Why does the turbo on my car go.....woooooooo bufffffffffff when I floor it?

Answer 1

The "Whoooooooooo" noise is the turbo spooling up (doings its thing).

The "buffffff" noise is hopefully only when you take your foot of the throttle. This is the air escaping from the dump-valve / blow-off valve - same things different names.

The reason it does this is to protect the turbo (and in some cases the engine). when you are using the turbo, you might have for example 15psi more pressure than atmosphere going into the engine, the moment however you take your foot off the throttle, the exhaust stops making fumes (or only a tiny amount) so the turbo starts to spool down. At the same time however, the turbo still has a large amount of compressed air that neither the engine wants, nor does IT want to have to handle.

So, when the foot comes off the throttle - a vacuum is created INSIDE the engine which is used to operate a little valve on the dump valve. This either lets the "high side" of the turbo vent back to the "low side" or simply lets it escape to atmosphere - often making a lot of noise in the process (Ricer mod)

As your question hints at you perhaps being a little new to Turbos, a couple of quck points:

1. Do not use a "slick-50" type addidtives in your oil, the particles of ptfe tend to damage the oil bearings in Turbos. Slick 50 is a waste of money anyway - hence Du-pont trying to get the production of Slick-50 stopped!

2. Change your oil at the right intervals or sooner. manky oil will destroy your turbo much faster than your engine.

3. If you have been having fun and making the turbo work out hard, you MUST let it cool down for a couple of minutes before switching off. Either drive the last mile gently home OR leave the engine running a minute when you get home.

if you ignore this and turn off a very hot turbo (they CAN glow from the heat when driven hard), you will bake the oil bearing. You can uually get away with it a few times - but sooner or later you will needing a new turbo.

Answer 2

If it is functioning properly and hasn't lost any performance its because the thing has a dump valve operating. All cars have one (which most people don't realise) but a high performance car will have a high pressure system that ensures maximum compression so will notice more.

If it's a recent development thought then it's partially blocked, which means get it cleaned quickly, and when driving keep the car at very low revs so the turbo doesn't kick in.

Answer 3

Its supposed to sound like that!

Good explanation above (Mark T) - but briefly its a balance of pressure once the you've taken your foot off the gas. The turbo needs to vent that pressure build up that drives the fuel in so quick to give you extra power.

Turbos rock!

Answer 4

Its probably on its way to turbo heaven. Unless you got a special turbo, but that goes more like wirrrrrrrrrrr puffffffff.

Answer 5

the woo is the turbo spooling and the Puff is the wast gate or the blow off valve common noises can get relay loud with aftermarket turbo or turbo parts

Answer 6

Turbos should only wine as they spool up take that to the shop,how many miles r on the car what kind of car is it etc i need more info.

Answer 7

woooooooo buffffffffffff..that's funny do it again!!!
by the way I'm not a mechanic

Answer 8

That's your turbo lag mate

Answer 9

You shouldn't floor it !, you are not only posing a danger to yourself, but to other drivers on the road as well, by flooring it you are obviously speeding, which in itself is against the law, also, it is the innocent drivers who always come off worse. Egotistical and irresposible drivers like you should be banned !!!!

Answer 10

Could be many reasons,,,but sounds like a intake leak,,,very big problem if it is leaking..but it could be many thing's. to much pressure to fast, exhaust to hot, cooler kicking in...and a 100 others have a mech listen to it and drive it thru the excel. cycle.