okay, heres the deal. My turbo is making this really weird, loud, howling sound, when its supposed to spool. It is a brand new turbo. I can spin the turbo with my finger, but yet it makes this sound. Is it something to do with my turbo? and no, its not a charge pipe leak, vacuum leak, or exhaust leak. I am also making absolutely NO BOOST. my wastegate is also not opening, so nobody say its the wastegate. All i want to know is whether the turbo can be bad, even though it spins.

 

check to make sure all your charge pipes are together and tight

 

okay, like i said...no leaks, ANYWHERE...i PRESSURE CHECKED THE WHOLE SYSTEM. please, next person, just answer the question. can my turbo be bad even though the wheels spin?

 

i telling you there is a leak somewhere or your wastegate vacum isnt hooked up

 

dude, can you read? honestly, come on....I PRESSURE CHECKED MY WHOLE SYSTEM WITH AN AIR COMPRESSOR. THERE ARE NO LEAKS!!!!!!!!! i am just asking whether or not a bad turbo can still spin...

 

yes it can oil in the compressor are first tell tales of a shot turbo

 

LOL, hate to beat a dead horse but it sounds like a leak to me.

 

turbo is not leaking oil...

 

blow-off valve stuck open?

 

run the car at idle, rev it from in the engine bay.....do you feel the blowoff valve blowing?

 

take off the air filter and look at the compressor while at idle. spin the wheel.....does it spin freely? is it spinning at idle?

 

okay, well i sent the turbo back, and they refunded my money. wheres the cheapest place to get a new t3/t4 turbo?

 

bump

 

lol, it's definitely not a leak. Turbs that howl (instead of spool, you hear "wooooooooOOOOOOOOOOooooohh" = dead turbo, which with enough complaining, Turbonetics replaced (after 2 months). It almost sounds like someone is making the sound from a machine or something right? If so, then I GUARANTEE that the compressor wheel is damaged to ****. I've seen a T04X (same turbo as Lisa Kubo) turn to a kazoo because the owner put a low-output BOV on it and the compressor surge bent the inducer and grenaded the turbo something nasty. It still made like 1-2lbs of boost (because it was the inducer, not the exducer) but it always makes the same sound. If you aren't seeing any boost then it's more than likely the exducer which is shrouded within the compresor housing.

Take the 5 bolts off of the back and see for your self.

What's weird is that you never hear the pieces break off or flying around, and you probably won't find the chunks of turbo (which are stuck in the scroll which makes the whistling sound). Just out of curiosity, what BOV was it, what psi were you running, and what turbo?