Motors Turbo possibly not working

I helped my mum get a car yesterday, similar to mine - same engine a 1.7 td isuzu engine vauxhall astra.

Our is an older model but the engine is good and powerful. I let my mum test drive it and we looked at the engine which didnt look as good as ours. But it drove fine so my mum took it. We went back later that night and i drove it home, having the same car i knew the engine, the turbo does not seem to be kicking in. Have i helped my mum buy a lemon or is it a fixable thing, it does need a service and im hoping this will help sort it.

 

Well I guess the first question is what do you mean by "kicking in"?

Can you hear the turbo spooling?

 

If the turbo is running, but you aren't getting any "boost", it may be the wastegate not working probably. But it's pretty hard to tell over the internet whats wrong with it.

But everything is fixable , ofcourse for the right price that is.

 

you could try asking over @ http://www.cavweb-forums.co.uk/ , they know all the ins and outs of the vauxhall engines and will probably know the answer off the cuff. I've got a cavilier with the izusu lump and they helped me out loads when the bugger packed up

 

Thanks for that i'll have a look

 

Well first off, if it wasnt running period(ie it froze) then your engine would get no air and seize up and die. So obviously it is working somewhat. Now, the wastegate might be stuck open somewhat and letting most of the air escape, but it is still getting air to the engine.

Do you hear it spool up? It should still spool up when you mash the accelerator...

 

No it wouldn't. The turbine blades may not spin but air will still flow through it.

Most likely, it has a recirculating wastegate - excess charge is released back into the system. This does not apply here.

*n

 

how would air still flow through it? The turbine is fairly well fitting to the casing I assume, so it would be a very very small amount of air entering...which probably wouldnt be enough....

Ah, yes I forgot about recirculating wastegate. The air is just re-entering the intake, but hes not going to get the boost. The engine will take what it needs and no extra because it will flow out the wastegate.

 

I have driven a car with a seized turbo in it, and it still ran. It definatly didnt run properly that is for sure, but it did run. I would bet I was running very rich, but I only drove it like 30 miles (to and from work until I had time to get under the hood).


Penski, whats up with my sig?

 

So i was partially right, partially wrong. I didn't believe that you could get enough air in there through siezed turbos