ivor.bigun

My wastegate seems to be sticking open Does anyone know how to clean it?

I can see about 5mm of shiny actuator rod coming out of the actuator and am loosing a noticeable amount of midrange power. I can free it off with a bit of leverage and is fine for a while, but then it sticks open again. I took the circlip holding the actuator rod and the rod itself off and the waste gate can be moved, but it was rough. How much force should it take to move it if the actuator rod is disconnected?

Can I clean this wastegate mechanism without taking too much apart? Does it need lubricating - and what with as I guess the heat of the turbo be too much for a blast of WD40 to work for long!

Could it be the actuator itself? I suspect not, but it is far easier to get to, so kind of hope it is...

Its a '99 Turbo 2000 with the stock TD04 by the way.

Cheers

little'un

iTrader: (9)

If the actuator arm is seizing in the exhaust housing of the turbo then you will either need to replace the exhaust housing, or just change the complete turbo for a known good one - if it's a td04 it will only cost about £50 to replace.

No amount of WD40 or similar will be a permenant cure.

The actuator rod can be tested for correct operation with a Mityvac

ivor.bigun

Thanks for your comments little'un

Thought I was being optimistic with wd40...

Do the actuators tend to stick? It looks a lot easier to swap out than the whole turbo so I'm hoping it is that! It seems a bit intermittent to get a good answer by testing it, but I shall have a try. Need to get a vacuum source sorted first - either a mityvac or something attached to my compressor.

little'un

iTrader: (9)

Wastegate Actuators don't tend to stick - usually the spring gets soft with age/use or the internal diaphragm splits.

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

sounds more like the wastegate valve itself inside the turbo housing.

if you remove the rod from the wastegate, can you pull the rod out of the diaphragm easy enough ? or is it juddery ?

ivor.bigun

I too think it is the wastegate valve itself - but the actuator is far easier to get to so was hoping it was that. The wastegate was juddery, actuator not.

But, I seem to have solved it with a good dose of carb cleaner and let that soak down where the waste gate shaft enters the housing. That smoothed it right up - must have had some junk accumulated.

Out of interest is the wastegate either fully open or fully closed or can it be partly open - or does it achieve partial opening by opening and closing quickly?

Thanks for your help with this - what hopefully turns out to be a minor problem!

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

Depends on your driving style to how much the wastgate opens.

If you poodle about all the time and dont use any boost the wastegate will always be shut.

if you rag it all the time it will be in use more, its never really fully open again, unless you redline it and use full boost etc, its always varying, shut, semi open, fully open, semi open, partial open, shut, open etc.

the dose of carb cleaner will help,but it will soon seize up as he heat gets to it again i suspect, but fingers crossed it will be o.k