Heard a long loud whoooooosssssshhhhhh then no more power.

[JimP]

I gave it to some guy in a SL55 AMG at a light yesterday night, then at about the top of second gear, I heard what sounded like very loud and long whooooooosssshhhhhh, car nose dived and now I can't build any boost or hear the turbo spooling. Bear in mind I didn't embarrass the Turbo Buick community as the other guy let off when he quickly recognized defeat. (guy looked like the sheik from the Canon Ball run).

I then pulled over hoping to see the obvious inter-cooler hose that would have come off but it wasn't that obvious, it was dark and couldn't get a good look, actuator rod is still connected, so that didn't fall off , and I couldn't really get a good look at my cotton's front mount either to see if I split it.

What has me stumped is the car runs perfectly fine, idles fine, drove fine, BLM's INT all good. Boost was at 22psi at time. When I did try to give it a bit of gas, to see if turbo spools I can't hear it, but there is another sound that is hard to describe, best way to put it is a buzzing / fan sound if that makes sense.

Where do I look now. I'll start with the hoses, intercoller, I'll take the hose off of the cold inlet side of turbo see if it spins freely, check actuator rod.

Can anyone think of anything else, and would the car run as well as it still does if I have a major leak somewhere in all of the plumbing now . I'm hoping I just split a hose and that I couldn't see it last night but with my luck it's probably something bigger, I even fear that I might have split the inter-cooler open if that's possible. Hoping for some suggestions, I'm busy all day, I'll check here when I get back then dig into car and update what I find.

I have a trans brake and I was thinking of engaging it and working the throttle a bit by hand to see what's up but with my luck the rear view mirror will fall off, knock the shifter into second, propel the car though my back yard and into my neighbour's pool, it could happen because if it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all.

Thanks guys.

Jim

 

[seeya v6]

LOOK AGAIN AT THE INTERCOOLER HOSES...HAD IT HAPPEN A FEW TIMES

 

[EYE-OPENER]

Maybe a split hose? Still would be clamped on but opens up under boost...possibly blew out the plenum gasket or even somewhere on the intercooler might have split? Just odd ball stuff that could make some sense...

 

[TurboBuRick]

Eww, check the turbo.

 

[gnray76]

had the same thing happen to me, my intercooler hose going to throttlebody came off, a loud whoosh then no turbo power. also had a wind tunnel/buzz sound/whistle
that was the air escaping pass the loose hose, but only on accel... other then that car ran perfectly fine, no other problems
besides no turbo power... HTH

(are you using a chrome plated air intake to turbo hose? If so, seen the chrome flake off on inside and tear up the impeller blades too)

could be hose, but I would check the blades on the turbo also..

 

[charlief1]

That long whoooossshhhh was the sound of your walet getting emptied again.

 

[whitehot1]

It sounds like the intercooler hose/s to me. Had that happen a long time ago late at night on the highway in Fl.

 

[JimP]

Eww, check the turbo.

OK I puled off the hard pipes and hoses from turbo to intercooler. no splits or cracks!!!!! Have not yanked the intercooler yet but from what I am able to see, the tanks and bottom appear to be intact.

I checked the cool side of the turbo, there is some side to side play, enough that you can see it and I'm sure that if I try hard enough I could cause the impeller to contact the case if I apply pressure and try to spin the wheel, which spins very freely.

Is it possible that the turbo let go, contacted the case, stopped spinning somehow causing the long whhhoooosssssh while under boost? Prior to taking it all apart I went for a small ride, it spooled up but didn't sound normal. I still have the fan / buzzing sound in the back ground along with the turbo spool.

Turbo is a TE-61 (bought in 2004 or there about, less than 8k miles on it), I don't see any oil in or around the intercooler or intake, nothing out the exhaust. At this point it's either a split in the intercooler that I don't see or the turbo itself.

Any and all thoughts, experience or suggestions are welcome please.

Thanks

Jim

 

[Chuck Leeper]

O'ring on the compressor hsg blown out??

 

[TurboBob]

sounds like a split hose or intercooler to me as well. What kind of intercooler do you have?


Bob

 

[JimP]

I have a cotton's front mount. I checked all hoses. I'll drop the intercooler next and have a better look at it. A bit of a bitch to come out but while I'm at it, I'll rinse it out. I was hoping for only a hose but I don't see it. I have a buddy coming over as an extra set of eyes in a bit. I guess that's why they call it a hobby. The wife is not impressed at all, which is something I'm not used as she never bitches or complains about anything, car is getting on her nerves lately though.

 

[turbo nasty]

You could pull the rockers and psi test the compressor inlet with a leak tester as well. Sounds like the IC circuit tho like others have said.

 

[87-WE2]

Have you checked the intake piping, the cold-air intake or whatever? If the turbo was sucking air in and one of those connections let go, wouldn't it make a whoosh sound until the turbo spooled down? It might even keep running, but I don't THINK it would spool up properly if it was getting un-metered air. Just a dumb noob guess.

 

[trbojo]

usually any kind of post maf air leak is gonna make it idle and run like crap....sounds like the turbo went south, causing the sides of your wallet to pulsate rapidly from the money flying out, thus causing the "fan whoosh" sounds...i've heard them ALOT.....

 

[DaRonne Edwards]

Check the turbo waste gate hoses coming off the T from turbo and wastegate solenoid on valve cover.

 

[JimP]

Ok, I pulled the inter-cooler, it's good, can't see anything. Put car back together, got my buddy to throttle it up on the trans brake. definitely noise coming from the turbo. As I mentioned before there is also a bit of side to side play on the turbine cold side. it got late, he works in the a.m. I work tomorrow night. Saturday we are pulling the turbo off to get a better look. I'm hoping that when I repaired my driver's side header none of the weld broke off and went through the turbo. I still don't understand why it felt like an inter-cooler hose let loose. Could the turbine wheel coming to an abrupt stop have made that sound, I was close to 20 lbs of boost at the time. I'll post up pics once I get the turbo off. Here is a picture of the driver's side header cracks, notice how they are inside the collector where the pipes meet, it had to be tig welded but it was ground down afterwards to eliminate any burrs. Who knows this is just speculation at this point, probably just a coincidence. I'm not heart broken, I've been wondering how a BB turbo would work with my set up as listed in Sig.

 

[Ttype6]

Wastegate open? Broken actuator not closing puck? Puck disconnected?

 

[Pronto]

You might as well pull that header and look at it.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

You might as well pull that header and look at it.

Looks like the header connection is leaking and there's a dent in the seal surface. Was it loose when you took it off?

 

[JimP]

Looks like the header connection is leaking and there's a dent in the seal surface. Was it loose when you took it off?

I had fixed the header seal and cracks prior to this issue, that was the before pic. Taking it all apart tomorrow time permitting. Puck, waste gate actuator all looked good. I'm certain that a piece of weld which I had ground down to be sure it wouldn't happen came loose and went through the hot side, my good friend had warned me about that being possible. I'll know for sure once turbo is off. If I need a new turbo I'll be asking for advice on which to get to go with mods in my sig. Lucky for the car it is super clean and I'm a patient guy.