2004 SRT-4 Stage 3r (350HP) Blows Turbo Apart

[Apoptosis]

The other weekend at Dyno Day a friend here in town (also named Nathan) just got on his Stage 3 kit and Mopar/Borla Cat Back system and took his car to the dyno. He street raced it for a week or so before the dyno day and all went well. His first dyno run neared 350 wheel horse power with the a stage 3r kit. (stock intake, downpipe, etc...)

After his first run he went again a few minutes later, but he had no boost. See the video he made here: http://www.nathanp.com/videos/stage3problem.wmv (please save)

He drove the car home and later removed the turbo to find this...



Nothing wrong here... The less than two week old turbo looks new with little oil on it and no rust on the casing.



On the exhaust side of the turbo things were a bit different as chuncks are taken out of it... Think about this for a second... Chunks on the exhaust side of his car? What did he brake in the motor that came out the exhaust, but his car will still good enough to drive home? He doesn't know yet, but I'll let you know...

[gvblake22]

hmmmm, looks to me like you busted the THC valve on the overhead compartment of the under carriage on the front portion of the rear exhaust manifold retention bracket......


...yeah, I know nothing about cars

[Apoptosis]

LOL

[bubba]

whats the inside of the exhaust side look like (casing that is) is it mared as well?

does it still spin? maybe the bearing in the turbo blew.

this is strange, though. IF he did pass parts via the exhaust, that wasnt part of the turbo, hes got some issues and might not want to drive it till he can get the block tore apart...

I'll talk to some gearheads at work see what they say as well.

suck to be your friend at the moment.

Edit:

Talked to one of the gear heads here at work, he seems to think that there was something past via the exhaust port (duh) but he said he might want to check the compression at each cyclinder. he may have killed an exhaust vavle. would keep him from running but would run like ****.

[NAiLs]

I posted something on my club forums to see if someone knew. I'm not very familiar with Turbos and it's just odd that something would break on the exhaust side. I agree, the only thing I can think of is something inside the turbo broke and spit out on the exhaust side... that's about all I can think of. A valve spring breaking would chunk a pison and mess up your block... but maybe would result in a broken turbo.

[killswitch83]

the funny thing is though, my pops drove his old '81 Chevy Van home after a spring popped on him...his intake valve hit #5 piston and the mess ensued, but he made it 10 miles before it just crapped out completely, so I would have to say that if it took chunks out of his turbo that it would be one of his valve springs popping and the valve hitting the piston......he might want to check his engine to make sure he didn't ruin one of his pistons.

[Bite-Me-2]

Could have been anything through the complete intake side of the motor. Any small part hitting those exhaust blades will cause a lot of damage...........

[NAiLs]

I've gotten some replies saying either A. The turbo was assembled wrong from the factory or B. It was not torqued down properly and let loose. Another person mentioned debris, but man, I'm not too sure on the debris part as more of the blades would be wrecked.