Turbo whistle after de-cat

Just finished fitting the de-cat pipe to my TD5. EGR already blanked.

Car still on ramps as I ran out of daylight before I could put the cross members back on, but I decided to just crack the old girl up before going in for tea.

The immediate thing I noticed was the turbo whistle - never had that before.

Sounds great, but also worrying due to the demise of my last car (a Mondeo 2.2TDCI) that ate and defacated its turbo in short measure shortly after it started to whistle. Engine totally destroyed.

Can anyone tell me if I am likely to have a turbo that is about to fail?

I am in two minds about it myself. There has been no whistle at all and I run the car every day. Put the de-cat pipe on and suddenly it whistles like Roger Whitaker (got that line off another thread on here and liked it)!

It is tempting to assume that a 10 year old 152000 mile bunged up cat was just preventing the turbo from spooling up as it should, but life has taught me the benefits of a little healthy paranoia.

It sounds terrific, but the last thing I want to do is roar off down the road only to have the turbo let go.

All comments/advice appreciated, but please no links to Roger Whitaker songs, although I'm sure he's very nice.

The turbo purring away after a decat is one of the great side effects of unblocking the exhaust system.

Enjoy the sound and don't worry for a moment about your turbo.

Hell my turbo whistles also, 200k on it not a problem

I had the same turbo thing on my Mondeo tdci in France-got it home and rebuilt it -intercooler caught all turbo pieces luckily.Turbo whistle is normal to a degree-might be worth a check you have no play in turbo to give you confidence-then enjoy whistle

Thank you chaps for setting my mind at ease. I will just whip the pipe off and have a feel at the turbo for play just to be double sure.

I am keeping the cat just in case I can't find an MOT man who is "one of us" and had it propped upright in the shed overnight. Picked it up this morning and what looked and felt like a lump of coal had fallen out!

When my mondeo went, bits of turbo went everywhere and even took out a couple of injectors. Only realistic option was to scrap. Shame as it had been a great motor. Hence my concerns with the Disco.

Cross members now back on, so time to go out and enjoy the cat free life.

Your only hope with the MOT is if VOSA has not been able to identify which models had a CAT fitted at the factory. My 2005 Defender just failed on no cat, but I had kept the old cat pipe and just refitted it and replaced the centre silencer box with a straight pipe.

v8landyman said:

Your only hope with the MOT is if VOSA has not been able to identify which models had a CAT fitted at the factory. My 2005 Defender just failed on no cat, but I had kept the old cat pipe and just refitted it and replaced the centre silencer box with a straight pipe.

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You won't be the only one in coming months

Thor1950 said:

Hell my turbo whistles also, 200k on it not a problem

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john,thats yer false teeth,not the turbo.

There are still MOT stations run by "people like us" who will turn a blind eye to a missing cat if emission requirements are met. Ditto for these new rules about particle filters.

The other alternative I am thinking of is a "false cat". I am lucky enough to work where tig welding takes place on stainless. Simply cut 4 large half washer shapes (same diameter as cat) out of a piece of thin stainless sheet. Then cut a rectangle the same length on one side as the cat and roll it into a cylinder same diameter as cat. Tack half washers to de-cat pipe so they become 2 full washers spaced at the length of the cat. Tack rolled rectangle to washers then tig weld the whole lot up and fit to car. It's a cat guvnor!

Went out for a run yesterday and the difference was nice. A bit more power but most impressed with how much smoother it runs. I will upate in more detail on "Maaarrghk!s De-Restriction Bloggy Fing" thread in a week or so when I have got enough mileage to make a full appraisal.

Got home yesterday and half an hour later arse end was sat on deck - time to pop over to Battenbergs excellent SLS article and thread methinks......

Maaarrghk said:

There are still MOT stations run by "people like us" who will turn a blind eye to a missing cat if emission requirements are met. Ditto for these new rules about particle filters.

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My local tester is like you describe, but he still told me he would need to fail it if presented without a cat. It's not worth the risk to him of losing his testing license, it's much stricter than it used to be.

The cat acts a bit like a muffler - you can now hear the turbo

Regarding the MOT latest must-have-CAT ruling... I gave Land Rover my VIN number and the local dealership printed of the spec sheet for Storm when she left the factory; I'm lucky - it says non-catalyst. PARTY ON!