I think my turbo's blown...

jmc160

So my wife and I were popping out to collect a new carpet. I'd cleared my boot and back seats ready and we set off. We'd just pulled out of our road on to the main road and all of a sudden, my car made a funny noise and a huge amount of white smoke started billowing out of my exhaust.

The car is a 2000 reg, Saab 9-3s Turbo Auto and from the noise it made, I suspect the turbo's blown.

Anyone got any idea if this is going to be expensive to fix, or how I can go about confirming for myself (ie without paying a mechanic to find out for me) what's actually happened?

Thanks in advance...

Ranger8

Hopefully it maybe a pipe/hose thats split because it can give the same symptoms

stumpjumper

It does sound like the turbo (assuming nothing has become detached). I had the same happen on my 9-5. I did a DIY job on mine: £350 for a new turbo off ebay, set of sparkplugs £10, set of gaskets £5, fresh coolant £10, 5 litres mobil 1 £25. I needed a few sundry seals, washers and pipes that I got for not a lot off the local indie. It was a long job, but definately worth doing porperly as bits of turbo impellar got everywhere. Make sure whoever does it cleans out the intercooler. I'd say you'd be looking at £1000 if you get a garage to do it.

Have you dropped the sump lately? Oil Sludging is the most common cause of turbo faliure on these cars. Change the oil with fully synth at least every 6000miles/ 6 months.

jmc160

:eek: £1000? I think that's probably twice what the car's worth these days..

I haven't droppede the sump lately, no. I try and get a garage to do as much as possible in terms of servicing etc. but haven't been able to find the money lately. I may try and do it myself if I can get hold of a manual for it.

Thanks guys, it looks like I've got some work ahead of me.

goldspanners

jmc160 wrote: »

We'd just pulled out of our road on to the main road and all of a sudden, my car made a funny noise and a huge amount of white smoke started billowing out of my exhaust.

white smoke is generally steam. so it could be something else.
have you had a look at the condition of your oil and coolant? does the car still run?

jmc160

goldspanners wrote: »

white smoke is generally steam. so it could be something else.
have you had a look at the condition of your oil and coolant? does the car still run?

Yes the car still seems to run fine, except the smoke/steam... I'm trying not to run it though in case I'm doing more damage.

I've had too much on today to look into it all but am off work tomorrow so should be able to give everything a good go over.

LandyAndy

The danger is, as an inexperienced amateur, you could spend a lot of time following second hand advice from the interweb.

Take it to a reliable local garage and get them to find out what is wrong and a likely cost to put it right.

This will be the cheapest way to sort this properly.

jmc160

So I've had some quotes today to get this sorted, assuming it's the turbo.

Obviously I'll get it properly diagnosed first, but the quotes based in this info range from £550 to £1300. I'm seriously wondering if it's worth getting this fixed, as I doubt the car is worth much more than the lowest quote, if it's even more at all.

What's the best way to check the current value of the car (assuming it's in good nick), and is there any way to find out what it would be worth in its current state?