Helllpppp….. turbo issues

[Gm77]

Hi all and thanks for the help in advance
Best to start from the start
I have a 2008 d40 Spanish built navara, when I first bought it many moons ago I started driving around and the turbo was making a funny noise, high pitched and spoiling not in sync with revs, anyways the turbo eventually blew in a cloud of white smoke from the exhaust, it was still under the used car yard warranty so got fixed for free, fast forward 3-4 years and the turbo started doing the same thing again, with the kids in the car and on the highway headed home flooded the highway with white smoke, got it to a car park and left it there, ordered a new turbo, cheap one of eBay to get me going again, went out with a car savvy mate and changed the turbo over a cpl of afternoons, got the new turbo in, started it up, ran fine, let it idle for about 5 mins then went for a test drive, worked fine for abit but a soon as I gave it alittle same thing happened, white smoke everywhere, now we did forget to top up the oil but there was still some on the dip stick, minimal tho, I have got a new turbo (eBay again) and am about to put it in but dnt want it to blow up again, what other issues could be happening or is it just the low oil? I had no oil lights prior no oil issues, just dnt want to put another one in for it to do the same thing, any help would be great

 

[Old.Tony]

Welcome to the forum.

Is your car an automatic?

 

[Gm77]

Thanks tony
Yeah it is

 

[Old.Tony]

It might not be the turbocharger. Here's the test.

Take the car for a drive until it starts smoking. Pull over, turn the engine off, then start it again. Drive off - can you drive (normally) for 500 metres without any smoke?

If you CAN drive for 500 metres without it smoking (and perhaps further) then it's entirely likely that your DPF sensors have become faulty. Mine did this, I thought it was the turbo - it wasn't.

If it starts smoking immediately, the ECU might have registered the immediate need to do a regen. A mechanic can reset this flag in the ECU and it will be good for about 200km.

If it looks like the DPF sensors (and it's my bet that it is), then write to auggie on this forum and ask him for some replacement sensors. I bought a pair of him - cost me around $600 if memory serves, but that was years ago and they might be a little dearer now - but they instantly solved the problem. I've not had a single issue with them since.

If the flag is NOT set in the ECU (so it's not a DPF regen being triggered) then it could be a sensor like the MAFS (just in the back of the pipe coming out of the air filter) - pop this out and give it a clean using electrical contact cleaner only (never touch the inside of it with something solid like a toothpick). If that doesn't fix it, it'd be worth running a can of Liqui Moly Diesel Purge (instructions on the can, YouTube has video instructions too) through the engine.

If the problem STILL persists, you could check the turbo's operation (vac hoses, actuator movement, Boost Control Solenoid operation). The cheapest thing to do is jump in (cold engine), fire it up and using some tool to read the boost pressure, make sure it's reaching around 20psi when accelerating moderately. I use a bluetooth OBD-II (ELM327) adapter and an Android app called "Torque" to do this. I suspect you may not get this far, my money's on the DPF sensors, but if you DO get this far, we need to know whether the turbocharger is being controlled properly before going further.

 

[Gm77]

Thanks mate your a legend,
I’ve checked all the hard line vac pipes, done the mafs sensor, solanoids, so I’ll be giving this a go once once I put the turbo back in, thanks heaps mate

 

[Ziad]

It might not be the turbocharger. Here's the test.

Take the car for a drive until it starts smoking. Pull over, turn the engine off, then start it again. Drive off - can you drive (normally) for 500 metres without any smoke?

If you CAN drive for 500 metres without it smoking (and perhaps further) then it's entirely likely that your DPF sensors have become faulty. Mine did this, I thought it was the turbo - it wasn't.

If it starts smoking immediately, the ECU might have registered the immediate need to do a regen. A mechanic can reset this flag in the ECU and it will be good for about 200km.

If it looks like the DPF sensors (and it's my bet that it is), then write to auggie on this forum and ask him for some replacement sensors. I bought a pair of him - cost me around $600 if memory serves, but that was years ago and they might be a little dearer now - but they instantly solved the problem. I've not had a single issue with them since.

If the flag is NOT set in the ECU (so it's not a DPF regen being triggered) then it could be a sensor like the MAFS (just in the back of the pipe coming out of the air filter) - pop this out and give it a clean using electrical contact cleaner only (never touch the inside of it with something solid like a toothpick). If that doesn't fix it, it'd be worth running a can of Liqui Moly Diesel Purge (instructions on the can, YouTube has video instructions too) through the engine.

If the problem STILL persists, you could check the turbo's operation (vac hoses, actuator movement, Boost Control Solenoid operation). The cheapest thing to do is jump in (cold engine), fire it up and using some tool to read the boost pressure, make sure it's reaching around 20psi when accelerating moderately. I use a bluetooth OBD-II (ELM327) adapter and an Android app called "Torque" to do this. I suspect you may not get this far, my money's on the DPF sensors, but if you DO get this far, we need to know whether the turbocharger is being controlled properly before going further.

Hi Tony,

Firstly, always fond of your priceless replies..!
Just to know from your experience, if you rev while idle on ground, what boost levels one may get on that 'torque' app? Also what moderate acceleration may correlate with speed and rpm vs 20psi of boost?
Do we need to adjust actuator on an aftermarket turbos..

Thanks a ton

Ziad

 

[Old.Tony]

When you're in neutral, the ECU won't allow large boost levels anyway (it might even be based on engine load + throttle position + RPM). Take the car for a drive, as you pull away from the kerb with anything over half throttle you should see full boost (20-22psi) once you pass about 2,000rpm. I think the Garrett 2056V tops out at about 24psi above 3,000rpm, but if you're seeing around 20psi under normal acceleration then your turbocharger is performing pretty well.

I've had a Chinese turbo on my car for a short time, I replaced it because I thought it was faulty, turned out to be my DPF sensors. The Chinese turbo sits in a box (with about 3,000km under its belt) and a Honeywell Garrett (not sourced from Nissan, but from a Honeywell Garrett distributor) now lives under the bonnet. Neither turbo required any adjustments. The control device I use has required adjustment (a Tillix valve) but when I can get my hand on some 3mm vac hose to replace all of mine, I'm going to return to a BCS (I've obtained a cheap one off eBay) for turbocharger control to see how it goes.

 

[Beardless]

When you first put I’m on your turbo make sure you pre fill it with oil and also a test we do at work is check the oil feed line aswell sometimes there not getting full oil pressure to the turbo

 

[Ziad]

When you're in neutral, the ECU won't allow large boost levels anyway (it might even be based on engine load + throttle position + RPM). Take the car for a drive, as you pull away from the kerb with anything over half throttle you should see full boost (20-22psi) once you pass about 2,000rpm. I think the Garrett 2056V tops out at about 24psi above 3,000rpm, but if you're seeing around 20psi under normal acceleration then your turbocharger is performing pretty well.

I've had a Chinese turbo on my car for a short time, I replaced it because I thought it was faulty, turned out to be my DPF sensors. The Chinese turbo sits in a box (with about 3,000km under its belt) and a Honeywell Garrett (not sourced from Nissan, but from a Honeywell Garrett distributor) now lives under the bonnet. Neither turbo required any adjustments. The control device I use has required adjustment (a Tillix valve) but when I can get my hand on some 3mm vac hose to replace all of mine, I'm going to return to a BCS (I've obtained a cheap one off eBay) for turbocharger control to see how it goes.

Hhmm, ok, though i have a new turbo and BCS, it ranges to about 15 psi even with hard throttle push, i did the intercooler cleanup also.. but thanks for your feedback benchmark of s good boost is around 20 psi.. will keep looking on other suggestions as well will post an update..

Thanks a lot

Ziad

 

[Nig]

Hi all and thanks for the help in advance
Best to start from the start
I have a 2008 d40 Spanish built navara, when I first bought it many moons ago I started driving around and the turbo was making a funny noise, high pitched and spoiling not in sync with revs, anyways the turbo eventually blew in a cloud of white smoke from the exhaust, it was still under the used car yard warranty so got fixed for free, fast forward 3-4 years and the turbo started doing the same thing again, with the kids in the car and on the highway headed home flooded the highway with white smoke, got it to a car park and left it there, ordered a new turbo, cheap one of eBay to get me going again, went out with a car savvy mate and changed the turbo over a cpl of afternoons, got the new turbo in, started it up, ran fine, let it idle for about 5 mins then went for a test drive, worked fine for abit but a soon as I gave it alittle same thing happened, white smoke everywhere, now we did forget to top up the oil but there was still some on the dip stick, minimal tho, I have got a new turbo (eBay again) and am about to put it in but dnt want it to blow up again, what other issues could be happening or is it just the low oil? I had no oil lights prior no oil issues, just dnt want to put another one in for it to do the same thing, any help would be great

Have you washed out the intercooler and