Horrendous (to me) intermittent Turbo exhaust noise? I have looked through your forums (and others) and am hoping you will just call me stupid and point out pages of discussion relating to my problem.
Last year at about 50,000 vehicle miles, after going down a three mile long grade was the first time it occurred.
It is a very loud sort of squealing howling noise coming from underneath the passenger side close to the engine. When I turn off the engine, you can hear the turbo charger (I guess) finish running down and making a sort of scrape-scrape-scraping noise as it stops.
We camped out overnight. The next morning it still made the noise. On a whim, I accelerated really fast and it went away. It didn’t happen again for months, next time no long downhill grade but we were at around 5000 feet.
It has been occurring more and more often, most recently while driving through Canada (wasn’t at major altitude but it was raining) and I couldn’t get rid of it for about 300 miles.
I know it seems like I’m an imbecile for driving it, but the times it has happened we have been very far away from dealers and when I asked the dealer in Kenai Alaska (purchased it there) they said it must not be anything and they cant do anything since it went away (lots of help there).
Everything (pressures etc) are good and other than wondering if the engine is going to explode, its running great.

 

Have you checked your intake clamps and boots for leaks or if they have a cut in them anywhere?

 

Thanks for the response. When it is occurring I have tried to locate the source of the noise but it echo’s around so much I cant isolate it. Is there a specific torque for those clamps or do you just crank em till they are tight? I am assuming if it is a bearing going out it would have just kept getting worse but what do I know.

 

man that is a hard one to figure out since you cant pin-piont the source. I was thinking bearings also, but you usually know it when you have that kind of a problem. it would be alot eaiser if you could get a better idea of where it was coming from, but thats hard to do driving down the road

 

You describing the scraping noise AFTER you turned the truck off (turbo winding down) and then it making the noises again the next day then you HAMMERED it and it went away, etc kinda makes me feel like something is wrong with your blades either going in or coming out...have you taken the turbo off, or at least disconnected your intake and elbow to inspect for damage such as MISSING impellar blades, LOOSE(wobbly) impellar, anything possibly in the housing that might be getting lodged and dislodged intermittently and making sounds...etc.

 

Sigh...Sounds like I will actually have to do some work. When it is happening, it is really a nasty sound. I was hoping others would say "dont worry-happens all the time". Does anybody know if Turbo removal has been covered in the forums? I looked but didnt find any tips or cautions. Are there any gaskets or things I should be aware of or pre-lube things (i am assuming oil is going to go all over). Guess I should just try to inspect the blades (if possible) as suggested before removing it.
P.S. There seem to be some mighty decent people on this site. On another site I had joined people spent a lot of time telling each other how stupid they were. Thanks again.

 

I'll bet its your turbo. Take off the intake tube and look for scrapes on the turbo housing where the blades rotate inside. Also grab the shaft and wiggle up and down/ side to side. you will more than likely have excessive play there that allows the blades to touch the housing causing the noise. My buddy had this happen and we were stumped at first mainly due to the fact we didn't want to believe the turbo was bad, but sure enough. We first took the intake tube off and ran the engine while looking and listening to turbo blades while revving engine. And we could also push hard enough on shaft while rotating to "feel" blades touch housing (with engine off)

 

I hope things turn out to be ok, but not to be pesamistic, when you start getting sounds that are that distinctive out of ANY part of a vehicle, something just isn't right.

On another note...what's going on with your warranty? Are you over 100,000 miles yet? If not, that engine and it's components are still covered under warranty. I know that you said it only happens every once in a while, so there is the possibility of you taking it in to your dealership and them not finding anything wrong with it, but if you're persistent, they can get somebody to take it apart for you under warranty work and try to isolate a problem...save yourself the arm work.

 

Shows you how dumb I am. It is under 100K. I was thinking that the turbo wouldnt be under warranty since its not an internal part. I need to find my paperwork and start working on it. The information you guys have given me might help convince the dealer to look at it. There has got to be some scrape marks with all of that racket.

 

Are you bringing it to Anchorage, by chance? If so, I would take it to Lithia. If you take it to Anchorage Dodge, they'll just tell you it's normal til your over 100k...

 

Im going to try the Kenai dealership first (purchased it there). I dont know about their mechanics yet. Hopefully they will be good to me. One of their salesmen told me the voltage drop after starting was to keep load off of the engine while it was cold. Thanks to this site, I now know different.

 

Good luck! If you want another set of ears on it, I'll be heading down to Ninilchik next Thursday. Hopefully the dealer in Kenai will get you in and take care of you before then! But if not, let me know. I don't know how much help I'd be to you, but I'm willing to try!

 

I called up the Dealer. They actually seem slightly receptive. Im going to go in on Tuesday or Wednesday in person with my paperwork (I actually found it all). Ill keep you posted. Thanks for the offer but just keep your eyes open for a green truck with shell and a guy with his thumb out on the highway (Im going clam digging Sunday).