Well, my turbo stopped spinning.. need some input, Intercooler = cause? Options

[mark_426]

Intro: Well, I took my car to celicagurl152003 and had quite a bit of expense put into it.

Throughout the work to my car, the intercooler "could not be installed" and I was told the car would be "fine, if not better" without it, due to the length of the piping. Ok, so I drive it home, seemed to run fine, minus something occasionally that seemed like a backfire if I punched it and tried to run the rev's up in the current gear.

Regardless, I was doing some electrical work this past weeked (7-10th), and I finished some of the electrical up, and got the battery charged, and went for a drive. THis is when I first noticed no boost. After it cooled and such, looked at it a bit, and asked some opinions of some of the alltrac people locally, didnt really get anywhere. Anyway, I had to change oil, and some other stuff under the hood, and finished that up, pulled it out my driveway, turned around, still no boost.

So, the real question: Anyway, my turbo currently will work about 10* back and forth from its current location, and then it feels like it hits an obstruction. It turns freely for the few degrees it does turn, but will turn no further.

What would cause this? Is it easily fixable? Would it be related to having no intercooler?


Heres a pic of the engine bay as it was until the turbo stopped functioning:

[jgreening]

I don't think running without an intercooler would hurt the turbo. The turbo discharges hot air and the intercooler is in between the turbo outlet and the throttle body. The problem with the turbo more likely occurred as a result of running without a blow off valve.

That said, I agree with what other people have said about running the 3s without an intercooler. You are asking for knock and eventually detonation when you fail to cool air. Luckily, the stock ECU is pretty good at controlling timing when it senses knock which has probably saved you thus far but you are a blown knock sensor away from catastrophe. You really should CEASE running the car until you have a capable intercooler.

Good luck.

This post has been edited by jgreening: Oct 14, 2005 - 7:55 PM