I have an 02 7.3 f-250. right now with my programer and boost tube I'm pushing about 26 psi. I also have a dual releif valve to the MAP sensor to keep the SES light off. I recently bought an adjustable wastegate, havent installed it yet but I was wondering how much boost I can throw at my motor through the stock turbo. I just have stock injectors and stock intercooler (for now) But I was thinking I could push about 30 psi. I don't want to hurt teh turbo at all, I will be getting the turbonetics package but untill then this is what I got. What do you guys think about 30 psi?

 

Funny, I would have worried about how much boost the MOTOR could take not the turbo. My 'common sense' thinking may not apply here.

 

Well, i'm sure the motor will handle 30 psi. I was wondering more about how the turbo would handle that because I've heard that the stock turbo is maxxed out around 25psi.

 

id bet the turbo could push 40 psi.. but to get that much boost would require alot of fuel.. and that much fuel means turbo meltdown... unless you add water injection.. and.. well yadda yadda yadda.. better off with an aftermarket turbo

 

It's fascinating how ignorant I am. Is it a meltdown becuase the stock turbo was never expected to process that much exhaust heat energy? And does the aftermarket unit have better materials, more materials, etc. or all of the above?

 

yes the turbo will melt down because basically it will over heat from the expanding gasses... or if you have ever seen pulling tractors with a small flame comming out of the stack.. well it has go go thru the turbo to come out the stack..

as for aftermarket... they are designed to put out more boost with less heat.. and are capable of handling higher heat... but every turbo has a meltdown point

 

Aluminum melts at around 1220 degrees...

 

if you are pushing the stock 7.3 turbo to 40psi you are way overheating it, and are losing more power at 40psi then you would be at 30psi, you are out of its efficiency range.

 

I agree totally with that. I adjusted it to 28psi and ill just leave it there untill I get an aftermarket turbo, intercooler, and injectors.

 

Mike,

you do have a pyro to monitor EGT's before the turbo...right???? If you exceed 1200* very much you're looking for a new t/c soon at a minimum.

 

yes i do have a pyro before the turbo, Im not on it that much, just everynow and then I just like to nail it or race some ricer and burn them. I've never seen it go over 1250 when im fully in it. It'll usually go up to around 1225 or so. I thought these were meant to handle up to 1250, just not for extanded ammount of time, short bursts are fine. Is this correct?

 

Mike, welcome the the vicious circle! Effectively your at the limit of both your injectors and turbo. You can probably get more fueling with a change to the programming but about all that is going to do is cause your EGT's to rise, without much more usable power, and produce a lot of black smoke. Unfortunetly what your going to need is a larger turbo and injectors to get the power your looking for, and still have your truck be reliable.

 

Thats what the plan is in the end, I just love messing around with this stuff, But untill then I was just looking for a little more. thanks for all the replies though everyone.

 

Excuse my ignorance. I'm new to the diesel scene. Here's what my 2000 7.3 has so far: Dual 4 inch MBRP exhaust, Stage 2 air raid intake, and the Edge programmer. When I monitor the boost. Even in my max programmer setting, I've never seen my boost go over 10. Two years ago the Stealership replace my turbo while they were chasing a leak. I suspect that they never adjusted the turbo. So in order to get 28 psi what did you do? Did you just adjust the waste gate? did you have to take of both tubes?

thanks for any info,
rob sierra

 

iv had my up pipes glowin no melt down i run down the road a 800 to 1000 egts turbo has been on for 2 years 1 rebuild becaus of hi drive psi its not boost that kills them its drive psi that does it put one boost gauge to manifold with a cooper line c what the diff is on drive and boost