Seized up turbo or lost compressor wheel?

 

Shaft spins freely, no oil in my exhaust, and it runs smooth at all RPMs...just no power and some white smoke now that i changed the back pressure and manifold pressure sensors. No smoke before I changed those and cleared the codes.
I'm waiting for the gas station rep to call back about the fuel before I drain the tank.

 

Do you still have the stock up-pipes?

 

Yup. No leaks that I can find though. Doesn't have the typical soot marks.

 

Don't drain it period. If it comes down to being bad diesel, let the shop that fixes it take care of it. The inspector that the company sent out for my bad fuel checked the station as well as sampled directly from my tank and fuel rail at the shop.

 

Mine didn't either. A couple pieces of toilet paper taped to a dowel rod was a good indicator and cheap tool. Ask somebody to hold the idle around 1k and stick the TP back around all the joints. You'll know if there is a leak pretty quickly.

 

Ill have to give that a try.

 

Finally got ahold of the guy from the fuel station a bit ago. No other reports of bad fuel according to him. I pulled a sample early this morning to let it settle out so I can check for water, etc. Then on to testing everything else...

 

Diesel looks good, no leaks in the uppipes, no leaking boots, new MAP and EBP sensors, new line from the spider to the MAP, cleaned the EBP line, turbo spins freely, no codes....
What am I missing here? I'm sure it's going to end up being something simple that I've overlooked.

 

Time to move on to high pressure oil I think. If you have air and fuel aplenty, your injectors are not ramping up the power when you are commanding it to with your right foot. If I am on the right track, this could be the IPR, computer or the HPOP itself.

 

So did mine, with no up and down play. I totally missed it the first time, but grab the nut that holds the compressor wheel on and try to move it in and out. My turbo spun smoothly sitting there idling too, but I had lost the thrust bearing, and the shaft was walking back and forth. Probably not it... but grab it tight, real tight, and check it.

 

White smoke can also be an indication of not enough fuel. I had a clogged pickup within the first week of acquiring my X. It would idle smoothly and had no power under throttle.

Different topic now, have you revisited the sensors since replacing them? What brand and where did you source them from? A lot of our rigs are quite picky on sensors so a lot of us source OEM or Motorcraft exclusively. Aftermarket or third party have a very low success rate, a good bit of them right out of the box are junk. Just trying to cover all the bases.

 

Double checked the turbo, no wobbles. Up pipes (and firewall heat shield) are shiny clean, so I don't think they're leaking.
Finally had time to do some real digging. I'm getting negative boost pressure and falling map sensor readings - more throttle, lower numbers (?). ICP is around 550 at idle and 2100 climbing the little hill in front of my house. EBP is 14 at idle and 22ish climbing the little hill.
I've never seen negative boost readings before. This just gets more and more awesome.

 

I would check to see whether your intake tube is collapsing or your air filter or inlet has a blockage somewhere.

I worked on a vehicle one time where the inlet would collapse under suction. Same symptoms as you are having. Great idle, nothing else.

You have something simple going on, its just not apparent.

 

Negative boost means vacuum, like a gasser.

Even non-turbo diesels should not have vacuum.

On my 99 powerstroke, I drained about 2 quarts of oil out of intercooler at 100,000 miles. Seems PCV system was sucked out via inlet air prior to turbo. This deposited oil into intercooler.

Could your intercooler be full?

Something is blocking inlet air from getting into motor.

Whatever it is must be pretty stout, as I don't even think a really dirty filter could cause large vacuum readings.

Plugged intake, intercooler, or filter.

My best guess.