Bad turbo, or what???

[Nagaremono]

So I heard a rattling noise coming from my engine bay, and I immediately was worried. I used a stethescope to diagnose where the rattling was coming from. It was coming from the turbo at about 3000 rpm's. At this point I am glad that it is not my engine, but now I needed to take out my turbo. After I got it out, I noticed the turbo inlet nuts (the four connecting the turbo to the exhaust manifold) were only finger tight. The metal gaurds were still there and in place as well. The bolts were loose enough to make it so the turbo could wiggle around. Do you think this is what was rattling? The turbo seems fine. Shaft play is normal, and when we blew air through it with an air compressor it spun fine and didn't make any wierd noises. What do you guys think? Anyone else had this happen? Did my bolts stretch? I want to hear other opinions before I put it all back together and just hope that those loose nuts were the problem. Thanks!

[NemeGuero]

Put it back together and monitor it closely...

If the shaft spins freely and there isn't any play, it should just be that it shook loose.

Put some loc-tite on those bolts next time around.

[motegineon]

put it back together and use 2 nuts and wrentch them together as tight as possible. DO NOT USE LOCKWASHERS they simply compress and cause a gap. Lock tite doesnt do anygood either, it gets to hot. If you have problems after that then do like me and get tap welds on the nuts and tops of the studs..

[Goinsleeper]

since its off, might as well get new studs and nuts/washers. wrenching things down that tight, over and over, gets old for nuts. new hardware never hurts.

[Nagaremono]

Cool, guys thanks for your advise.