Recently acquired a 744Turbo, great deal at $700 Cdn but was somewhat neglected for the last coupla years I figure.

Did a complete once over on the car with new plugs, wires, checked all vacuum/pressure hoses for leakage, cleaned TB and did a tune-up on the electrical connectors with dielectric grease. Fuel pressure hasn't been verified, but both pumps running ok and pulling vac. hose off regulator raises idle.

Observation #1:
Acceleration is still not up to par. (have owned 4 turbos, so know where it should be). 0-100km is in the ten second range.

Observation #2: Is car idles for a period more than 5 minutes, it starts to emit blue smoke, enough to be quite noticeable. Was so bad yesterday that it took a 10km jaunt on the higwhay to clear it up.

Observation #3:
When checking the turbo for free play, spinning the shaft or turbine seems a bit stiffer than normal. No free play whatsoever apparent, either side-to-side or front to back.


My question is whether these are indicative of a turbo going bad. I'm hoping not, and figure if it was, I would definitely see some play on the turbo.
But still, looking for input from those more experienced/knowledgeable.
Turbo problem or unrelated others to troubleshoot?


Thanks in advance,

Andre Corriveau
85 744Turbo
B230FT/AW71 with 215,000kms
Ontario, Canada

Hey guys,
Still looking for some wisdom re; excessive oil use at idle.

Was wondering, maybe a clogged/restrictive turbo oil drain? Might account for why it smokes heavily at idle, but thinking it should still smoke while driving?

Ideas? Help?


TIA,

Andre Corriveau
85 744Turbo
B230FT/AW71 with 215,000kms
Ontario, Canada

The free play which you say you don't have is a tell tale sign that your turbo is going therefore resulting in your loss of power. My 765T had the same symptoms. The turbine wheel was had excessive play and did not spin as freely as normal. Have you noticed the boost gauge readings when you floor the accelerator? Your car will have a hard time reaching boost pressure with a bad turbo. If it does reach boost it'll take longer than usual to get there.

Thanks for the info Nick.

I was thinking it was the turbo as well, but it still builds boost pretty quickly and almost to the end of the yellow markings on the OEM dash gauge (should have mentioned in my first post). If the turbo is the culprit, I should see a noticeable loss of boost response and lower than norm max boost right?

My problem is that as the turbo spools and winds up to peak boost, I'm not getting the kick I'm accustomed to. Low-end power is pretty weak, so I may be checking for a clogged cat as well.

Any ideas re; the oil consumption at idle?

Thanks,

Andre Corriveau
'85 744Ti - current
'83 244Ti, '89 744Ti, '94 855Ti
Ontario, Canada