Rob_Job667

Nick, you were absolutely right about the BOV hose! So a quick breakdown of what I did to fix the issue at hand. -Firstly, the turbo was shot. I knew by the way it was "whirring" or "bending air" that something wasn't right. I know the sound my car makes and it wasn't normal. *I'm paraphrasing as best I can, here* Before I dove into the mass amount of knowledge that is LGT.com, I figured since money is tight, and since I don't have the resources in my town to deal with possible issues, I went with a factory VF40. Wish I would've went for the Vf52, but again, I didn't know. -The turbo arrived yesterday and today was the only day I could get the time off and whatnot to do the swap. I had gaskets, a plethora of tools and my cousins garage at my disposal. -Remove the turbo. Simple enough. Without taking off the Perrin inlet the process went surprisingly smooth. Ran into some soft, rounded off bolt on the downpipe, tried to remove with extractors, but went ahead and moved down the pipe to the next flange, which was pretty fresh from an exhaust job prior. Downpipe off, inlet off the turbo nipple, TMIC off, heat shield, random brackets, etc. The hardest part on removal was getting the oil return hose to come off the nipple. Without two people I don't see how it would be possible. Anyways, after fighting that silly wire clamp and getting on top of the engine to get a better grip and with several minutes of wiggling, she came out. It was at this time that I noticed one of the small hoses coming off of the BOV hose was disconnected at the T. This would explain the odd "barking" or "coughing" sound I heard. No doubt it happened when I originally checked the turbo shaft a few days ago. It hadn't been driven since that sound. **Reconnecting that little hose (which isn't a very tight connection from the start) eliminated the CEL and the turbo cough. Makes sense now. -Install was amazing. So therapeutic working on cars when things go right. Borderline meditation. Anyways, getting the oil return line back on was again, breezy. We left the hose off the turbo and just guided the the nipple onto the hose. My cousin was down below maneuvering the hose and clamp. After it was set, we torqued down the silly turbo bolt that hides behind the downpipe before putting the DP back on. Put the DP back up, torqued her down, and finished buttoning everything up from below. Up top, same thing. Added the 3/4 gallon of coolant lost---yep, forgot about draining beforehand. Banjo bolts were already removed so that wasn't necessary. -Oil checked and added. Removed tools from the built in parts tray which is the windshield reservoir. Reconnected negative terminal. Commence engine engagement. I turned the engine over a few times without letting it fully start--had the idea in my head that this might get the juices flowing to the turbo and whatnot. Then.....................I turned her over. Beautiful. This car has never purred like this! I'm convinced it's had a little turbo chatter from the beginning. Nothing now. Test drive. Car wash. Phone call. Then LGT.com to tell everyone who sent me PM's and emails thanks so much for the advice and support. I think the car is going to be okay. The hot side of the turbo looked great. There was substantial in and out play though since I could actually get my hands inside the thing on both ends and push back and forth. Up pipe looked brand new. Again, thanks everyone. I know I'm a little late to the party but these cars seem to be worth the hassle. She spools so much quicker than ever and there is literally zero hesitation in the boost at any RPM range--something the stocker never really had. Any thoughts on oil changes after this procedure. As far as maybe a few oil changes between the usual 3K ?

Sorry for the possible redundancy of my inquiry, but I, like all of you, don't have the extra funds nor the extra time to blindly hand out cash to a mechanic, nor the extra funds to possibly do the work later down the road--near future I mean. Long time lurker. I own a 2006 LGT with 122,000 on it. The car has ran like a champ until recently. Last week I heard the faintest of a flutter coming from the turbo area driving to work. It caught my attention and not even 2 seconds after being tuned into the sound it got worse. Didn't sound metallic but kind of like unbalanced airflow-- if that makes any sense. I immediately pulled over, popped the hood, didn't see anything but was afraid to continue my drive to work. (Still 20 minutes away). I limped the car to the gas station which was about 1/4 mile from where I stopped, and we towed the car home that night. The next day my cousin and I tore it down to the turbo. Some build up of oil in the intake hose, about the consistency of molasses. Some oil blown into the intercooler, and a very small crusty coolant residue near the inlet of the turbo. The turbo itself: Quite a bit of up and down and right to left shaft play, although we couldn't get the fins to touch the housing, I think they were slightly bent. Nothing seemed to have chipped away visibly. I just now read about the horrors of micro particles from the turbo ruining engines. I already drained the oil and it looked like the dark brown it normally is. No metallic sheen or noticeable variation in color or consistency. Oil feed banjo screen was removed during this to check for clogging. There was a couple pieces of what appeared to be white silicone in the filter. I just tossed the filter. I'm not a mechanic by any means but know the basics and have taken this car apart more than once now, the first time being to replace the stock inlet pipe because the seal had basically rotted away at the turbo. I showed the videos and pics to mechanics I know, and got mixed reviews. Some said if it's not touching the housing it should be fine, while others said replace it. I took the judgement of someone who's word I fancied more and put the car back together. Long story short, CEL light and the same turbo sound the next morning. The night before it sounded just fine. Ordered a rebuilt VF40. Are there other steps I should take while swapping the turbo? The whole process and possibility of engine failure makes me want to swap the turbo and trade the car off. It's not worth the $$ I have into it at this point. I'm unsure how to post pics or video at the moment but if you would like to see it, please send me an email or PM. rwasick88@gmail.com Any help is appreciated and the more I read here, the more scared I get. I'm a college student just trying to make ends meet. Money isn't exactly in season right now Thanks in advance. -Robert