Hey ya'll.

I bought a new truck a few months ago and it didn't have a air filter in it. I never thought much about it, I did go and buy one right after but I didn't know of the damage it could cause. Now I got a chewed up wheel. Now the turbo still spools up just fine and everything but doesn't seem to believer the power I feel it should and it just feels like it dies when the truck shifts and the rpms drop. Seems like the wheel slows down really fast like it has bad bearings or something. But I can get up to 20 psi when I am tuned to level 6 on my banks six gun tuner. But also, my tuck doesn't not put out a lick of black smoke. But besides all of that, my truck still seems to have a lot of power. Just the issue seems to be my turbo spooling up very quickly but only holds that boost until the truck shifts a gear. Now I don't have any knowledge in this area, so I don't know if a lot of that is normal or what. I was planning on getting a turbo rebuild kit to replace the bearings, seals, wheel of course and whatever is wore.

Thoughts?

 

no filter = bad things....

you can try swapping out the wheel without removing the turbo...do you have a boost gauge??

 

Stock boost is 15-17ish and if you're only making 20 psi is your highest tune I have to imagine something isn't right. Have you actually looked at the turbo wheel? If you grab the shaft and have in and out movement you need a rebuild kit. It is ok if you have side to side play as long as it doesn't hit the housing.
You also need to check for boost leaks. Do a search on how to make a cheap boost leak dector before you jump in and start replacing other things.

 

Unfortunately your only going to get 20-22 psi of boost with the Banks 6 gun tuner in level 6. They are canned tunes so that's it. I have one on my X and that's all I get and I just rebuilt my turbo and have no boost leaks. If it was me, I would rebuild the turbo and put a new wheel on. Also, take your oil filler cap off and turn it upside down and put it on the oil filler neck while the truck is running and check for blow-by. If it vibrates off then your good, if it blows off then you have eng damage. Not running a air filter can cause serious damage. Also do you have any black soot on your firewall? That would be a cause for low boost, low power also.

Here is a pic of the Boost leak tester I made. Its a 3" PVC end cap. Apply 10-15 psi with a air compressor and listen for air leaks.

 

I don't know on that boost only 21 or 22 with the banks tuner, my neighbor had a 99 F350 with the six speed and he got 30psi of boost. He readjusted it down because he didn't like that much boost. I saw it but he was towing a 37 foot toy hauler also.

 

Obviously it's not making enough boost since the money hasn't been spent on "custom tunes". Durrrrr!!!



The 6-Gun isn't a "tuner" anyway and there's nothing "canned" about it.

I think I have to write another corrective essay again.......

 

Banks has diff tuners so they might be tuned differently.

Waiting to read it.