1999 V70 Turbo howl, then no noise. then no boost!

[DrivingOnTheSofa]

Ok, the title says it all...after a service by a garage the mechanic handed me the keys and said there was a' little bit of a whine on the turbo'. As I drove it off it seemed like a LOT of a whine to me. but it was late and it drove ok.

500 miles of faultless performance later, the noise has completely vanished, but now I suddenly have a car that drives like a non-turbo and can no longer overtake other cars without military planning. Driving on the motorway sandwiched in between lorries ( and those cretins that drive in their slipstream ) is not fun.

My main question is this - if the turbo has completely stopped working ( ie, stopped turning ) would the car run at all?

I found a youtube video with exactly the same noise as mine WAS making ( only not as loud as mine was )
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYIOhXpen00[/YOUTUBE]
sort of like 'the cops are chasing us' noise. I assumed it was bearing noise that you'd expect on an older turbo. I'm quite au fait with expensive noises, but perhaps I have more to learn!

I realise that there are lots of things to investigate - I'll be looking at the air filter side of it in a mo - but I'd like to rule out as much as possible and so welcome a perspective from our esteemed forum members.


Thanks.

[liveforspeed]

Originally Posted by DrivingOnTheSofa

Ok, the title says it all...after a service by a garage the mechanic handed me the keys and said there was a' little bit of a whine on the turbo'. As I drove it off it seemed like a LOT of a whine to me. but it was late and it drove ok.

500 miles of faultless performance later, the noise has completely vanished, but now I suddenly have a car that drives like a non-turbo and can no longer overtake other cars without military planning. Driving on the motorway sandwiched in between lorries ( and those cretins that drive in their slipstream ) is not fun.

My main question is this - if the turbo has completely stopped working ( ie, stopped turning ) would the car run at all?

I found a youtube video with exactly the same noise as mine WAS making ( only not as loud as mine was )
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYIOhXpen00[/YOUTUBE]
sort of like 'the cops are chasing us' noise. I assumed it was bearing noise that you'd expect on an older turbo. I'm quite au fait with expensive noises, but perhaps I have more to learn!

I realise that there are lots of things to investigate - I'll be looking at the air filter side of it in a mo - but I'd like to rule out as much as possible and so welcome a perspective from our esteemed forum members.


Thanks.

im not expert but if you remove the fresh air pipe to your turbo, you should be able to look in and tick a few things off your list. like If your compressor is still intact. you should also be able to see if it spins freely by hand and also try for wear on the bearing. imagine your sturring a pot of soup and see if it moves from the central postation at all.

good luck.

[timpy]

It'll drive without the turbo, albeit with much reduced performance. It sounds like you're getting no turbo effort, either because it's not turning, (seized or one or other impellers broken up for instance), or because whatever it uses to dissipate boost is incorrectly operating all the time. Sounds to me more like the former.

People tell me that if you can hear the turbo that's a bad thing, however I've often heard them on my cars (not Volvos, but petrol and diesel Saabs in fact) and they run happlily for ages. Be nice to your turbo though, a bit idling before you turn it off etc.etc. I even do this on the company car (Mazda 6 diesel) and van (Renault Kangoo), and these are just tools!

[DrivingOnTheSofa]

Thanks for your replies.

After some domestic delays I had a go at undoing the air hose to the turbo, having to lie on top of the engine, trying to unscrew the clamp with finger tips on top of a screwdriver, with my feet sticking out into passing traffic. Much swearing later, I realised that even if I managed to get the hose off, I sure as hell wouldn't be able to get it back on, so my check of the impeller is going to have to be passed on to a garage, as unfortunately this looks like a job you can only really do from under the car.

At least it drives happily at the moment, albeit without boost, but I guess I'm on borrowed time before something unpleasant happens.

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

I experienced this once with the S70, turned out the lower intercooler pipe had a rotten jubliee clip on it, it broke and as soon as any real boost the pipe blew off!

[DrivingOnTheSofa]

after a service by a garage the mechanic handed me the keys and said there was a' little bit of a whine on the turbo'. As I drove it off it seemed like a LOT of a whine to me. but it was late and it drove ok.

Ok, I know why the whine got worse and turned into a howl. The mechanic who serviced it put a bolt and washer in the turbo fins to deliberately break it. It must have been slowly pushing the unit off its axis until it seized up a couple of weeks later. Dirty trick eh?

These cars drive quite happy without a spinning turbo by the way...you just can't overtake on the motorway as fast.

[V70Zig]

Almost 4 years since you first posted this ? Why has it taken you so long ?

[DrivingOnTheSofa]

I've driven it without a turbo all this time. I asked a mechanic to check the turbo over ( ie it not working ) and he said he thought it was working. I just believed him and as it drove ok I just got on with it

I nearly scrapped the car a month ago, but have decided to keep it for another 50000 miles if I can. I took it in to my local mechanic with a list of everything that needed to be checked over, including the turbo.

They rang back and told me the news. I knew immediately who had done it. They said in 25 years of running a garage they'd never seen anything like it.

Now I have to think whether it's worth getting the turbo fixed.

[DrivingOnTheSofa]

Here's the bolt and washer.



http://postimg.org/image/9a3xx6qdd/

[happy diver]

Where was it found?