I have always taken it off from up top. From below you have to work around the steering rack.

In fact I pulled my turbo off last weekend and the only bits I removed from below, were the oil feed line, and the bottom two turbo/manifold flange nuts. If you reach your hand down there, you will find the screw nut for the band clamp on the turbo intake.

Bypassing the turbo...not possible. Even with the wastegate fully open it will still spin. However you can spin the turbo with compressed air with the engine off. I'm not sure if in this case you will be able to check for play, or the noise you are hearing, just from spinning by hand. If you can't get access to an air compressor, maybe get a can of air from Staples or somewhere? It would be better than nothing.

I'm not sure about the vacuum question. I think that would be odd in a NA motor, but I'm not sure about a turbo. Maybe the increased restriction from all the ducting and intercooler could cause a momentary spike in vacuum under no load like you noticed. I'm sure someone with installed gauges could tell you if theirs does this.

 

Im keeping an eye on turbos on ebay.
My stock one is a 15G, correct?

Is the TD04HL-16T a direct bolt on? And if I put one on would I have to make any changes?

If the mechanic says the noise is a bad turbo I think I can replace it myself. I was gonna get a rebuild kit, but then I read a writeup on how to do it.....WAY more work than I would have thought.(and too much room for human error) And there are some 15G's on ebay for about $200 right now.

For all the noises it makes, it drives pretty normal at RPMs below boost. When the boost comes on, it doesnt seem to make much power. And I know the motor is running rich, DTC say so and you can smell it.

If the turbo is sucking in air...but not pushing it into the intake as it should I would think that would make things run rich.

 

If it's a 94 or 95 then it should be a 15G with a conical exhaust ... unless it's been replaced before you. Best way to tell is read the ID plate on the turbo.
The 16T would be a bolt on without need for anything else to be done EXCEPT exhaust. It would likely have a straight or angled flange housing and you'd need to move your 15G conical housing over to the 16T or get a later model downpipe that matches what the 16T has or have some cutting and welding done to what you have.

 

dang, I didnt see any 15T turbos on ebay. Ill try and read the ID plate tomorrow.

Would the 15G bolt on?

My car is a '95 tho it does have a OBD II port which I was told was only on the '96 and later models.

 

Yours should be a 15G. Mine was a 15G on my yellow car.

 

The '95s (mine) have both the OBD1 panel under the hood and the OBDII above the shifter. Some 94's also had both and a few 93's.
A 15G from any Volvo should bolt right in place of your 15G. Sorry, I'm used to using the "T" designation.

It is a 15G.

Turbocharger

 

Man, I don't think you should be worried about the turbo at this time. That sound is pointing at the head.

In the mean time, send that tune down here so I can check it out for you while your warranty is in place. Wouldn't want your warranty to expire before it's tested.

 

Oh, my bad, it's a R ECU, I already have that. I can check it out for you anyway I guess.

 

well the car's gonna be checked out by a mechanic today. The garage its going to, they work on volvos frequently so they should know their stuff.

The noise probly is in the head, I agree. But I still feel a replacement turbo may be nessesary. I mean, even if its OK now...what are the chances it will last long? Its got 218K on it...plus a half mile of runtime with NO OIL. That cant be good for a turbo. If my lifters got completely drained in that trip...then the turbo did as well.
I dont think the water cooling part would manage to keep the turbo from damage from what I did.

 

What your looking at is a class of turbos. Each of these 13g, 15g, 16t, 18t and 19t all have a TD04 in front of them. The TD04 is a mitsubishi standard size. Meaning all the exhaust housing are the same, the turbo compressors are different. So you can take a 16t compressor housing and cartridge and put it in any of the other turbo exhaust housing. There are three different exhaust housing output shapes, looking at our video yours is a 15G will have a conical exhaust flange. You can buy any of these turbos, if the exhaust housing is different you can take the cartridge out and move it over to your existing conical housing.

Would a 15G bolt on? Yes

A 16T would be a nice upgrade but harder to find.

 

OK, the mechanic says the noise is in the bottem end. so, most likely a crackshaft or rod bearing.

But that doesnt explain the lower performance...or the engine rich or misfire codes.

Then he spotted a torn vacuum hose...that was supposed to go to the front/right of the intake manifold!
He put that back on and it feels better now. Its snowing bad here...so I cant say if the performance is back to normal. But I can say if fixed the issue I mentioned of the vacuum PSI raising when I would give it throttle in park. Now the vacuum drops like it should.

So, the mechanic is gonna give me a quote on pulling the bottom out and replacing the bearings.

How hard would this be to do myself??? Any special tools needed?