Stranded at work...turbo is wasted..need help

V

VadersV6

Active Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2004
Hey guys....I thought I had a bad pump in the tranny or bad TC cause it sounded just like it. It was whining really bad...sounded exactly like a bad TC or pump. Wasnt blowing any smoke at all. Turned out it was the turbo.
I was going 30mph the whole way to work (35 miles) and it was grinding and rattling and by the time I got to work the car was blowing so much smoke I couldnt see anything around me. The last 1000 feet I thought the car was on fire. I finally got to work and popped the intake tube off and the whole rotating assembly is completely wasted. Impellar blades are gone, whole shaft is completely flopping around cause the bearings are completely gone. I'm stuck at work and its like the worst time for this to happen. Had our electricity shut off twice in the past month, last week had our water shut off and the roots of the tree in our front yard broke the main water feed to our house 2 days ago and just had that fixed, we're in a situation where we cant pay our mortgage, and now this.
Is there anyone in south orange county/Lake Forest area who has a stock turbo they would let go for real cheap? Doesn't even have to be in perfect working condition. Just good enough to get me around till I can get a good turbo.
Any help would be extremely appreciated..:frown:
 
Sounds like your stock turbo is never going to be repaired. If that's the case you can block off the oil feed to the turbo and just bypass the turbo and IC (run a tube from the intake to the maf) and it'll run just fine. In fact, you don't have to bypass that stuff, it just makes sure you won't suck any junk from the turbo and as long as the oil line is blocked you won't smoke. At least not once the oil burns out of the turbine. I drove my car like that for a couple of months when I fragged my turbo and couldn't afford a replacement. It's not much fun, but it'll get you around. And if anyone wants to race just act aloof! :D Good luck man. james
 
I have a stock unit that you can have... needs to be rebuilt, seals are leaking.

I had oil in the up pipe, don't remember about the exhaust. But if you know how, and can get the seals it's yours for the asking.

It's in good condidion and built boost fine... just smoke screened the road:D

Good Luck.
 
That sucks. I hope you didn't get bits into the oil or intake tract or the damage may be worse. Once you get it home, I suggest dropping the pan and intercooler and cleaning them both well. Hopefully the parts are at the bottom of the IC.

You can have my old stock turbo for shipping costs. It has in-out shaft play but spins free and no up-down. It would no longer boost reliably above ~8psi, and if you close the throttle under boost, oil smoke would puff out the exhaust.

Scott
 
Oh yeah, I should have added that you bypass the turbo you would want to block off the oil return as well.
 
Thanks guys it seems i have some local help. This is my daily driver, so I need a quick repair. As for just running straight from the MAF to the TB, wont I have some issues with exhaust flow?
 
VadersV6 said:
As for just running straight from the MAF to the TB, wont I have some issues with exhaust flow?
Click to expand...

Like I said I did it. My turbo was totally fubar'd so I wasn't worried about it. Unhooked the oil feed and return lines, (plugged them) bypassed the IC/turbo, and ran it. I'm sure it put a little metal down my exhaust but that's about it. It just ran like an NA regal. The o2 readings should remain fairly accurate because the sensor is before the turbo and the bad seals in the CHRA are about the only place you could get an exhaust leak. It's just an emergency procedure that works if you can't afford to fix the car and you have to get to work. I'll tell you, I'd rather do that then get canned!:cool: Good luck. james

Edit: FWIW this will let the turbo "freewheel" in the CHRA which will be dry so it will totally screw it up.
 
if the local help doenst pan out let me know i got a te44 that needs new seals but it'll get you around doesnt smoke bad.
dale
 
Man, this sucks. I'm having a blockoff plate made for the bearing side of the turbo so I can in an emergency such as this remove the whole bearing cartridge and cold side, plug the oil bits off and then rerout the intake tube into the TB. I'm calling it my "OPPS Kit". unfortunately for you I've not sent the housing out to the fabricator to get done or I'd overnight you mine. The fabricator is in WA and someone would have to send him a hotside housing to use as a template. If anyone has the stuff to make one now, I'll buy it and let him use it since I don't need it soon.
 
Thanks for the offers guys.
Lou Czarnota came to my rescue. He's letting me use a t3-t04, and he actually installed it for me today. It burned 5 quarts of oil yesterday so he topped it off. Threw on a new oil feed line, filled up the alky tank and did some other odds and ends.
How much did it run me? Nothing. He knew my financial situation and came to my rescue, even though we had been through a "falling out" of sorts.
Pretty amazing. He even helped me push the car to his shop.
He's one of the best turbo buick experts around and theres probably a reason for it.
He looked past all the nonsense from the past and helped me out when I REALLY needed it :cool:
 
Glad you got help, I woulda given you my stock turbo if you needed it. Im curious though.....what caused your turbo to explode like that?
 
glad he was able to help you out....still would drop the pan to make sure you have no shavingings,,,unless you ar runining a remote turbo saver
 
GNAsuka said:
Glad you got help, I woulda given you my stock turbo if you needed it. Im curious though.....what caused your turbo to explode like that?
Click to expand...
Not so sure why it happened. The feed line to the turbo was bad. It looks like the entire shaft broke in half. I tore it apart and the 2 sections just pulled apart and I saw the shaft was snapped between the impeller and the turbine. The impeller is toast. I burned 5 quarts of oil in the span of about 2 minutes.
I didnt have a turbo saver and the intercooler may be full of alot of bad stuff. I still need to pull it out and flush it.
I had a real mess on my hands and Lou cleaned it all up for me.
It was a real pick me up given my long string of bad luck.
 
Hang in there, although most employment in Mich sucks right now Ive seen a few good CNC jobs in paper and i had 2 customers in the last 6 months that own shops...big ones too and cost of living is low but you gotta like snow...lol
 
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