Thinking back, this may have started Saturday.... or may be earlier. Saturday I noticed smoke out the exhaust when I would let off the throttle, like coming up to a stop sign, or getting off an off-ramp. Didn't think that much of it. Yesterday I notice its worse, so I'm looking at my Quadzilla monitor on the way home and I'm seeing ZERO psi of boost.....


Is it possible I lost my turbo and my Excursion still motored down the highway towing 7,000 lbs. with the cruise @ 65 and the truck never skipped a beat ??


Got it home so I could unload the trailer...... at this point is there any harm in running the truck to get the trailer into the back yard to get the trailer put away and get the truck in my driveway to work on it? Tried to do some reading here last night and it looks like plenty of others have lost a turbo and (apparently) not sent shrapnel into their engine.


I assume I can find a disassembly / assembly video on Youtube on removing a turbo from a 7.3. Can the Riffraff turbo rebuild be done by a guy who is mechanically inclined, but by no means a diesel mechanic ?? Any other recommendations on a turbo for a guy on a tight budget?? What other parts will I need in the process?


Thanks........

 

I lost it in West Virginia 2 years ago when driving to Texas. Never noticed it until the monitor was reading 0psi as well. I put a used turbo in it for $200.

 

Here is a link for rebuilding the stock one.

http://www.riffraffdiesel.com/conten...structions.pdf

 

If your turbo suffered a major failure, you wouldn't be able to pull that trailer at highway speeds without noticing a drastic performance loss.

What color was the smoke?

If you were making black smoke while coasting I'd suspect an injector problem, not turbo. Would the level of smoke increase with slight throttle input? If this is the case, pull the dipstick to check the oil level, and smell for diesel fuel. You don't want to run it if fuel is washing down a cylinder wall, and making it's way to the crankcase. If an injector is leaking bad enough you can hydrolock the motor. That's usually preceded with some serious knocking, as the piston is trying to compress excessive fuel. In this case I'd be hesitant to even crank the motor over, as fuel can accumulate in a cylinder overnight.

Blueish smoke would most likely be oil burning. That very well could be failed turbo shaft seals, which could allow oil into the exhaust path through the turbine or compressor section to be burned. Pull the compressor inlet, and try to spin the compressor by hand. If the turbine were to grenade, shrapnel would end up in the exhaust piping. Compressor bits are typically caught by the IC.

White, sweet smelling smoke is typically coolant burning.

 

Pulling the trailer, I literally never felt a difference (cruise control was on). Truck didn't seem to struggle, never came out of OD.... no strange noises of any kind (that I heard). I will say that once I got off the highway, I had already seen the 0 psi on the monitor and drove very gingerly to the house. At that point I was assuming I had a turbo problem.

The smoke was blue. Looking in my mirror while driving I'd say there was a bit of smoke while driving at slower speeds, like 30.... but I only noticed this after seeing the puff of blue smoke when letting off the throttle earlier. I will pull the stick this morning and check the oil level.

 

Not knowing anything about diesels I'm praying for you man

 

Yanking the turbo isn't that bad. I just recently did it to replace my plenums with billet ones from Riff Raff. If you do need to pull it, use Clay's instructions he just posted. They are pretty good. Also, think about other things you can do while you have the room. Up-pipes? HPx and/or FRx? CVDs?
Lastly, make sure you get this. It's invaluable.

Here's my thread of doing a bunch of this stuff: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...all-notes.html

Good Luck!

 

It's a 7.3. Aren't there only like 3 things that can go wrong with them? How bad can it be?

 

2002 7.3 ford desiel Turbo Garret p/n 1831383C93

 

Thanks.... for whatever reason, this thought had not even entered my head. Might be worth making a couple phone calls, even if its just to get me by till I rebuild mine.

 

Mine died about a year and half ago and kept on trucking, didn't notice it til I pulled the turbo to replace the typical leaking EBPV pedestal. It had sprung a leak during a 17-hr haul from Colorado to Houston and as a result I had a whopping 6.5qt of oil in the pan, and the turbo journal bearings were fried. I had zero issues of a bad turbo until I pulled it and heard a 'thunk', which was the shaft flopping around with a 1/4" of play in it. The compressor housing looked like a washboard from the wheel chewing into it as well. I didn't notice the sound difference due to installing a billet wheel, the increased whistle masked the sound of metal carnage happening. A day later, the oil leak happened and the rest I already mentioned. Our friendly moderator Razzi helped me at the drop of a hat and gave me a spare turbo he had laying around to get us on the road again.

If the truck is driving the exact same while the boost is reading 0, I'd be inclined to check the boost sensor first and see what's going on there. Doesn't sound like the turbo crapped entirely if the truck is still running the same, with the same power, although the smoke issue definitely makes me agree with everybody else about there being an issue somewhere else as well.

 

So I pulled the intake boot today. Turbo spins freely and I can feel no play in the shaft. The is a little oil residue from the CCV..... is this normal (or should I say, how much is normal)? I should probably do the CCV mod. I can visually see some vapor coming out of the CCV, but I don't know how much I should see, or not see. Started the truck for a minute and can see the turbo spinning.... shutting it down it gradually spins to a stop.


Any suggestions on where to look for my blue smoke out the exhaust ? Could it still be my turbo even though it looks and feels fine? Should I see any boost on the monitor just giving it some revs in the driveway? Its still reading zero....


Hoping to get some suggestions here.....

 

Power brake it. Get on the street, stand on the brake, put it in drive, and run the RPMs up to 1500, or so. Don't hold it for more than a few seconds. It puts a lot of heat in the TQ convertor. If it's all working, you'll feel it, and hopefully your gauge shows it.

 

I almost forgot...... I blew 2 qts of oil out the exhaust over the weekend. Not sure how far I drove Sat & Sun, but maybe 200 mi.


Even if the turbo seems tight, can I be blowing that much oil out through the turbo ? Hate the thought of doing a turbo if that isn't the problem.

 

OK ....... I think there is something wrong with me . Can someone confirm that there should be NO up and down play in the turbo shaft AND no horizontal (able to move the wheel in and out) play ?? No idea how I missed it earlier today, but I can move it horizontally, back and forth quite a bit. I think I just found my problem.