turbo problems??

[gypsygirl]

I have a 99 9-5, automatic trans with only 50,000. Two weeks ago I was told by a dealer that I needed new front bearings, but he said they didn't need to be replaced right away, and I should wait until they got worse. Over the past few days, I noticed that the car has absolutely no pick up. Petal to the floor doesn't shift into second gear and while I can get the car to run at higher speeds over the course of a few minutes, it has absolutely no power. Sport mode seems to function at low speeds, but not on the freeway. I haven't noticed any smoke while the car is running, but it feels like the turbo has kicked. Nothing comes up on the info display, which seems to be working properly. My questions is, would poor wheel bearings effect the engine in this way, and if they're fixed, will this problem resolve itself, or is the problem with the tranmission or turbo? Please help! I know nothing about mechanics and dont' trust the dealers.

[murphwiz]

Hi, and welcome to the board...

I can't imagine the car would still be moving if the bearings were causing this problem!

However, it does sound like a turbo problem, or possibly the car has gone into limp home mode! But this will normally bring a check engine light on.

Unless you've got smoke, its unlikely the turbo is dead, but more like, a pipe has come off, or the air filter has a blockage! Check the pipes are secure first!

Hope thats of some help!

[mr saabman]

When you say the front bearings have gone do you mean wheel bearings? If you do not a chance these will cause the problems you have,my advise is take it back to your dealer or another and get them to diagnose the problem properly :o I'm also presuming your car is well serviced eg:Air,Fuel and oil filters plus spark plugs etc as all these can cause performance problems :D

[gypsygirl]

Thanks for you help! Yeah, I do mean wheel bearings. I don't understand why this would effect performance, but if it's not the turbo, since there is no smoke, I can't seem to figure out the problem. It's tough to get it past 4000 RPM's, sometimes will get up to 5000. The air filter seem fine. Could it be the transmission? I've only had the car for sixth months (assuming the dealer checked out everything thouroughly before I picked it up) and don't understand why a car with only 50,000 would have performance problems like this. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

[murphwiz]

Simple test to eliminate any transmission problems.

Put car in park or neutral, try both :lol:
Then slowly rev the car up past 4000rpm.... do not go silly or hold it for prolonged periods past those revs, just see if its still a problem..

My thoughts are still on a pipe loose or off somewhere though, if your wheel bearings were causing you to loose this much performance I would imagine smoke would be billowing out from your wheels!