Of course it would figure that as I'm in the process of selling the TC, something would go wrong. I think it's major.
Yesterday I started it up and I heard a suspicious clicking. Nothing is heard under idle, you can start to hear it at ~5lbs of vacuum. Kind of sounds like when you put a card in your bike spokes. There's a faint smell of burnt oil, I was roughly a 1/2 quart low. I'm too afraid to get into much boost, but the clicking speeds up the more I get into it. It's slightly louder than it was yesterday. Is the turbo done for? :punchballs:
Thanks in advance.
Sounds are not something you can diagnose over the internet. Pull the intake tube and inlet housing off and check for shaft play and look at the blades of the compressor wheel. That's a good place to start.
I figured I might have to. Thought maybe someone had a similar experience. What I'm gathering is that it's possible I have a bent fin(s), in which case the turbo is shot?
It appears as if she sucked somethin' up. There is ~1mm of shaft play. So what are my options here? The fin isn't bent to the eye. Will a rebuild kit do the job or should I start digging into my pockets?
You're going to have some shaft play when the bushings/bearings are dry. There needs to be room for the oil to flow around the shaft. When there is no oil pressure, that gap is just air and thus there will be some shaft play.
Does the compressor wheel contact the housing?
Not when you spin it with your fingers. Though it sounds like it is when running.
Anyone else have any ideas? Should I go ahead and pull this thing apart?
Can you push the turbine into the housing? I.e. make it contact?
Ah, I was checking the wrong axis.
If you push the turbine in while rotating it, it will rub against the the housing.
No, not "into" it, but try and make it contact the sides with a side load.
It's possible the bushings are a bit worn, and a "rebuild" kit for a T3 usually runs about $100 or so.
It should not rub anywhere, however you push on it.
I think I might have bigger issues...
There's 2 cracks around the wastegate hole. Here's one, looking down inside the exhaust .