Fearing the worst!! £££££££££

I own an X50 turbo, previously owned a c4. Went out last week and noticed that there seemed to be a "blow" from the exhaust area and also that there was a slight whistle noise that I don't remember been as prominent! Anyway ten minutes into a drive around I noticed that the battery readout was 11amp!! Hurriedly made my way home and ordered an alternator. Installed the alternator no problems and thought whilst I'm there I can install some other parts that I have had ready and perhaps they'll cure a leak if that's the source of the whistle. So alternator on, new Forge boost pipes and Forge diverters. The original diverters were working but definitely a bit weak when tested. All buttoned back up and working.......well kind of! Pulls like a train, shows 0.8/0.9 bar and holds it. No CEL. The blow is still there, worse when cold and the weird whistle is there. The noise is akin to a supercharger/when an alternator belt is too tight (its not!) and is only really at low rpm pre boost. To explain, driving along at 40mph in fourth at 2100rpm its quiet until you touch the throttle, then there's a whistle type noise, quite shrill to say 3500rpm when the boost gauge shows up and then its mostly gone. Obviously the exhaust could be blowing and I would guess the intercoolers could be leaking, neither of these items are exactly brand new. However............my fear is that they are connected and that the turbo has corroded and is damaged?!?!?! I suppose I'm praying for the best whilst planning for the worst. I'm not going to drive it until next Friday when its off to the indy to let them look. i did think about covering the turbo in talc and starting it whilst videoing to see if it blows out anywhere. Any suggestions or words of encouragement/commiserations welcome!!!

Well I was right to be worried!!! Down to the Indy today, fully expecting to discover a big turbo related issue and indeed it was a cracked turbo housing. *****! So, new turbo, new catch tank, new lines (3no), some other seals, gaskets etc and a hefty bit of labour too I guess. Weirdly, although its bad news and I did sort of expect it I felt much better at least knowing what it was. Cars booked in to do in five weeks so Im sourcing and supplying all the bits to keep some costs down.

Oh, Bad luck! Hope the re-build goes well and you get your car back better than ever.

N/S was cracked on my old turbo..£500 rebuild

Mines cracked but looks worse than that to be fair. It's had one side done previously so I've bitten the bullet today and ordered a new k24 (it's an x50) and then basically all the pipes, catch tank, seals etc from OPC. Cashed in a few favours as I've done some work for someone who works at Porsche centre and begged a few favours off the Indy so think I'll be about £4250 all in and sorted. Bit of a ***** but not as dramatic as I was fearing! I didn't know you could do anything with them really once the housing was corroded and cracked. The new turbo was £2k for a Borg Warner but I believe they purchased K.K.K that made the original one and as I understand it would be the OE supplier anyway now.