blackwolf
Member Since: 03 Nov 2009
Location: South West England
Posts: 17537
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Anyone recognise these symptoms? | |
I wonder if anyone can make any helpful suggestions about the latest developments in my "whistling turbo" saga.
Symptoms are:-
1) Started off as a loud shrieking noise under power (whenever you would expect the boost pressure to be high) that stopped immediately upon releasing the throttle. This matched the symptoms descriped in the two threads about a leak between the turbo and exhaust manifold so well that I assumed that was the problem.
2) After a few days of continued light use prior to any repair attempt the shriek was replaced by a very prominent hissing sound like a high pressure air leak. Whenever it used to shriek, now it hissed. At this stage I thought perhaps a chunk of defective gasket had come out altogether. There was no significant power loss with either the shriek or the hiss.
3) Upon investigation there was no sign of a leak between the turbo and the manifold, but I did find the two bolts on the front branch of the exhaust manifold to be very loose. I replaced the exhaust manifold gasket, and the old one showed clear evidence of a leak. This made absolutely no difference at all to the hissing noise.
4) Today, whilst towing a trailer of about 3/4 ton, all of a sudden the hissing noise stopped completely and with it the engine completely lost power. Up to about 1500 rpm it drove fairly normally, but above that there was virtually no power at all. I pulled into a layby (as luck wold have it I was on a fast dual carriageway at the time), popped the bonnet but there is no visible problem, and under no load the engine revved freely. I was able to limp home in a very leasurely way. All the way home there were no symptoms other than the loss of power - no black smoke, no hiss, no MIL light, no hot smell, no fluctuation of the temp gauge - nothing untoward except no power. It felt to me driving as thought the turbo had simply stopped spinning.
5) When I arrived home, I unhitched the trailer at the place it is kept, and stopped the engine while I sorted a few things out. When I restarted it, it was back to the "load hiss but plenty of power mode" it started out the day in.
Thinking about these symptoms I don't see how it can be an exhaust leak upstream of the turbo, and I don't really see how it can be a turbo fault. I am now wondering if it is a problem with the internal failure of one of the intercooler hoses or the intercooler itself; I have heard of the hoses collapsing internally and throttling the engine, albeit not on a Puma. My next step I think will be to take off and inspect the intercooler hoses.
If anyone recognises these symptoms or has had a similar fault, or can provide any useful suggestions I would be really grateful. The vehicle is a 2007 Puma which is, as luck would have it, recently out of warranty, so simply dumping on a dealer is not really an option.
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