R33 Turbo Screach While On Boost

[nickperth]

Hey hows it going, ive got a problem with my R33, recently ive experienced a problem i went last week to power cruise and while dropping the clutch and sitting on the limiter for about 5 seconds and letting off ive developed this screach from the turbo, its a high pitched screach not the nice type of one, it happens only when boost comes on after 3.5k, i orginally thought it was the diff or gearbox but you can easily drive the car light footedly to the limiter without the noise.

I did remove my piping yesterday and havent noticed any shaft play on the turbo however i did notice oil in the intake piping towards the plenum and the intake pipe to the pod filter, i did however check the manifold and dump were secure to the turbo and they were and i couldnt see any signs of leaks.

I am not sure if the presence of oil could mean a bearing is blown or something, though i am guessing the sound is from the turbo as when i rev the engine i can hear it coming from the turbo.

So could you give me a few tips what could be the issue, because im guessing its the turbo and it needs a rebuild if not, could you tell me what possibly could cause that sound.

The car is tuned btw and its been running on 12psi, however when i turned the boost to about 6 psi it still made the screaching sound but not as loud.

Please give me some advice guys

NickPerth

[Pal]

sounds like pipework leak or exhaust gasket around turbo maybe

[ARTZ]

check the turbo to manifold nuts..they have a tendency to come loose...

[miga24]

Hey mate, ive had a similar problem, dont worry about the oil in the intake pipe, thats normal, its from the rocker cover breather, thats why people get catch cans, anyhow, a few months back i heard a slight squeek from my turbo when on boost, as the months went past it got worse and worse untill one day coming from work i floored it and the squeek got significantly louder and the car seemed to loose alot of power.

i thought it was shaft play, so i bought another turbo, took my one off and the propelers seemed fine on both ends, anyhow, i put the new turbo on and there was a significant differance in the sound and power of the car, it was like driving a totally new car, im still not too sure what was wrong with the old one might have been the internals of the turbo that were f**k*d.

hope that helps, good luck

[San-Ni]

happened to my rb20 turbo, loud screech then sudden stopped, took dump pipe off, no rear wheel

[jjman]

yeah id say this sounds like turbo bearings going.

mine di it as was the case with miga24. Pretty common on stock rb turbos, especially when u start winding the boost up.

However how it occurs can vary but often it ends up taking out the rear turbine wheel when the bearings get so shit the rear turbine wheel falls apart from the instability/touching the housing.

look at getting a new turbo soon. There is the outside chance you can lunch a motor when the turbo does end up failing totally...

[bunta08]

same thing happened to me so i took it to an exhaust shop, turns out i had a warped manifold and a couple of broken exhaust studs so you might wanna check that as well

[jjman]

never heard of a warped manifold before on an RB...

are you sure this wasnt a mis-diagnosis due to the mechanic seeing the broken manifold studs n an exhaust leak n so thought that the manifold had warped when really it just needed a new exhaust manifold gasket n set of head studs?

[bunta08]

well when he got the manifold off we placed it on the table and noticed that only the top right corner and about 1/3 of the bottom left corner were the only bits touching the table lol

[siksII]

One of my stock manifolds has warped before as well (rb25)

Makes it very difficult to remove from the head since it catches on the studs.

[ARTZ]

yeah its pretty common, the way it is designed, the length of it causes it to warp..this is why others use split manifolds..

i think its ok while bolted down but once you snap a stud or 2 it then has room to move and warp.depend how hard you treat it and how early you are realized they snapped.

i was told when mine were replaced he used stronger studs than stock so they wont snap.. i havent really put them to the test though

[jjman]

f*k..

im doing the exhaust manifold job next weekend. (first n last studs are snapped off) I havent got an exhaust leak or anything so praying its just 18yr old studs calling time as opposed to a warp.

son of rajab please, have mercy on my wicked soul and forgive the manifold its sins!!!!

[nickperth]

Alright thanks guys, well i am going to go and take the turbo off and manifold and check all the gaskets tomorrow and see what i come and get back with, also if its the bearings on the turbo would you recommend me getting a turbo rebuild kit from like eBay since Ive seen them for about $50 or so. Only reason i am saying this is, cause i want to get a high mount setup at the end of the year or early next year but i don't have the cash right now and i want to use something in-term for now just to hold off for another 3 months, before i upgrade.

[jjman]

good lcuk..

n from what i can gather- faaark no to the rebuild kit. Turbo's also need to be spun up and balanced. N im guessing you arent going to be able to do that to it...?

U can often pick up second hand R33 turbos for 150-250 these days. That'l see you through to the end of the year id say...

[nickperth]

Hey hows it going, i took my turbo off yesterday and i chucked everything over it and it was all fine and then i preceded to take off my manifold and i noticed i 3 snapped turbo manifold studs, would you think that broken manifold turbo studs could be the problem, as i thinking of getting some new studs and repairing them and then going to put it back together and see if its fixed the solution.

[jjman]

iv never heard one but based n your symptoms and that you have 3 snapped studs (i take it 2 are on one header pipe?- so essentially no studs left holing that pipe on?) id say thats highly likely...

Im putting mine in this weekend to have the manifold studs n gasket re-done. Ill let you konw how it goes n if the guy is decent, and what the price ends up being...

[nickperth]

All 3 were on different headers, but the 1st one was the top one in the top left corner, though i got the worst job now as one of them is stuck in the thread and i got to remove it

[jjman]

rough.

dont go f**king your head up trying to do it yourself. Even seasoned home mechanics have recommended taking the head stud job to a professional...

[jjman]

so yeah. had my exhaust manifold stud n gasket done.

There was actually 5 snapped studs in total that had to be drilled out but the guy managed it no worries and the manifold was within tolerances for straightness so it was able to go back on with the fresh studs n gasket.

[ARTZ]

same as mine...lol

so is problem solved?