Lost Turbo Boost

[andrewfessler]

This morning on my way to work as I was under acceleration, I heard this sound that was like what one hears when you unhook an impact wrench or something from an air-compressor house. The loud rush of air esacaping a pressurized source.

I pulled over and checked under the hood and found that the blue turbo hose coming out of the intercooler on the lower drivers side had "slid" off.

Needless to say, even though it is cool to hear the turbo whine like the big boys. It is not cool to have horrible power. (The black smoke is fun when passing someone.)

We'll see how long it takes the dealer to put it back on this afternoon. They had replaced that hose recently from my accident, and I feel like making them fix it, since it is kind of hard to reach it anyways.

FWIW.

[DmaxMaverick]

Definately have the dealer fix it. Be very careful driving it around like that. The intake will have no filtration and the turbo can overspeed due to the loss of pressure. Bad situation. Good for getting rid of mosquitos and tailgaters, though.

[andrewfessler]

Chuckles, yup! No more tailgaters.

The truck did hiccup a few times though, guess it was trying to get the air/fuel mixture right or something. (the Hiccups were something more like a backfire)

I got it fixed already. The tech that fixed it said, it is a spring loaded clamp. That the clamp was designed to allow the hose to come loose when there was too much pressure, rather than splitting the intercooler.

I suppose that is possible. I do know though, that they didn't have the hose on all the way after they replaced it a month ago. It was probably 2/3 of the way on, so I didnt worry about it then.

We'll see if it pops off again.

Note: After it was fixed, it took a few good acceleration runs before it quit spewing out black smoke. Guess the computer had to reconfigure itself.

[DmaxMaverick]

That's great you got it fixed.

I do have my doubts about the tech, though. He doesn't know his clamps. Typical.

Those "spring" clamps are not designed to come off from overboost, although it may happen that way given the right situation. If the clamp is installed correctly, it will not let go before the intercooler blows. The hose will burst first.

The reason is for constant torque. It keeps them on. The tension is constant so they don't loosen up or leak. A good GM decision, for a change. Good thing it's an industry standard or GM might have used those flat clamps. Then his theory would have been more correct. Just another bean to count.

[Tough Guy]

Prolly trying to cover his behind for having it come apart in the first place...little white lies ....

Cheers

[mark45678]

I agree the tec is full of sh#t! sping clamps dont come apart when the turbo has a wastegate set at 25~26 psi! I bet he never tighten it !!! glad to hear all is well!