We were driving along, no noise, no nothing, and I lost boost, the turbo's not spooling, I checked the air intake piping that's all ok, checked oil and water, that's ok, I just don't have power :o

 

I think I broke the turbo.....

 

Any ideas???

 

Lesley :jamie:

Check to see if the wastegate actuator is still connected on the turbo, I had 1 of my turbo's shit itself and it wouldnt do anything until around 4,000 rpm, Is yours not making any boost at all?

none boost at all, I revved it up to 4000 rpm and nothing...

 

Ok, now just so you know, I'm a chick and I don't know what the wastegate actuator is.... what's it look like?

 

Lesley :jamie:

 

It sits on the side of the turbo, Did you drive it to check for boost as a turbo will only be efficient when under load.

I drove it, I could't hear the turbo spooling up, and the engine sounded quieter, the exhaust sounded quieter, it was weird, like you're driving with headphones on and you can only just hear ... when I put my foot down the engine was REALLY unresponsive...NO power!!! Usually I zip all over the place, now it feels like I'm going at a snails pace...

 

also, I don't think I have one of those, the only thing near my turbo is the air intake pipe (which was cold - weird).

 

 

I'm taking it to Toyota this morning - hopefully it's something simple....

 

Lesley

Here is the wastegate actuator, hidden away down there:

 

good spotting!!! ...

It's easy when you know what you're looking for and approximately where it should be.

ok, update...

 

I took it to Toyota and they took it for a test drive (the mechanic who drove it has driven it before) and was well aware how it SHOULD be, after the shorted test drive ever...he checked all the things it could be (I have no idea what that is by the way) took the air intake piping off and stuck a screwdriver into the turbo to turn the splines and they wouldn't turn.

 

He said that they'd need to take the Turbo off and send it to a specialist, probably the one who rebuilt the last one (I'm pretty sure though that it was replaced with a new one when I had the engine done ...)

 

Preliminary options are thus:

 

Have them rebuild/replace my current turbo with standard

 

or

 

say goodbye to my warranty and put on a garret turbo, modify the manifold and some other bits

 

it's basically going to come down to Toyota Extra Care, if they're going to fix/replace it for nix I'll go with whatever they suggest, but if they won't cover it, then I'll be upgrading the turbo...

 

oh, by the way, what does the wastegate actuator do?? What is it's purpose in life??

 

 

Lesley :jamie:

Controls boost. Do a search on google and you find info easy.

I can try an explain it, but I might just confuse you. :jamie:

 

How long you got left on the warantee anyway?

If you've got Extra Care still valid on the vehicle, then the turbo should DEFINITLEY be covered, especially if you haven't done anything like to void any warrantees.

Same thing that was wrong with mine when i got the car, Do you use a turbo timer or let it cool down a little bit, It also helps to let it idle at startup to lubricat the turbo before been driven.

the first thing I did when I got the car was put on a Turbo Timer, it's set for .5 minute each time I turn off the engine, if I give her a hard run, I usually set it for 3 minutes. I also let it idle for about a minute before I drive it and usually if I'm going straight onto the freeway I take the long way round to make sure she's warmed up a bit before I take her up to 110.

 

I have another year left on the warranty and I've not done anything to void it, all work to date has been done by Toyota.

 

I googled and now have a better understanding of wastegate actuator's:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wastegate

 

So Trev was your turbo faulty or was it the wastegate actuator - I gather that the spring is the part that fails in wastegate actuators??

 

Lesley :jamie:

the first thing I did when I got the car was put on a Turbo Timer, it's set for .5 minute each time I turn off the engine, if I give her a hard run, I usually set it for 3 minutes. I also let it idle for about a minute before I drive it and usually if I'm going straight onto the freeway I take the long way round to make sure she's warmed up a bit before I take her up to 110.

 

I have another year left on the warranty and I've not done anything to void it, all work to date has been done by Toyota.

 

I googled and now have a better understanding of wastegate actuator's:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wastegate

 

So Trev was your turbo faulty or was it the wastegate actuator - I gather that the spring is the part that fails in wastegate actuators??

 

Lesley :jamie:

 

Turbo was stuffed, Ended up puttin a diesel turbo on it.

hopefully they don't try and pin the turbo timer as being the problem, but if they havent said anything yet then no doubt they wont make it too hard. Like ancullen said, there's no reason why they shouldnt fix it cause its still under warranty (they'd wanna fix it, i paid alot for that warranty when i purchased it :jamie:). If they squirm out of it, chuck a garrett or something on there. Probably need a LSD on it though with that much extra power as the grip is pretty average as it was :o Good luck with it all!