Turbo help

[MancMike]

Hey chaps. (he says on international women's day!)

My Mrs' insignia has suddenly developed a problem. She described it as just having no power whatsoever, but it sets off fine, etc.

As soon as I test drove it, I noticed a total lack of turbo noise. I've never owned a turbo car so the noise is particularly noticeable to me.

Below the speeds where the turbo spins up and provides boost, i.e below 1.5k, the engine seems fine, and you can rev it high at a standstill too, but when you put your foot down, that surge of power that normally arrives accompanied by a whooshing sound just never arrives, and so it's powerless and you struggle to get up to road speed, and anything above 2nd gear is pointless as it's not got the guts to pull in 3rd or above.

I'm assuming the turbo has seized, maybe it's oil feed line has blocked. Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm making a total stab in the dark, as I've zero experience with turbo troubles.

It's a 60 plate 160ps Insignia, Garrett M12 turbo, I believe the engine is A20DTH.

Thanks all.

 

[wu56Shoozz]

Turbo Dynamics - Turbocharger Repair & Upgrade Specialists

Ask for Tom, he's a man in the know..

 

[clk320x]

Hey chaps. (he says on international women's day!)

My Mrs' insignia has suddenly developed a problem. She described it as just having no power whatsoever, but it sets off fine, etc.

As soon as I test drove it, I noticed a total lack of turbo noise. I've never owned a turbo car so the noise is particularly noticeable to me.

Below the speeds where the turbo spins up and provides boost, i.e below 1.5k, the engine seems fine, and you can rev it high at a standstill too, but when you put your foot down, that surge of power that normally arrives accompanied by a whooshing sound just never arrives, and so it's powerless and you struggle to get up to road speed, and anything above 2nd gear is pointless as it's not got the guts to pull in 3rd or above.

I'm assuming the turbo has seized, maybe it's oil feed line has blocked. Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm making a total stab in the dark, as I've zero experience with turbo troubles.

It's a 60 plate 160ps Insignia, Garrett M12 turbo, I believe the engine is A20DTH.

Thanks all.

Have you plugged into diagnostic to see if there are any codes?

 

[Joderest]

there are other considerations, intercooler blocked ?, intercooler pipe collapsed ? air filter blocked ?
Very rare for a turbo to just seize up, would have been lots of noise before hand.
If there are no lights on the dash, you may not have any codes logged.

 

[PobodY]

I'd also be surprised if it seized without making a lot of noise. - Possibly a boost leak somewhere; it's still making the boost, but it's not putting it to the engine.

On the GTiR this sometimes happens when the pipework has come loose from the intercooler.

Even a failed spring in the recirc valve?

 

[MancMike]

Yeah you're all right, it's not seized. I took off the air intake pipe and it spins freely by hand, and with no end float. I started the engine with the intake off and you can see it spinning, and it does 'whoosh' when you rev it with the intake off... There's still no power at all though. I've checked the actuator arm and it does move, so that's not seized. I guess next is the EGR valve. :/

I've got a diagnostic reader, but it's in my car, and she's taken that to work! I'll get that plugged in tomorrow, although the CEL isn't on...

 

[cheddar]

These insignias usually break a charge-air hose, they only take a tiny split do do this.
It’s most likely the one that goes from the intercooler to the intake, runs up the passenger side of the engine bay.
If it is that, you can usually feel it leaking air even at idle.

 

[MancMike]

These insignias usually break a charge-air hose, they only take a tiny split do do this.
It’s most likely the one that goes from the intercooler to the intake, runs up the passenger side of the engine bay.
If it is that, you can usually feel it leaking air even at idle.

You're exactly right. I've found the split in the charge pipe from the intercooler, passenger side.

 

[MancMike]

Oh dear. I repaired the split. It was about an inch long, and blowing air out. I patched it with a patch of rubber, contact adhesive, and several cable ties. It's not leaking any air anymore.

It's still the same though, no boost. There's no error codes stored that my little reader could find, and no CEL showing. Any ideas? Could it be in some kind of limp mode that it'll come out of on it's own after a few restarts or something?

 

[Trickythemerc]

You could try a hard reset, disconnect the battery for 30-45 minutes and see if that clears the fault.

 

[MancMike]

Battery disconnected. Will try again later.

 

[cheddar]

if your code reader is a generic OBD type, there may be errors stored that aren't OBD and hence don't show. still if you attempt to read and the erase, it should still clear manufacturer-specific codes. try that if the battery disconnect didn't work.
I have had other knock-on effects on these if driven for any length of time like that, they can clog the DPF or log other faults.
fingers crossed for a cheap/free easy fix though.

 

[MancMike]

Thanks, it was driven for around 10 miles after it happened and the power vanished.

It is a cheap reader, I’ll try clearing anyway. Thanks for the tip.

The repair looks good. Should be fairly permanent. I cleaned the pipe thoroughly with soapy water then isopropyl alcohol to completely degrease it, then nearly wrapped gaffer tape around the split several times, then sprayed contact adhesive on a thick rubber patch that wraps almost all the way around the pipe, then it’s cable tied many times to further reinforce it. No gas is leaking now.

 

[MancMike]

Hmm. Reconnected the battery, and did erase codes, it said that was successful.

The car is no different though. Still no power. I guess EGR next?

 

[wu56Shoozz]

Turbo actuator?? That would cause LHM..

Or N73 Valve malfunction?

 

[MancMike]

The turbo actuator actuates. When you start the car, it fully moves position, then when you turn the engine off, it relaxes fully again.

Never heard of an N73 valve?

 

[Trickythemerc]

What codes did you get ?

 

[MancMike]

There were no codes, and no CEL either. I hit erase anyway as advised..

 

[cheddar]

from there it's pretty had to move on without a decent diagnostic tool.
I've never had EGR issues on one of these 2.0cdti insinia's, not saying they don't fail, but not known in my workshop. a nice change compared to the older 1.9cdti's.
I wouldn't chuck any parts at it yet, any reputable local garage should be able to at least read and print the full error memory for less than £30.

 

[MancMike]

Car is fixed! the split boost pipe clogged the DPF beyond regen being possible.

Bought opcom/vauxcom diagnostic kit for the laptop, it read 255% soot accumulation and said 170km since last regen.

I was able to trigger an active regeneration on the driveway and the car went nuts, took it to 3.5k rpm and held it there for about ten minutes, it filled the entire street with smoke, and then when it cleared up, the process finished, and car has mega boost again. Spins front wheels in 2nd gear if you floor it.

Thanks to everyone for your help, I think I’ve doubled my car knowledge in the last week.