to the air inlet hose? Gunk stuck to the inlet turbine?

[rick130]

By intake gasket do you mean manifold gasket?

Yep.

Really common for them to split and leak oil down the side of the block from the blow by, terrifying the unknowing !

[Landi]

Cant see any marks on the block. I do have a bit of oil gathering on the bottom of the turbo oil feed pipe though

[loanrangie]

The block will look wet and not actually drip.

[Landi]

The block will look wet and not actually drip.

Thanks mate, ill have a look today. Ill probably just order the gasket and change it anyway, i cant imagine its been done recently. So if that doesnt work, then im guessing it must be the turbo? I just dont know why the noise is so much worse after cleaning my intercooler and changing hoses

[Michael2]

If you remove the intercooler hoses and block one end with your hand and press (seal) the other end on your mouth and blow into them, you will be able to detect any pin size holes that may be hard to see. The throttle variable whistle you describe sounds like a hole in the hoses. Alternatively there may be a pin size hole in the intercooler or the gasket as already stated.

[Landi]

If you remove the intercooler hoses and block one end with your hand and press (seal) the other end on your mouth and blow into them, you will be able to detect any pin size holes that may be hard to see. The throttle variable whistle you describe sounds like a hole in the hoses. Alternatively there may be a pin size hole in the intercooler or the gasket as already stated.

Is it worth checking the hose from the air inlet to the turbo? Or the metal pipe between the turbo and the intercooler?

[loanrangie]

Most likely a rubber hose issue but check all the joints.

[AK83]

Have to ask the obvious question here:
Are the mufflers still attached?
Ie. has a previous owner removed mufflers/resonators in search of more power?

reason why:
Brother bought a TD5 D2 recently and one of the previous owners had removed all mufflers and went with a straight through exhaust.
Turbo whistle was very loud, even at idle. Exhaust didn't seem all that loud by way of comparison, just made an annoying drone at cruising speeds(usually between 80-100). Above 100 wind/road noise started to take over as the primary noise source.

A few weeks ago, he got around to getting a muffler of some type fitted to the centre section of the exhaust(but still not the rear resonator).

Result was basically zero turbo whistle now.
Previously, the noise was very loud almost to the point where it could have appeared to be a problem.

As you haven't clearly defined what your interpretation of
an EXTREMELY loud high pitch turbo screem ... how loud roughly?
In my bro's D2, the turbo whistle pre muffler was the dominant noise from the engine at idle(with the bonnet down). Bonnet up and from the front, the diesel rattle was louder tho!
From the back of the car with engine idling, again the turbo whine was loudly audible from the tailpipe.

With a blip of the throttle, the noise seemed as follows:
loud turbo whilst dominant.
engine noise rattle would then take over as revs rose, and turbo whistle would then gain momentum.
For a very brief moment engine noises other than turbo whistle would drown out turbo whistle for a sec or two, but as the turbo spools up it would then take over the noise symphony again.

Now with the centre muffler fitted you have to try hard to listen for the turbo whistle.

I'm thinking that if it all happened after you cleaned out the intercooler, could the oil laden intercooler have acted as a noise dampener?
Have you checked mufflers and or exhaust system size(ie. does it look overly large).

[Landi]

Nah I'm fairly certain the exhaust hasnt been touched. I cant hear the noise at idle. Mainly under load above a certain RPM

[Landi]

Just going back and looking at the photos i took of the turbo the other day, just noticed that it seems damaged on the middle ring. Looks like theres a piece missing?

123004

[Pub247]

Just going back and looking at the photos i took of the turbo the other day, just noticed that it seems damaged on the middle ring. Looks like theres a piece missing?

123004

Thats most likely weight removed when turbo was balanced.

High pitch noise is most likely an air leak mates did the same when the intake hose (the 90 degree one you couldn't remove) split causing air sucking in to whistle. i'd say when youe messed around you caused an air leak somewhere. It's only happened after you've done stuff therefore you've caused it