The dreaded dentist drill

[slowSfaux]

Earlier today, I noticed my car making an obvious whine while spooling, so I rolled the window down, and it's banshee loud under boost. Never noticed any noise from the turbos in the past, but this sounds really bad.

My question is how long have you all gone on failing turbos before they died? My tune is a daz tune, about 19psi spike tapers to 15. I don't beat on it, always wait for oil temp before it sees boost.

I can't afford to do any upgrades anytime soon, so I'll probably be looking for someone's discarded k03s soon.

[james 408]

10k noise free, 50k of moderate whine = blew up k03's at 60k (twice in a row, same outcome -- abused regularly).

check for a boost leak too.

The reason the "dentist drill" noise is synonymous with blown turbos, is when the thing's totally gone, won't boost, and the fans are mangled and freely contacting the sidewall. That's not the same as shaft play / moderate whine.

both of my k03s did not go full dentist drill -- they just blew the oil seals and shot oil into the cats. Full dentist drill can be caused by foreign object damage.

[slowSfaux]

Yeah I plan to boost leak test it this weekend. In any case it's my only vehicle, so whatever it is I'll need to either drive it like it is, or fix it really quickly as I work 6 days a week, 10-12 hours a day.

[james 408]

wouldn't stress it. probly fine.

might be worth looking for a $1000 beater or an old 600cc sportbike -- salvaged title okay, and just leave it non-op. just nice to have a backup.

can always uber/rent a car but that adds up quick.

[MacDaddy]

These guys have the best price for turbos, they sell both chinesiumand OEM, k03 and k04

http://m.buyautoparts.com/buynow/200...-80169_OK.html

If you follow the owners manual, dont cane it untill oil temp is up, and let it idle for 2 min after hard driving or freeway, im sure the k03's will last a long time.

[seanf86]

I drove for a month with a shattered exhaust wheel, still boosted strong no shaft play just this banshee noise over 10psi, I changed them cause the noise was embarrassing. Instead of used turbos check out rotomaster cartridges, everything is new inside you just reuse your housings and wastegates and they are cheap at rock auto, made in Canada or USA. I've been running mine for 10k now and I beat the hell out of the car.

[big_jerm]

Earlier today, I noticed my car making an obvious whine while spooling, so I rolled the window down, and it's banshee loud under boost. Never noticed any noise from the turbos in the past, but this sounds really bad.

My question is how long have you all gone on failing turbos before they died? My tune is a daz tune, about 19psi spike tapers to 15. I don't beat on it, always wait for oil temp before it sees boost.

I can't afford to do any upgrades anytime soon, so I'll probably be looking for someone's discarded k03s soon.

same thing happened to me except right after my stage 3 build. like tuesday of this week. was driving around and noticed a little whine. when i rolled down the window and got on it it sounded like my turbos were a jet turbine. i went home and boost tested it to find 3 massive boost leaks.



don't mind the horrid bumper. it's had a rough life. haha

my guess is a boost leak. unless something got in there and destroyed them, i can't imagine them suddenly becoming extremely loud. i can however see your tbb ripping under tuned boost! good luck tho!


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[slowSfaux]

Thanks for the input guys. I'll definitely keep you posted after I do a little diagnosis tomorrow.

[getslideways]

is this what you guys are hearing with near-blown turbos? This "slide whistle" sound?

[gahigalaba]

I'll hear that usually around 10hg. It the loudest with a cold engine on the first start of the day

[Rusty24]

Mine makes the same noise as that video when the engine is cold but then once warmed up the noise goes away. Not sure if that is normal but oh well.

[slowSfaux]

Yes that's similar to how mine sounds slideways, but mine does it no matter the temperature. I haven't gotten into boost since I realized that I had a problem, and didn't get a chance to diagnose today. It'll have to wait another week. It seems to drive just fine while in vacuum, and on a positive note, I'm getting 18mpg+ driving like an old lady!

[Nemesis2747]

1 Bar tune. Maybe 7k from when i noticed the sound until i was blowing clouds of smoke from exhaust. Happened in 2 oil changes. 2 weeks after the second change the turbos died on the highway in full boost. After that it would make that sound but as loud as a supercharger and only reach 5psi. Found out the passenger side turbo's turbine wheel broke off 2 fins.

[jpurre]

Based on what I have read of previous experiences, there really is no rhyme or reason to when K03's blow. One person may have had a snail go south at 40k miles, while there are members on here with 150k+ running tunes and K03's just fine. When one of my K03's started making bad noises, I started stockpiling parts for the F21 build. I didn't let it fail catastrophically - rather I had them replaced. That being said, I drove it for a while with the whining noise.

[slowSfaux]

I've been incredibly busy with work lately, (mail carrier, and all the political mail from the upcoming election is killing us) but I was still hoping that a pressure test would turn up a leak somewhere. It didn't. At this point I'm assuming my turbo(s) are singing their final song. I tried to get some video of the noise, but with the windows up its too faint, and with the windows down its a hurricane of wind sounds that drown out the wail of the turbo. I'll try to convince the wife to film from the side of the road so I can do a drive by. It sounds very similar to the video getslideways posted, but above 15psi you can actually hear some nasty grinding noise. Like a really bad wheel bearing.

[jpurre]

You may not want to wait until that gets catastrophic. This is one of the reasons it is wise to have $2000 tucked away as an "Emergency S4 Fund." It's a good start to replacing turbos. Good luck, will be following.

[slowSfaux]

That's the sound mine are making. I've been staying out of boost as best as I can, because I need the car to get me through the new year. After that I'll hopefully be able to get some money together for replacements.

[jpurre]

Oh yeah, you done. Try to remedy the situation before it goes critical. It would suck to clean oil and coolant out of the exhaust.

[slowSfaux]

Haha that's what I'm hoping to avoid. Driving like an old lady is killing me, but I know it's for the best.

[Nemesis2747]

Yea man. Same sound mine made. Stay out of boost and you can ride with em for a while. Anyone think of disconnecting the N75 to keep it from building boost?

[slowSfaux]

That could potentially work, cause that'll limit me to 5psi. Maybe I'll unplug it and see how it drives.