This could be, your car will do strange things when its not running right. I think you should check the TQ numbers for that turbo.

 

Just got the TQ spec for the compressor wheel nut, 70-78 Inch LBS of TQ. So this weekend ill check the TQ of the compressor nut, if its wrong ill correct it and go from there!

 

cool, good luck!

 

Thanks man, ill update this weekend!

 

thank you for posting this up I think I might have the same problem and its making tha exact noise. I think im just going to buy a new turbo as well. I called one company in houston and they said that a rebuild is 275, and a diagnose is 50. And they said if they run into more problems it could cost more.... and thats money I dont have so im just going to buy a turbo with 8k or less on it.

 

Yeah ill take this apart this weekend and let you know what this noise is that we are hearing, i can almost be certain in saying its the turbine wheel heat sheild, ill find out for sure this weekend and let you kno!
-Tony

 

You guys are making me sweat a little. I have this turbo, used with 25k miles, and I am so freakin close to install day....but I've got this fear in the back of my mind about blowing black smoke or just leaking oil all over the place. What do you think caused the shaft play on your initial turbo, or the problem preventing the compressor wheel from turning properly. Steven, what about you, did you rebuild yours ever? Do you think it was this way when you got it, or did it slowly wear out over time?

 

I'm honestly not sure whats going on with my toybo.. but im going to take it apart tonite w/ pics and let you know if i figure it out Hopefully its just that the nut is just way to tight cuz i have no shaft play or anything

 

dude to be honest im not sure what happened to mine, all I know is it sounded like crap a month later. I had the turbo for 1 year, but officially had it running for 2 months and mine had 22k on it. im not sure what im going to do at this point money is getting tighter now and my budget is getting lower because my mom and dad need so much help. If worst comes I will just sell the car to help them out. I can't really say because its one of those things you dont want to happen and your embarrassed about it. But yeah its that serious, I will keep everyone updated about my families situation I would rather not have a car than to see something lost they worked hard for

 

Soo...took apart the turbo tonite...And i found nothing..the heat sheild is the sorce of the noise, its loose and not sure why.. When i took it off eveything spun freely but when i pushed down on the shaft and tried to spin it, even a little bit of pressure i could not spin the blades..i think the pressure of the oil is pushing on the shaft or whatnot and it wont spin.. something internal has gone wrong with this turbo, so im waiting for the new one to arrive

Steven if your hearing a rattling sound when you rev the engine and lef off, its most likely the heat sheild, im not sure how it got loose, im not even sure how its suppost to stay on to be honest, but best bet is to just find another turbo bro

EDIT** are you sure the waterlines (feed and return) dont matter how you hook them up? For example; the turbo feed water line gets hooked up to the TB and the return line gets hooked up to the other coolant pipe.. would this put pressure on the shaft or any internal parts if these lines were backwards??

 

where do you get this heat shield name from. Its the bearing housing. and if the turbine wheel can hit it then the bearings must have play and therefore must be bad

 

http://www.vfaq.com/mods/Turbo-rebuild.html In that VFAQ it refurs to the part as a "heat sheild" so thats what i called it haha...what holds this peice on dude? its loose when the turbo is out of the hotside.. Im taking the turbo off again tonite for a complete breakdown and ill take pics and video let me know if you can tell if anything is "off" or not right looking.

These are the bearings right? If so, they have less than 1k on them, also they didnt appear to have any damage to them at all. i JUST recently did a rebuild on this turbo, there is NO shaft play in or out, or side to side...im baffled as to whats going on here.. when i take this apart tonite what should i look for, this is everything i replaced:
This is the exact rebuild kit i got



*** In this picture see the bearings, and how there are small circlips in between the bearings... Mine does not have these...

 

so what's teh deal, the compressor wheel doesn't spin because it is touching something? or it doesn't spin because there is a problem between the bar that connects them (ie the nut spins but the wheel doesn't or something). It spins freely when off the vehicle, right? even when the hotside is connected up, because it could be touching the housing part on the hotside or somethin.

 

Im going to take it apart again tonite, like complete dis-assemble and see if anything inside is going on out of the ordanary. I cant tell yet really, when its on the car i can spin it, but it does not spin freely, when its off the car it does spin freely...somewhere it is binding up i dont know where! i think the turbo is still ok...its binding up somehwere on the hotside maybe?

 

its sounds like there was a problem in the rebuild. I think you forgot something or assembled wrong and now it is touching the heatshield causing it to be difficult to spool and create a noise when it does.