Whirring turbo and odd power loss

[anczak23]

Hello there 1st time poster and scared Alfa newbie with what feels like an expensive problem.

Yesterday I was on the M6 when I suddenly lost all turbo pressure, the needle was at zero and I had no power. Luckily i wasn't far from a services so I pulled in. As I dropped to 3rd gear the turbo magically sprang to life again, puzzled, I stopped in the car park and raised the bonnet just to be sure. I gave the throttle a couple of blips and thought I could hear a rattling sound coming from the turbo under throttle but I couldn't be sure.

I switched the engine off for half an hour and then decided to head on my way. As I pulled away on the slip road the turbo seemed to be behaving normally but I could hear a whirring noise coming from the engine. If I had had my radio on and my fan blowing I wouldnt have heard it but as I was listening for something it was quite obvious.

The whirring noise didnt happen at constant speed but every time I accelerated through the gears I could hear this whirring sound.

This afternoon I took the compressor inlet pipe off to have a look at the turbo, there was a small pool of oil inside the lip of the turbo and the spool seems to have a lot of lateral play in it although I couldnt get the vanes to grind against the turbo casing & without a reference I dont know how loose the spindle is supposed to be.

Does anyone have any idea? Am I looking at a new turbo (god forbid) or is there some easy solution to this? Car is a 58 plate 159 jtdm with 40,000 miles on the clock. Apart from the worrying noise the car seems to be running fine.

[zulu ferret]

Turbo Technics, Northants, iirc. do a good service.

[anczak23]

hampshires a bit far mate!

[zulu ferret]

By post if you can get it removed for you.:

[anczak23]

im kinda looking for a quick fix if theres one available, i need the car to go to a relatives funeral on thursday and i'm nervous about driving it with this noise going on

[JON156VELOCE]

Does sound like the turbo has failed, before you fit a new one you should check the oil feed pipe and banjo for blockages as 40k miles is early for a turbo to fail without a reason.
If you need a turbo in a hurry it is the same turbo as the vauxhalls with the 150 bhp z19dth engine, you will just need to swap over the compressor housing, its only held on with 4 bolts

You shouldnt really drive it untill you get it fixed as there is a danger with a failed turbo on a diesel engine for the engine to run on the oil if it starts leaking past the seals which in the most extreme case will just rev untill it blows up

[Alfadisiac]

Mine is doing the same but I'm on 90k

I took all pipes off thinking possible split but found nothing. If you find out what's wrong, give me a shout... I can't think of anywhere else I could be loosing boost from...
Only leaks when on boost but not when cruising.

[zulu ferret]

What Jon 156 Veloce mentioned. Happened to a friend of mine who was lucky that it hadn't consumed all of the sump oil.

[anczak23]

cheers guys, i'm dithering because i really dont want to be a failing turbo. Have to say I drove it about 150miles with the whirring noise before I got to work and there is no obvious drop in oil level or any smoke out of the back. I dont have the tools where the car is to have a good go at it so it looks like its gonna be a hire car and garage work unfortunately.

Whats the banjo? i don't know much about turbodiesels so i'm in the dark on this one

[JON156VELOCE]

The banjo bolt is a the bolt that holds the oil feed pipe onto the front of the engine block, it has a hole through the middle of it to allow the oil through, its a 17mm head, you will have to remove it to take the turbo off so just check the hole in the middle is clear.

[anczak23]

right, ended up sending it to turbo tech (cheers zulu ferret) who said it was definitely on the way out, so at least that was confirmed. Unfortunately they couldn't recondition it as they said they couldnt get hold of the parts, so a new one is gonna cost about 600 bats . As I don't have the readies for that they did say off the record that I had caught it quite early and it would probably last another couple of thousand miles before it caused me any issues. So I have refitted it for now & will be on the lookout for a cheap turbo. I'm working abroad for the next 3 months so gonna keep my eyes peeled for a cheap one and replace it when i return in September. Any hints on places to look for a cheap turbo?

[Joomoo]

You can buy the parts you need for turbo here.
Turbo parts, spares & rebuild parts - Garrett GT1749V Service repair rebuild kit
check with them what you need and confirm you turbo serial number
this kit only works if the fan is not hitting the housing.in that case you should buy one recon.
I payed 200 euros + tax for recon as you see in the linj above

[Moel]

There's also a place right on your doorstep for it...

My friend used them for the tubby on his L200, best place he's ever found he says, an old man and his son. Redid the whole lot for a few hundred I seem to recall

Reconditioned Turbos in Yorkshire : Turbo Clinic UK Ltd

[JON156VELOCE]

A turbo from a vauxhall or saab with the z19dth engine is the same apart from the compressor housing, on your car it points downwards but in the vauxhall or saab it points upwards, buy you can use the housing from your turbo, is only held on with a few bolts.

[Moel]

assuming you do it now before the housing is irreperably damaged by the wibbly compressor