[Vwdiesel] Grenaded turbo!!!! OH! OH!

[dieseltdi at verizon.net]

I had an interesting day yesterday.  I started home from work just  
like normal.  As I went to accelerate up the ramp and onto the  
highway,  the engine power just dropped, all boost disappeared and  
the car began making a really strange whining/grinding noise.  Since  
the car was still running and BTW showing NO check engine light, I  
turned on the flashers and drove 40 mpg down the back roads to the  
house.  When the wife came home, I had her gun the engine a couple of  
times so I could locate the whining/grinding sound.  Sure enough, it  
was coming from the turbo.  In fact the turbo was vibrating  
violently.  Luckily, I just happen to have an extra turbo in the  
garage (I put a new one on the 1Z that is going in the Caddy).   
Anyway, this afternoon I pulled the turbo and the intake side  
compressor vanes look as if something collided with them.  Several  
are broken and one is sheared in half (luckily these pieces are in  
the intercooler not in the engine).  I put in the other turbo and now  
all is well.  I just can't figure out what happened.  My first  
thought was play in the shaft but the shaft has little if any play.   
Any ideas?  Obviously nothing could actually make it into the intake  
because of the air filter and the MAF so that can't really be the  
cause.  I will try to get a decent picture and post it on my website  
or do we have a place to post pics for these lists?  Hayden

" Those who are willing to sacrifice Liberty for Security, deserve  
neither Liberty nor Security."  Ben Franklin
"Dictatorships all have common factors:  a government controlled by  
one party, a leader who claims to have special powers outside the law  
to keep the country "safe", secret prisons where people are locked up  
without charges or trial and government opponents are branded as  
unpatriotic and charged with aiding the enemy."

Visit my website at:  http://mysite.verizon.net/resosxp8/mydieselpages/
Proud owner of:
2004 Passat TDI GLS, 2.0l, 8 valve, 134 HP, 247 lb/ft of torque  
(making 150 hp with Diesel Power Tuning Box), Blue Graphite,  
Anthracite leather interior, ABS, ESP.
1998 Jetta TDI (Wetterauer Chipset, 2 1/2" exhaust, K&N Filter,  140K 
+ miles, and running biodiesel)
1981 Rabbit Pickup -Awaiting a TDI engine swap with a 96 Passat 1Z  
engine.
And many, many, many VWs; from a 1946 Beetle (11 Beetles total), to  
Vans (5 - 3 splitties, 2 bay window), Rabbits (3), Karmen Ghia (1),  
Jettas (5), Passat (1), Dasher (1), New Beetle (1), and Rabbit  
Pickups (3) most now gone but not forgotten.