I took off the intake hose (Pain in the arse when the engine is cold) and got a little movement in the turbo shaft when I tried to move it back and forth- maybe 1/16".
I decided to check when I started hearing a rattling type noise from that area at low rpm's occasionally.
Could the rattling be the fans hitting the enclosure from a degraded bearing not keeping them centered?
Is this the beginning of the end for turbo?

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2006 Sport CRD
Provent-removed, Snorkel Air box, Raycor fuel head/filter,Omega temp. sensor, Fuel pressure gage, Kennedy Lift pump-not working now, fuel cooler Covered, B&M cooler for trans oil, Suncoast TC/ shift kit, 245/70/16 Firestone Destination A/T's, Amzoil& water in the diffs, mobile 1 0w-40, Radiator blanket
Thanks LOST

Sounds like it could be and if the turbo is on its way out, then your lucky to have caught it before your engine took a dive with it.

How many miles on the CRD?

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2006 Liberty Limited CRD, Deep Beryl Green, Yeti tune, Arp studs, new cams, rockers, lifters, TB. "Green Monster"
2005 Liberty Sport CRD, Deep Beryl Green, GDE Hot Tune, ARP studs. "Rocket"
1982 Fiat 124 Spider Convertible. "Fiona"

From Garrett
What is/causes Shaft Play?
Shaft play is caused by the bearings in the center section of the turbo wearing out over time. When a bearing is worn, shaft play, a side to side wiggling motion of the shaft occurs. This in turn causes the shaft to scrape against the inside of the turbo and often produces a high-pitched whine or whizzing noise. This is a potentially serious condition that can lead to internal damage or complete failure of the turbine wheel or the turbo itself.

How much shaft play should my dual ball bearing turbo have?
The Garrett full ball-bearing turbo is designed to have clearance between the bearing cartridge and center housing for hydrodynamic damping in addition to the internal clearances of the bearing cartridge itself. Hydrodynamic damping uses the incompressible properties of a liquid (oil in this case) and the space around the bearing cartridge to dampen the shaft motion of the rotating assembly. When the turbo is new, or has not operated for a long period of time allowing most of the oil to drain out, the rotating assembly will move more in the radial direction than a typical journal-bearing turbo because there is no oil in the center housing. This condition is normal. As long as the shaft wheel spins freely and the wheels don't contact their respective housings, the assembly will function properly.

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05 KJ CRD Limited..
08 WK CRD Laredo
03 DR 2500 Cummins
13 Edge Limited AWD

The turbo on the KJ engine has a "standard" journal bearing - the new Touareg/Q7 are the first to be in production with a ball-bearing VGT.
Some slight movement is normal with these turbos. If the compressor wheel is contacting the housing you will see the witness marks on the inner bore of the compressor inlet, and also some slight chipping of the blade edges.

Kinda like this:

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