Thread: Bolts tightened now turbo whistles. Why?

You might also consider informing the head mechanic about his "young gun".
There's a good reason all manufacturers set torque figures for all nuts and bolts on all kinds of machinery.

And I agree with the Tiger Balm idea too.

I went back this morning and the Mechanic said the seal between the turbo and manifold was stuffed. He couldn't say what was going wrong but it's getting pulled out on friday and he assures me it will be sorted out that day.

In defense of the young guy with a nervous eye on the tiger balm, the boss was there looking over his shoulder at the time he was working. I asked the boss this morning why a rattle gun was used to test tightmess and he said it was not possible to use anything else in that location, ie the three 8mm bolts at the back of the turbo. He also said there was not enough power in the rattle gun (it was a cordless) to snap the 8.8 tensile bolts that were used.

If not a busted bolt what else could it be?

I've used them in tight spaces before, too. You need to be experienced with air tools to use them PROPERLY. As regards the electric ones, they usually have MORE torque than air operated ones, and very little 'feel'. I own a little 3/8" rattle gun, it is a beauty for doing up sump bolts (NOT drain plugs) after resealing, and has not much torque set on max than you can exert with a 6" 3/8" drive bar. I also use 3/8", and even a little 1/4" air ratchet for the even harder to reach places....

JC

Originally Posted by alittlebitconcerned

Hello all.

I recently had a new decat pipe installed in my Puma.
During the process a bolt snapped off which meant the turbo had to come out as well. No drama.

Ok I can maybe see a bolt snapped during dump pipe removal... Now I havent done a puma yet but if I can jag the back two headstuds on the back of a TD5 Im quietly confident that with the dump pipe off you can drill the bolts out of a puma donks turbo dump flange with a right angle drill and then hand tap/helicoil it.

Originally Posted by alittlebitconcerned

The mechanic said to drop around afer a few weeks so he could check the tighness of all the bolts to make sure they had bedded properly and I did that today. One of his young guys put a rattle gun over all the bolts they touched during the install and said all was good.

sounds like how it was installed too, getting a flange on an angle over a decent gasket and then cranking it down on the opposing faces is a good way to snap or strip off a bolt thats already tightened close to its breaking point.

Originally Posted by alittlebitconcerned

After leaving I heard an obvious turbo whistle that wasnt there before.
I also heard once the sound of something that I can only describe as a high speed metallic 'flapping' sound that slowed down and disappeared as I came to a stop. I haven't heard that 'flapping' sound again in the last hour I've been driving but the turbo whistle is there. It's not loud, but it is there.

What I'm wondering is...

it could be a stuffed gasket, in fact it was.

If you get a gasket installed with one corner tightened up and then you compress it using the other mounting bolts it can "ripple" near the ends that were loose if it runs out of room to move, its part of the reason for the start in the middle and work your way out method of doing up head bolts and why you also dong just go right the way up to full torque in one shot.

Originally Posted by alittlebitconcerned

I went back this morning and the Mechanic said the seal between the turbo and manifold was stuffed. He couldn't say what was going wrong but it's getting pulled out on friday and he assures me it will be sorted out that day.

In defense of the young guy with a nervous eye on the tiger balm, the boss was there looking over his shoulder at the time he was working. I asked the boss this morning why a rattle gun was used to test tightmess and he said it was not possible to use anything else in that location, ie the three 8mm bolts at the back of the turbo. He also said there was not enough power in the rattle gun (it was a cordless) to snap the 8.8 tensile bolts that were used.

Apart from being the normal grade of bolt used in most automotive applications, faff, do it just wrong enough and you can snap an m8 8.8 bolt with a 1/4 inch drive socket its not the turning action that usually does it its the mechanical leverage being applied as you tighten something up in its not natural resting position then it wants to move to its natural position

When you say that a gasket can get a "ripple" on one corner, does that mean it is stuffed for good? Can it be filed? Remember it's a 3mm annealed copper type. Also, would the ripple be visible?

The bolt that snapped when putting the turbo back on was the banjo bolt. I thought they had overtightened it but the mechanic said it had been overtightened previously so was already weak. How that was determined I don't know.
He turned a new one on the lathe from a similar sized bolt because LR only sell that bolt as part of an exspensive kit. That bolt cost me about $100.

What should a turbo manifold & flange be torqued too? (also thinking 4BD1 here)

Originally Posted by justinc

I've used them in tight spaces before, too. You need to be experienced with air tools to use them PROPERLY. As regards the electric ones, they usually have MORE torque than air operated ones, and very little 'feel'. I own a little 3/8" rattle gun, it is a beauty for doing up sump bolts (NOT drain plugs) after resealing, and has not much torque set on max than you can exert with a 6" 3/8" drive bar. I also use 3/8", and even a little 1/4" air ratchet for the even harder to reach places....

JC

Same here,rattle are seriously one of the best tools available when working in tight spaces or for getting work done at a good pace and I've worn the handle smooth on mine as it's used every day,on the flip side they can be seriously good at sending straight forward jobs into nightmares if used by less inteligent people or your typical gen Y'er who's too busy worrying about being on facetube or youbook instead of the work at hand. Pat