Turbo squeal

Hi,
After years of putting it off I finally brought myself a Defender. It's a little tatty but with some time and elbow grease it should look good.

I have run it for a couple of months with very little problems and it's even better than I even expected.

It's a genuine 200Tdi with big mileage on it. All was going well until I over took a tractor one day, yes sad but I do live in Derbyshire. While the turbo was in it began to squeal. Now ever since it squeals. It only squeals when the turbo is spinning and the pitch changers as the turbo spins faster.

My initial thoughts was an air leak of some kind. Had the exhaust off and it appears in good nick. It is only slid over the turbo outlet with a clamp holding it in place so used some exhaust paste to seal it but this hasn't made a difference.

Started looking on the net and the stock answer is turbo bearings have worn and the fins are hitting the casing. So I took the inlet pipe off and had a wiggle but there is no excessive/very very little play in the shaft.

Has anyone had this? Could it still be a turbo rebuild to repair?


Sorry for the long winded 1st post.:blabla:

Air leak from the intercooler side of the system, so check all rubber pipes and the inlet manifold gaskets, favourite pipe is the rubber one at the top front of the turbo, the bottom ones are probably covered in oil and could have rotted out.
If not sure just remove them all for a look easy enough to do.
Dont forget its the internet so everyone says its the turbo, in the old days they were called bar stool mechanics, now theyve got computers!



Lynall

Cheers Lynall.

I wasn't convinced with the answer hence the post. This sounds more likely to me but i've only got limited mechanical experience from some years back. I'll have a go at repairing anything though.

I'll let you know how I get on.

best way to check the hoses is take them all off and give them a good check over, its easy to miss a tiny split.

look at the intercooler itself for any damage.

get someone to rev the engine while you have a good look and listen

mark-d said:

get someone to rev the engine while you have a good look and listen

Click to expand...

the turbo won't boost unless under load, so probably won't help!

Interesting this one. I have a series with a Disco 200tdi fitted i have the same noise but mine has no intercooler will it still be the pipe going into the turbo?

Could be, may also be the manifold gaskets as said above.


Lynall

Karlos28 said:

the turbo won't boost unless under load, so probably won't help!

Click to expand...

If you put your foot hard on the gas from idle for just a couple of seconds there should be enough pressure to see any leaks

No there wont its a common myth that a turbo can boost whilst vehicle is at a standstill
As the exhaust gas is not travelling anywhere near fast enough
Give it a try with a boost gauge


Lynall

of course it can you hold a hose then rev it you will feel it pressurise

Yes but probably get the hoses hard but not enough to get full pressure and squeal, like i said try it with a gauge.
At work i road test stacks of trucks and always bring up the on dash boost gauge and if you rev it hard at a standstill you may get 2 or 3 psi, yet on road test it will always ramp up to its standard 1.5 bar time after time.


Lynall

I had this noise this weekend and I can confirm it was a loose hose!
I have put in a Allisport Intercooler with all silicon hoses... and on a test drive, only when the turbo indicated 1 bar pressure on my gauge, I heard an almighty squeal, scared me senseless! anyway I had just not tightened up the hose that goes into the turbo ( the lowest hose ) enough and it had actually pushed itself off slightly...tighted up and squeal gone!

I wasnt saying you get full boost I know you wont at standstill but there will be enough pressure to find a split in a hose or intercooler, I found many split, worn and loose hoses this way in the past

Most of the turbo air leaks i hear are at the higher end of the boost range.
Which makes sense as its a higher pressure.


Lynall