I have a 2011 grand touring AWD with the 2.3L. I had the turbo go out and replaced it. It was a PITA. Lower oil tube behind the transfer case. Those bolts sucked getting back in. It took me about 4 hours to get the lower one started. (why did they design it like that?).

It ran fine except I did not realize the exhaust manifold was cracked in the expansion joint. First step, remove turbo again.

I got the grand idea to just pull the engine and transaxle when I could not get at all the bolts for the manifold. Not to hard, just drop the cradle/subframe. It came out pretty easily. Took about as long to just get the oil tube bolt started. While I had the engine out, I changed the timing chain, guides, chain tensioner, oil pump chain, serpentine tesioner, idler pully, VVT solenoid,cam phasers, plugs, valve cover gasket, and turbo again. I ordered the turbo on ebay. I used all the timing tools and had everything set to TDC on the #1 cylinder. Crank position sensor set to the center of the 20th tooth.

I got everything back together, engine reinstalled etc., and took it for a test drive. I never got about 25 mph. Everything seemed ok until the new turbo started making noise. I was maybe 1/4 mile from the house so I turned around and brought it home.

I pulled the intake for the turbo and the CHRA had broke torque and was scraping. Just my luck, ebay screwed me again. I pulled the exhaust to confirm. Yep, both sides spin in opposite directions.

Instead of pulling the whole turbo again, I just pulled the CHRA and intake side of the turbo and used the parts out of the other known good turbo. I got it all back together. Again.

So now I go to test drive it, again. It seems to be good to go. I once again never got over 30 MPH, but no scraping, no abnormal noises at all. I bring it home and I check for any codes. The check engine light was on. P0301. misfire #1 cyl. I clear the code and pull the plug. A little oil on the threads, but looks ok. I went ahead and put the plug in the #2 cyl and the coil pack on the #3 just to make sure they are ok. Take it on another test drive. Again not going over 30 MPH. No light, checked pending codes, nothing. Good to go.

Yesterday I had to go to the store. It is a couple miles away and I have to get on the freeway for 1 exit. All was going good, no issues noticed until I tried to accelerate to get on the freeway. It is up a slight incline, but I could not get the car to accelerate normally. It had no power on acceleration. The automatic transmission seemed to be shifting when it was supposed to, but I could not get it to accelerate. RPMs seemed to go with speed. The transmission did not seem to slip. I tried shifting the transmission in manual mode, it did not help. It did shift, but still felt the same as in automatic mode. Like the car had a parachute attached. It eventually got up to speed, it just took forever.

I brought it home. I live on top of a hill that is 3 miles long. Again, no guts. It took forever to get up to the 55 MPH speed limit. No check engine light, no pending codes. Just no power

All that being said, sorry it is so long. I hope someone has an idea of where I might find my problem.

 

Recheck the chain timing. Did you replace the washers behind the timing gears?

 

Alright. I pulled the valve cover and fuel pump. Timing chain was tight. Spun the crankshaft with a socket. Chain stayed tight through multiple revolutions. I got #1 cylinder close to TDC, installed timing plug and the timing plates slid right in to position. Timing is still good. I ten put it all back together and took it for another test drive. This time no freeways. The transmission seems to shift when it is supposed to. I did find that when climbing hills, the RPM would go really high (up to around 4500) to try to maintain or increase speed. The car would not maintain speed on steeper climbs and the RPM would decrease as speed bled off. It seems like the turbo is not kicking in. It kind of behaves like it did when the initial turbo froze up. It is cooling down now and I'm going to pull the intake side of the turbo to make sure it free spins with no additional play.

On another thing that got me thinking. When I had the engine out I also replaced the turbocharger boost solenoid. I broke one of the nipples. Could what is happening be a malfunction of that?

I'm starting to think this car hates me and wants me to put in another turbo.

 

Alright. The turbo is frozen. This car does hate me.

Can anyone recommend any advice on changing the turbo? I have changed this in the past with no issues initially.

Are there any recommendations for online retailers that sell reliable OEM level turbos at a reasonable price?

I am in need on reliable transportation for my wife. This is not working so far.