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A little backstory

Put on a new boost gauge about a week ago which is supposedly more accurate than my POS Sunpro one. The strange thing is, my sunpro showed -15in at idle and the new one shows -11in. I am in Colorado Springs (above 6,000ft). At the time I didn't rule out a faulty sending unit on the boost gauge.

Then this happened...

My engine overheated to the point that the overflow cap popped off and spewed coolant everywhere.

The first thing I did was check the coolant for oil and vise versa. I feared that vacuum reading pointed to bad headgasket. There was no white smoke, or any smoke at all for that matter. No coolant and oil mixed either.

Welp, not the headgasket. Hmm, let's continue.

So I top off the oil and coolant, drive around for a couple days, and notice that my car is having very subtle power loss at about 9psi of boost. Also my temp is reading normal most times, but fluctuates from normal to hot probably about twice during a 30 min drive. When this happens my heater stops blowing hot air.

Now I know it has to be air in my coolant lines, right?

Not so fast.

When I got home from work today, I decided to listen to the engine. Revved it a few times and heard the trademark broken wastegate flutter when I let off the throttle.

Revved it again...

This time I heard a rattling when the turbo was spooling up.

AHHHH HAAAA!

Seems like the little VF11 is finally dying. 270,000 miles in. My guess is there is a bad waterjacket in the turbo causing a coolant leak.

Good thing I have a TD04 to put in.

My question is, would a bad turbo cause a bad vacuum reading on the motor?

When my vf39 puked on me a couple weeks ago my vac readings were all over the place.

cj91legss wrote:When my vf39 puked on me a couple weeks ago my vac readings were all over the place.

Good info, thank you!

After driving twice tonight for less than 5 minutes the car is overheating very fast now and not going back down. I'm assuming the thermostat got stuck with a lack of coolant. Looks like I will be replacing the thermostat and turbo this weekend. Hell, I'm going to do the plugs and wires for good measure.

I went thru 2 turbos in 2 weeks. Apparently theres some sort of other problem.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

cj91legss wrote:I went thru 2 turbos in 2 weeks. Apparently theres some sort of other problem.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

Ouch! I think I was pushing the VF11 a little too hard (13 psi according to the boost gauge) for it's old age. I don't know what the problem is with my car right now.

Could be simple air bubbles in the coolant line, or blown turbo.

Could be complicated cracked block, loose / warped head, or blown head gasket.

I guess I will find out this weekend.

I had an overheating issue for sometime. Turns out, it took me several coolant burping methods to fix everything. First the car would just over heat and gyeser coolant from the tank, then it would only get hot if I was not moving and it would go away once I was driving, then finally after one more extensive burping session the car was fine. I thought it was my coolant temp sensor or fan sensor etc, but proved not to be the issue. Just make sure. when you burp the system to do it over about 30-45 mins. Squeezing down on the hose for 15-30 seconds and releasing. Do this with the coolant tank lid OFF. (use gloves when it gets hot) (each time I did coolant burping in between each new series of symptoms).

I dont see how the turbo can cause you to overheat but maybe thats past my knowledge. I hope you do figure it out.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

Where do you live currently?

Thesubielover wrote:Where do you live currently?

Colorado Springs

Thesubielover wrote:I had an overheating issue for sometime. Turns out, it took me several coolant burping methods to fix everything. First the car would just over heat and gyeser coolant from the tank, then it would only get hot if I was not moving and it would go away once I was driving, then finally after one more extensive burping session the car was fine. I thought it was my coolant temp sensor or fan sensor etc, but proved not to be the issue. Just make sure. when you burp the system to do it over about 30-45 mins. Squeezing down on the hose for 15-30 seconds and releasing. Do this with the coolant tank lid OFF. (use gloves when it gets hot) (each time I did coolant burping in between each new series of symptoms).

Will do!

Thanks!

Just remember to keep squeezing the coolant hose on the passenger side of the radiator. It will take several squeezes per minute, over 30-45 minutes. If you have a friend that can help, have him watch the temp guage. If the coolant looks like it is about to gyeser, turn the car off and then restart it and continue the proccess where you left off

Thesubielover wrote:Just remember to keep squeezing the coolant hose on the passenger side of the radiator. It will take several squeezes per minute, over 30-45 minutes. If you have a friend that can help, have him watch the temp guage. If the coolant looks like it is about to gyeser, turn the car off and then restart it and continue the proccess where you left off

Only had to burp it for about 10 mins. Temp is normal now, and heater works. I still have the vacuum issue though. Still gonna replace the turbo and plugs wires this weekend.

The overheating is a symptom not a cause. It's overheating due to air in the system, which could be related to a headgasket, turbo, or other issue. A simple way to test this without replacing the turbo is to simply bypass the turbo with the cooling lines. Get a barbed fitting and just put the inlet into the outlet hose of the turbo. You may just want to replace the turbo, but this would likely tell you whether it's truly the turbo or not without replacing it. It's sort of your call.

If you replace the turbo or bypass the old one and still have issues, I'd go back to looking for a headgasket or other similar issue.

Welp issue was resolved with a simple flat head screwdriver....

I simply revved the car a few times while looking in the engine bay. Eventually water started leaking, and then spraying out of the bottom radiator hose. Somehow the hose clamp came loose. The only reason I didn't notice this before is because by the time I pulled over after overheating, water was everywhere. I tightened the clamp and everything is fixed. Can even get into what little boost that broken turbo has left.

BTW

Ordered a completely new cartridge for the TD04! Getting it rebuilt and should have it back next week!


Sometimes it's the little things.....

Turbo_Carl wrote:Sometimes it's the little things.....

and sometimes it isn't....

water pump seal just crapped out

I was about due for a new timing belt / components anyway.

ugh....

New Timing Belt and Water Pump installed! She's running great! WOOOO!

Grats

My vac is now -12 at idle. Which is right in the good range considering the 1 less per 1000ft rule.