It's been about three days since I finished ny up-pipe install and truthfully I'm expecting a leak. But as of yet I have no indications of one. What I do have is a loud grinding screaching noise coming from the drivers side of my engine compartment. Mods include bov, mbc, up-pipe, and intake. But they all seem to be fine. the noise comes on at about 5000 to 6000 and scares the hell out of me. Rolling or in neutral, any and I mean any input would help.

 

okay so it is coming from the turbo side. but i have never heard any thing quite like it before. maybe it is a leak?

 

definately a leak from your description.

take off the passenger side wheel well liner, jack up the car and take your wheel off.

have someone start the car and carefully feel around the flanges where the manifold and upipe meet. You'll probably find your leak there.

 

I tried retightening all of the components and still no dice. I took it to Auburn Subaru and they say it's the turbo bushings going out. Now even if I was a moron and turned my car off 2 seconds after a race, would the stock turbo bushings burn after 14k? I think not, and I'm not a moron, I am very cautious about my turbo's spool down time after hard runs. So if the tech at Subaru is right, my battle now turns to them replacing my turbo under warranty. Which will not happen. They took photos of my engine and sent them to the regional head or whatever, and should be able to tell me no as early as the end of next week.
As you can probably tell I'm jumping for joy. So if anyone knows of a good aftermarket turbo, Ball Bearing preferred, under 1500$, please let me know. Thanks for your help. I'll try narrowing it hopefully to an exhaust leak, but at this point, It looks doubtfull.

 

I definatly will. My last words with the service guy before I left were along these lines. "well you see, your boost controller is adjustable,(no s**t),and we can't prove that you did'nt have it set above 16." me "You also can't prove that I did." "well, it's hard to tell what the decision will be." me "no it's not, just tell me no now and quit wasting my f*****g time." "thats not a very good attitude to have" me"no s**t, thanks for nothing a**hole."


So did I mention that I'm looking for a new turbo?lol

 

I think you're probably wasting your time, I can almost gaurantee its an uppipe leak, save yourself some money and try to find a leak before you blow it all on a new turbo for no reason.

check the pipes and edges of the gaskets for soot, and feel for air while its running.

also check your hoses around the edges for any tears,

I seriously doubt you fried your turbo

that sound is the exact description I would give to a leak,

loud metallic screaching sound comes on under full boost,

 

I'm not the type to jump on what a dealership says. The first one I took it to swore up and down that it was my bov. So I took it off in the parking lot and put back on the stock cbv to prove that it was'nt. Penninsula Subaru was my second opinion. It's my conclusion that thier techs don't know d**k about modified cars. I had to explain to one of them what a boost controller was. Like I said, I highly doubt a well maintained turbo would burn after 14k. So since my attempts to isolate the leak have failed, I'm taking it to a friend of mine to reallign the pipes (I admit I didn't line them perfectly at the manifold), install new gaskets and maybe machine the flange on my up-pipe incase I warped it from overtightening. Again this site is worth it wieght in gold (not literally of course) and never think for one second that I don't apprieciate and listen to every response I get from a post. Thanks again and I'll let you know how it goes.
Dustin

 

That tech is BSing you. That turbo is hard to blow, your
engine would go before ya blew that thing so I'm told.
recheck your up-pipe for leaks!

 

Indeed it was an exhaust leak, all better now and my ride is faster than ever. Still haven't called the dealership back and as far as i'm concerned f**k em. If thier techs can't isolate an exhaust leak even after I tell them that's what it is, can kiss my ***. Thanks again for the reassurance. Even though I expected a leak it was a little dissheartining to here a demon coming out from under my hood. Salute,
Dustin