I'm so sorry about this. I will write up everything that has been checked and give a more detailed description of the noise and the problem.
So far it has been into the garage 3 times without success. I can only go on what they have told me, but I will attempt to list what has been checked so far.
Better description of problem:
- Large powerloss, lack of acceleration and the car struggles to get above 60 and maxes out at 82mph on a flat bypass.
- Whining, almost rattling noise above 2000rpm but seems to vanish above 3500rpm
- Very deep resonating noise when backing off the throttle above 2000/3000rpm which continues right down to below 2000ish.
It was taken in for diagnostics at a place called Lucas sometime last early this week. The garage was told that no faults were found but that they thought it sounded like a blocked exhaust.
The garage has ran the car with sections of the exhaust disconnected and cleaned out the system. It continues to make the noise even with the CAT removed and apparently the noise is very loud down the exhaust.
The Turbo has been checked as well as possible without replacing it (I really can't afford to buy another). It is spinning beautifully when idle and revving and spins perfect even manually blowing it with air.
The actuator pipe has been checked manually with air and is opening/sliding fine. The pipe is clear right back into the turbo, so it's not blocked or anything (or something hehe).
One other point I can think of, was that my old man said the EGR pipe was disconnected when he checked it today. Lucas must have disconnected it during the tests. I had driven it for a day or two like that and had noticed zero difference in performance/running etc. I haven't tried blocking off the pipe though. How best can I block it off?
I'm incredibly desperate now. the car is bleeding me dry and I would just about cut off my left *** to get it back to normal
Oh, sorry... forgot one thing that might be relevant or not.
When the turbo was changed, it started making the noise after an hour or so of driving. This continued all day until it was left for a few hours.
When we went out later to go to the shop, it was 100% PERFECT. I was so happy
It ran like this for a full day before it all just went pear-shaped again. The only thing I had done was leave the bonnet on the catch. This might sound really stupid but I popped it up to check if I could hear the noise, forgot to check and left it. It was 100% perfect after this and didn't break again until I closed it after my m8 told me it was up in the carpark.
I know this is 99.99% likely to be a coincidence but it is a really vicious coincidence that has been playing on my mind ever since. I know squat about cars really and things like this really convince me it had something to do with it. I mean, it was literally, bonnet up, perfect car, put bonnet down, instantly borked :S lol anyway, thought I'd add that just in case...
I'm really sorry for all this spam but I'm just hoping a better description will remind someone of a similar problem.
I have a bad sound quality recording of the noise that I will try to upload. I will post the link if I manage to get it uploaded later.
Thanks all, I really appreciate it,
Lee