is my turbo dead?

darich

I was driving my gf's car home tonight...a 2004 Nissan Almera 2.2 tdi. Nothing exciting but a decent enough car.
As i was approaching the top of the slip road i felt a massive drop in power - as if i had hit the rev limiter. I was surprised since i was certain i wasn't that high up the revs....anyway....the road then bends a bit so i was off the power but when i went back on thre was hardly anything there.
I also noticed there was no whistle anymore - just regular diesel sounds.
There was no noise, no sudden cloud of smoke from the back...just a sudden loss of power.

It meant that the car would barely go above 35mph and 2000rpm...not ideal on the motorway. Rightly or wrongly i figured i was safer to keep moving on the hard shoulder at around 35-40 with the hazards on than stop and wait for the AA. Ileft the motorway at the next slip and continued home on non-motorway roads- total distance driven after power loss - approx 10miles barely above 2000rpm.

Obviously home now and the car made it too. It idles ok. Doesn't sound any different, other than the lack of turbo whistle. No smoke at all from the car.

Is the turbo shot? is it more likely to be a burst/split hose?
any ideas from anyone??

thanks

Smart_But_Casual

Air Mass Meter prehaps?

darich

Smart_But_Casual wrote: »

Air Mass Meter prehaps?

I'm no mechanic but is there anyway I can check it out myself?
what would I be looking for?

goldspanners

check all hoses first, i had a vito that done this just as i joined the motorway, it wouldnt rev over 2500 and nothing over 45 no matter what gear iwas in, the van had just been serviced by merc dealer and they had loosened a hose off, it came off when i got on the motorway,took it back and they refitted it.
have a quick look around the turbo before you take it to anyone it may be as simple as this was.

darich

goldspanners wrote: »

check all hoses first, i had a vito that done this just as i joined the motorway, it wouldnt rev over 2500 and nothing over 45 no matter what gear iwas in, the van had just been serviced by merc dealer and they had loosened a hose off, it came off when i got on the motorway,took it back and they refitted it.
have a quick look around the turbo before you take it to anyone it may be as simple as this was.

Thanks

I'm glad that so far, no one has given me a definitive "yes it's dead" so i'm remaining positive that it's not the turbo but something connected to it.
Another daft question......where is the turbo on the almera diesel? I know it'll look curvy/round but is it easy to access and see if anything is loose?

I tried starting the car again.....starts no problem...sounds normal...no smoke at all from it.

Although it's my gf's car I feel like it was my fault because I was driving at the time.
I'll go have a look for any loose hoses now though.

goldspanners

darich wrote: »

Thanks

I'm glad that so far, no one has given me a definitive "yes it's dead" so i'm remaining positive that it's not the turbo but something connected to it.
Another daft question......where is the turbo on the almera diesel? I know it'll look curvy/round but is it easy to access and see if anything is loose?

I tried starting the car again.....starts no problem...sounds normal...no smoke at all from it.

Although it's my gf's car I feel like it was my fault because I was driving at the time.
I'll go have a look for any loose hoses now though.

it should be on or next to the manifolds i would guess, most are. its probably not as big as you might expect it to be.

darich

ok...had a look...I couldn't find any loose hoses or tears in them either.

Also spoke to someone a bit more knowledgeable than me. After i described everything he suggested the fuel pump was a possibility. He said that normally if the turbo goes there would be a lot of smoke going through the engine resulting in a lot of smoke. He also said that there was a good chance the front of the engine near the manifold would be covered in oil. Since neither are the case he reckoned the fuel pump was a possibility.

goldspanners

darich wrote: »

ok...had a look...I couldn't find any loose hoses or tears in them either.

Also spoke to someone a bit more knowledgeable than me. After i described everything he suggested the fuel pump was a possibility. He said that normally if the turbo goes there would be a lot of smoke going through the engine resulting in a lot of smoke. He also said that there was a good chance the front of the engine near the manifold would be covered in oil. Since neither are the case he reckoned the fuel pump was a possibility.

the lift pump or injection pump? if it was the lift pump then i would doubt it would start ok off the key. if its the injection pump you could expect some smoke or poor running and trouble starting.
if its the injection pump then you will probably wish it was the turbo that had gone as these arent cheap. having said that some have common faults and fuel pump specialists can recondition them.
maybe try lucas in glasgow if they do a unit for your car or turner diesel if they still exist,havent heard about them in ages though.

david29dpo

Sounds silly but my farther had a similar problem a few weeks ago. When he got home i removed the diesel filler cap, it nearly sucked my arm in! Blocked vent in the cap!

darich

goldspanners wrote: »

the lift pump or injection pump? if it was the lift pump then i would doubt it would start ok off the key. if its the injection pump you could expect some smoke or poor running and trouble starting.
if its the injection pump then you will probably wish it was the turbo that had gone as these arent cheap. having said that some have common faults and fuel pump specialists can recondition them.
maybe try lucas in glasgow if they do a unit for your car or turner diesel if they still exist,havent heard about them in ages though.

Idle speed is possibly a bit slower than it was previously. but it starts ok off the key. No smoke on starting, idling or when revving it.....but never taken it above about 2k rpm.
when revs drop the idle drops lower than it used to but then picks up and sits at the normal rate of around 800-900rpm.

my dad works at a local garage who have several franchises. The nissan garage foreman has suggested that depending on the age of the engine (it changed around the year of the car) it could be either the fuel pump or the air flow meter. going by the symptoms he doesn't think it's the turbo.

I've got a mechanic in the family who's going to phone tonight (he's coming home for hols at the moment) and hopefully look at it tomorrow.
With a bit of luck he'll figure it out and we'll then know what to do next.

darich

david29dpo wrote: »

Sounds silly but my farther had a similar problem a few weeks ago. When he got home i removed the diesel filler cap, it nearly sucked my arm in! Blocked vent in the cap!

thanks......i was hopeful when i went out because my gf said she filled it with diesel yesterday afternoon....but it made no difference.
no arm sucked in...no air rushing in...and even running the car with the cap loose it seems just the same.