Yeah it would. I’d be a little concerned a bearing or something might come out, fly into the intake, and damage the motor too, depending on how the turbo is supposed to be failing. I guess that’s a remote possibility…?
That is true. If the turbo completely comes apart, it could trash the engine by ingesting metal bits into the engine. I didn’t think about that. Could the turbo simply by bypassed with little effort?
I’d bet a dozen donuts the answer to that is ‘no way’. Nothing simple, or with little effort, I’d think.
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That is what I figured but was wondering if you could unbolt piping and install a blocking plate where the gaskets go. Of course this would probably throw all kinds of codes.
But you’d be blocking off the intake and exhaust.
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Yeah, I suppose you’d have to do some custom tubing. I still think I’d replace the muffler and try another dealer.
Could you force the waste gate open all the time?
That is another idea. Use a mechanical or electronic means (I am not sure how this is actuated).
Every gas appliance I have came with propane jets. I was on propane at the time. The manifold pressure has to be adjusted as well but as I learned when we switched to natural gas, not all my appliances were adjusted correctly, they put in the jets and let it be done. No telling how much of that expensive propane I wasted over the years.
Probably. You’d get an underboost code. I wouldn’t be surprised if the turbo is actually fine and there’s a stuck open wastegate issue, anyway, to be honest. Unless the turbo bearings are howling like a banshee.
This discussion has kind of gone down a rabbit hole.
My understanding is that if he has a new turbocharger install by the Buick dealership, they will not warranty the replacement turbo unless the exhaust system is returned to stock configuration.
Please correct me if I am misunderstanding the situation.
My advice would be to take the vehicle to a muffler shop and have the exhaust system returned to stock configuration, likely much less than $3000, then take it to a different Buick dealership for the replacement turbo. They then might cover the turbo under the power train warranty. If not covered under the power train warranty, at least he will have a warranty on the new turbo.
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The vehicles I’ve seen with turbo failures (seized or dragging impellers) were dogs performance wise as the turbine wheel and compressor wheel acted as major restrictions in the intake track and exhaust outlet.
The problem here is that none of us know the details behind the warranty denial. It’s stated the exhaust was modified as the reason. Who knows? Maybe much more was said that is not known to any of us.
If the turbocharger itself has failed at 41k miles (and apparently so) then it likely failed for oil reasons.
To get a warranty on that turbo would mean service records must be available.
Did the dealer tell the owner oil issues caused the turbo failure? The owner refuses to talk.
All turbo cars I’ve worked on required much more frequent oil changes. There is the issues of was this Buick run chronically low, out of oil, or even the wrong oil? Again, the owner ain’t talking. It’s also been my experience with auto issues that everyone will lie, hold back info, or fudge facts in the name of self preservation.
I do not know how GM handles records but Ford has everything in their OASIS data base for example. If GM’s data base shows little or nothing and records are not provided by the owner then they are SOL.
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I guess that isn’t the case with water heaters or at least some of the brands he sees. He said this wasn’t a horrible fix on furnaces and stuff but that water heaters are a different story. I am not the expert in HVAC so am trusting him. He says that water heaters are set at the factory for one fuel and there is no easy modification to change them over.
He also says that the burners are often so carboned up by the time he gets called that they are basically worthless, even if sold to someone with the proper fuel supply. I get the feeling he doesn’t want to be liable for a future failure or carbon monoxide issues so just replaces. I can’t say I blame him.
Something like this might be why the dealer is requiring a complete replacement of the exhaust system on the car in question. Also, could the exhaust system be so hacked up by the person who made this modification that it is beyond economic repair? Some people can turn their cars into a complete basket case! I didn’t think about the turbo itself being a restriction if bypassed/disabled but that is a good point.
The owner of that car won’t have a prayer in court; or even in an attorney’s office. What’s that attorney going to say when he’s told by someone whose goal in life is noise rather than a job that they wanna sue General Motors with no iron clad evidence not to mention the retainer fee which is going to run 5 figures to get the ball rolling. GM is not going to roll over on a form letter threat.
Do I think the exhaust mods caused a turbo failure? No. The turbo failure has another failure cause related to oil issues which may or may not have been exacerbated by the car’s prior owner.
There has to be a paper trail to back something up.
I had mentioned one turbo failure that was non oil related and it was due to the driver transferring a new turbo Subaru to our dealership from TX. He roasted that turbo to oblivion by being in full boost most of the time. He covered 425 miles in 6 hours flat while crossing 4 major metro areas in heavy traffic. Driver did not want to hang around and headed PDQ to the airport. After he left I found out why when sales said the car would barely run. So much heat even the hood paint was charred and had to be repainted.
The big thing here is that none of us know exactly what the dealer said to the car owner. The owner only mentioned exhaust mods and quite likely there was more to the conversation than that. When someone refuses to answer a question it generally means they don’t like the answer.
A few months ago one of the poster’s here was having a warranty dispute about a newly purchased vehicle having dashboard control panel problems, even after several attempts the dealership hadn’t been able to resolve. I believe the poster’s handle contained the word “dragon”. Perhaps that poster can provide an update.
Thegreendrag0n, his message display has been malfunctioning for almost 3 years.
I’m kinda out of the loop for the time being so I don’t know the outcome. I got COVID. If I find out anything on how this resolved, I’ll let you know.
Hopefully your symptoms are as mild as mine were several weeks ago. Really felt no worse than a cold. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
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I also had COVID-19 recently, at the beginning of April. My symptoms were fairly mild and all in my sinuses. I did get a monoclonal antibody infusion. The afternoon after the infusion I started to feel much worse but the next day I felt much better. Maybe the infusion worked as planned. After that, it was stuffy sinuses and a mild fever. I was back at work after a little over 10 days. I hope you have a similar or better experience.
Hope you feel better soon.