Turbo Flutter Upon Cold Start Up
 

hey Everyone!
I just started my car up after sitting for 3 months(its stored for the winter) and when I shut it off there was a huge Turbo flutter. I had my friend who is really good with cars listen with his head under the hood and he said it was in fact the turbo.
He figures it was just because it was cold and hasn't started in a few months.......anyone out there experience this??

How long did you let it run?

20 seconds

That's why more than likely. My car doesn't want to do ANYTHING while in cat warm-up mode. You barely gave the oil time to even circulate, let alone get warm at all.

What mods do you have?

It would've been better to just leave it sit.

I didnt want to start it up at all but my friend insisted......do you think I did any damage to the Turbocharger?

No why dont u let it run for like 10 mins..

my friend and I are having a debate about storing a car for the winter! He says that you should start it up every once in a while like once a week but I have heard time and time again that you should let it sit till your ready too take it out for spring.

Anyways we install my new Black Cat custom gauge and he wanted to make sure that the needles were accurate and reading correctly........that is why we had to start it up for a short period

Just me personally, I would start it up once a week and let it get to operating temp. I've found that the WORST thing for a car is sitting, even worse than most abuse.

the car was on cat warmup. its fine id have to hear it to be 100% sure.

Horrible idea. Put your car on a battery tender and add some fuel stabilizer to the gas and let it sit. If you don't drive your car after it reaches operating temperature for at least 10 mins or so you can have a buildup of moisture in the exhaust and even in the engine. Moisture is the number one enemy of any engine during storage.

It was still in cat warmup mode for sure. If you insist on running it in storage, you should get it up to operating temp, at least 10-15 mins. Run the A/C as well.

You heard the flutter since it was in cat warmup mode. No damage done.

It's better to let it sit all winter than accumulate condensate in the engine & exhaust by idling it.

I haven't ran the WS6 since November, I just put a small charger on the battery every few weeks.

Oops, I see I posted too slow. :D

This...

Mine made this noise at idle during the winter. Now it's starting to do this driveing around now

ya totally horrible. If you store the car never start it until you are ready to get it out. I do oil change, top fluids off, pump tires to 40psi and let it sit all winter. Battery is pulled on a trickle charger. Starting it once a week is redonkulous. You'll get moisture in there and if it freezes it can crack the block. I asked the GMPP engineer how to store my car and thats his recommendation.

bamaboy22 - depends on what your mods are. If you are stock check your BPV and see if theres a rip in the rubber.

Trifecta tune

Ok check your bpv for a rip, if its riped replace it with oem or forge. If not have vince retune you.

Water gets in your oil every time you start the car. If you allow the car to warm up to operating temperature and stay there for a while, then the water evaporates. If you don't allow it to warm up completely it stays in the oil and causes the oil life to diminish more quickly (the oil life monitor estimates this). I'd have to see proof of modern engines having blocks crack due to water in the oil before I believe that claim though...

Me personally, I'd run the car periodically and make sure it gets warm and stays warm for a while. Let things warm up, lubricate everything, circulate fluids, wear off any oxidation, etc.

If you're just storing a car for a few months, either is probably fine. If you're talking several months/years, you definitely need to exercise things every once in a while, get tires off the floor, etc.

If any of you guys bypassed the vacuum tank .... and have flutter at idle .... hook it back up . When i did they bypass my car did it at idle . Even if the vacuum tank is in the system , it could have a leak or a bad valve inside ..... I'll try and look up the TSB I posted last year .... or maybe the year before...... it described these symptoms in it .

Thanks for this. This was the point I was making and everyone jumped in saying it was terrible. I never meant start it for 5 minutes.
I did this when my car sat for about a month but I let it run 15-30 minutes AFTER it had reached 190*+.
Any water SHOULD have evaporated and idling really uses VERY little gas actually.

what?! Not in the cold when the engine is warming up. Gas just gets dumped into the engine like a bukake

There's your problem. If I started mine up and shut it off quickly like that even when I was driving it every day, on a cold start up, it did that. You just gotta let it warm up a lil.

Just during cat warmup which is what... ? a few minutes?

It just didn't. I did it and I'm telling you, it does not.
Why would it? GM put in a lot of effort to meet EPA and miles per gallon figures and they couldn't do that if they just dumped fuel like crazy while you're sitting at a light or in the drive "thru".
Anyway I've made my point.

Dumbass, he said when the engine was cold and warming up it dumps fuel.

Define "dumps fuel". I drive ~350 miles per week. In the summer I get ~28mpg and fill up every 6 days or so. In the winter I let my car warm up for 10-15mins every morning (on workdays - hate the cold) and get ~25.5mpg. However I still fill up around every 6 days or so. So yes, I use more fuel letting the car idle like that, (factor in winter fuel blends which tend to give worse fuel economy, and using more fuel per combustion event due to colder/denser air) but not really a very significant amount.

For a somewhat related point of reference, the new Buick Regal (2.4L) will show your fuel consumption when you're idling at zero speed in gallons per hour instead of miles per gallon. When I was driving one in the dead of winter, it would show 0.4 gallons per hour while idling. Considering people here will run $25 worth of mobil 1 through the engine every 3000 miles when it can last 2-3 times as long, I don't think arguing over maybe $0.5 to $1 of gas once every couple/few weeks to idle an engine for 20-30 minutes is worth any consideration.

All that being said. You'd be fine either way. Either run it and let it warm up completely (my choice), or don't run it (ok unless you're talking several months). Staring it up for only 20 seconds every few weeks would be the worst case out of any of them.