Diagnose My Blow Up

[cash0]

Ok, here’s what happened this afternoon with my 32 GTR…

Taking off from an intersection driving casually up through the gears, got to fourth and car didn’t want to increase boost over about minus 2 mmHg (stock gtr gauge). Put it down to third, put the foot down a bit – same thing, no boost. Looked in the mirror – shit a cloud of white looking smoke. Immediately pulled to the left, and while turning the music down I’m pretty sure I heard a clanging noise – you know, tick-tick-tick. I then turned the thing off as soon as I could, and obviously haven’t started it since.

It’s got oil and water in it and there are no visible problems ie. no obvious leaks, hoses are intact.

By pure coincidence I think - but worth mentioning – I changed the radiator, thermostat, hoses, coolant 2 days ago, after my radiator sprung a big leak a week ago. I just think I’m having a bad week.

The car is basically stock, only with the boost restrictor removed, and an exhaust (with stock dumps).

So what do you guys think?

[SECURITY]

i think your turbos are gone mate.

get your compression tested too as some chunks might have gotten into your bores and damaged them. if its white smoke ONLY, then it will more than likely be your turbos.

[cheez]

white smoke = turbos.

thus no boost.

[SECURITY]

blue and white smoke can be turbos.

white smoke can also be head gasket.

just to add: if its white smoke and the turbos arent water cooled then it cant be the turbos.

[si]

Unbolt your cat converter and check to see if you've got the exhaust wheel sitting there. Thats the easiest way to check if your turbo has let go in the usual way for the gtr.

[Devils_Advocate21]

Keep us updated and we want pictures if the sad case is the turbo/s gone No good

[GunMetalR33]

Cash0:

When I talked to you yesterday I figured the tick tick tick might have been a big end but I agree with others, If its white smoke its either the head gasket or the turbos. My money is on the turbos. The Tick Tick Tick might be the exhaust wheel banging around infront of your cat. On sunday we should drop the cat and have a look see...

Question:

If we do a compression test is their any chance of the ceramic fragments of the exhaust wheel heading back through the values and into the bored thus scoring it while turning the engine over.

Also where is the fuse for the fuel pump on a R32 GTR??

[GunMetalR33]

Second Question:

What do GTRS turbs cost

What do GCG hi-Flows cost

N1's???

[Pauly33GTS-t]

1.6g or thereabouts?

[cash0]

So we've pretty much identified blown turbo(s).

Next step I suppose is to figure out the extent of the damage to the engine if any. So how do we tell if ceramic dust has been sucked in? Would you even see any dust pieces, or would the damage already have been done, and flushed out the exhaust pipe?

A compression test would I suppose but also carries some risk in rooting it more. Is there another way?

When it happened the car probably ran for maybe 20-30 seconds at low rpm while I tried to get it off the road.

[arbess]

mate i had a similar problem to you about a year ago.

the sound your hearing isnt anything, well since my car works fine and boost's hard. first symptoms were i was comming back from the GTR cruise and my car was spooling but it wasnt boosting. i thought it was the BOV leaking.... about a week later i was boosting it on the highway and "pop"my engine stops and i thought i was in a world of sh!t. took me 4 days to figure it out, and you can test this to if you want.

- my engine would start for 1 second and die.. with no funny sounds. -------- Rules out farked internals GOOD

- checked if any pistons were dropped, by removing spark plugs and feeling for pistons with screwdriver ----- u dont have to do this, this was an extra safety step.

- thought of the BOV's and checked them for any openings --- nope, all good.

- checked the turbo piping and its hoses....

............

...........

...........

my intake hose on the intercooler had come off --- simple fix, bought a new clamp from repco and secured it tight.

the ticking sound stopped, so im assuming it was just the engines sound through the pipes.

i guess over time the pipes contract and expand everytime we boost and this time it just gave way. so check your lines and see how you go.

ps. when it stopped, the car wasnt boosting, it was pissing out smoke too... cant remember too well what colour it was, i think it might of been white.

Edited March 15, 2007 by arbess

[Sydneykid]

So we've pretty much identified blown turbo(s).

Next step I suppose is to figure out the extent of the damage to the engine if any. So how do we tell if ceramic dust has been sucked in? Would you even see any dust pieces, or would the damage already have been done, and flushed out the exhaust pipe?

A compression test would I suppose but also carries some risk in rooting it more. Is there another way?

When it happened the car probably ran for maybe 20-30 seconds at low rpm while I tried to get it off the road.

Pull the turbo's and exhaust manifolds off before you turn the engine over. Check for cermic dust in the exhaust manifolds and the exhaust ports. If none, then (and only then) do a leak down test.

cheers

[GunMetalR33]

mate i had a similar problem to you about a year ago.

the sound your hearing isnt anything, well since my car works fine and boost's hard. first symptoms were i was comming back from the GTR cruise and my car was spooling but it wasnt boosting. i thought it was the BOV leaking.... about a week later i was boosting it on the highway and "pop"my engine stops and i thought i was in a world of sh!t. took me 4 days to figure it out, and you can test this to if you want.

- my engine would start for 1 second and die.. with no funny sounds. -------- Rules out farked internals GOOD

- checked if any pistons were dropped, by removing spark plugs and feeling for pistons with screwdriver ----- u dont have to do this, this was an extra safety step.

- thought of the BOV's and checked them for any openings --- nope, all good.

- checked the turbo piping and its hoses....

............

...........

...........

my intake hose on the intercooler had come off --- simple fix, bought a new clamp from repco and secured it tight.

the ticking sound stopped, so im assuming it was just the engines sound through the pipes.

i guess over time the pipes contract and expand everytime we boost and this time it just gave way. so check your lines and see how you go.

ps. when it stopped, the car wasnt boosting, it was pissing out smoke too... cant remember too well what colour it was, i think it might of been white.

its not an air leak or blown hose in this case. If it was there would be a sh*t load of black smoke due to richness...

[BHDave]

I have to throw this out there guys; what are the chances of 2 turbos shitting themselves at exactly the same time while tooling around in traffic?

If you still had one turbo, you'd still make some boost so we really are talking the car equivalent of stigmata here.

[GunMetalR33]

I have to throw this out there guys; what are the chances of 2 turbos shitting themselves at exactly the same time while tooling around in traffic?

If you still had one turbo, you'd still make some boost so we really are talking the car equivalent of stigmata here.

^^^lol

I dont think he tried to boost it after he saw the smoke, Ie no throttle or very little just to get it off the road.

[si]

I have to throw this out there guys; what are the chances of 2 turbos shitting themselves at exactly the same time while tooling around in traffic?

If you still had one turbo, you'd still make some boost so we really are talking the car equivalent of stigmata here.

You wont make boost when you're missing an exhaust wheel on one of the turbos. The good turbo just blows the air back out the blown one since there is nothing making the compressor on the stuffed turbo spin.

[Betz]

I cant wait till I blow a turbo....

just means I'll have to buy some bigger ones

good luck, I'll be watching to see how it all goes for you.

cheers

[GunMetalR33]

You wont make boost when you're missing an exhaust wheel on one of the turbos. The good turbo just blows the air back out the blown one since there is nothing making the compressor on the stuffed turbo spin.

I though rb26's have a exhaust manifold for each turbo. Ie, they are independant.

[Sydneykid]

If one turbo is truly dead then the airflow (boost) from the "good" turbo can escape out past the "bad" turbo's not revolving compressor.

cheers

[cash0]

I cant wait till I blow a turbo....

just means I'll have to buy some bigger ones

good luck, I'll be watching to see how it all goes for you.

cheers

I wouldn't wait if I was you, you're playing with death. That was my attitude... but the thought that potentially my engine is now rooted due to ceramic shards is a bad feeling. But I'm also a tad excited about the forced upgrade - if that turns out to be required.

To those mechanics out there who have seen many blown up gtrs - what percentage of them would you say have done an engine as a result of the turbo? I know it happens - but is it rare?