Np
Very interested also in your results
Peace undstand your delimea but if knowledge
Is streinght then I would back senior and his video
This is very easy to do ...i didn't have any problem
symptoms but couldn't move the slip ring manually,
Was very suprised of the amount of rust on everything.
Clean up as he suggested was a snap and now movement
Is very easy ... Hang in there best of luck if you DIY !
God's speed

 

its not overly hard to do yourself but does take some time and patience especially on up pipe and down pipe removal. you can check your vgt% with edge or scangauge and if it doesnt move then the vanes arent moving and its stuck in place. be careful its not stuck in high boost, that can cause excess pressure on headgaskets.
if your turbo spools up slowly but hits high psi then its stuck in high boost.

 

Thanks guys for all your concern and interest in my situation.

When I left the house this morning, I noticed the turbo was boosting up to 35 psi with just mid throttle acceleration. It was quite disconcerting as I know the head gaskets don't like such abuse, and even with head studs it won't last too much longer boosting like that.

The truck was idling at 15% VGT and when cruising down the highway at 65mph it was pegged at 65%--85% . I dont know what that means, but the turbo was kinda "lurchy" every morning at the same spot on my commute(about a mile from my house). It would do a surge for a split second from third to fourth gear and the psi would jump for a split second and that would be that...every day for about a year. All this time I thought I may have been having a transmission lurch when cold, but now I think it was the turbo ring "Hanging up" a bit in the AM.

I brought her in to the shop and they told me that it was "Extremely Dirty" but it did not appear to be damaged. I will head over there tomorrow AM and I'll sit at the shop until it is done. I will try and sneak outside and take a few pictures of the turbo before they clean it up.

I will be sure to post more as the info comes to me...you guys have really been great! Is there anything I can do to alleviate this problem? We are religious about our maintenance, but we really can't help that our truck does a bunch of short grocery getting drives. We do let her idle cool when we stop a longer trip or have been rocking it a bit fast. I run Diesel Kleen or the Ford Diesel additive on every tank. Thanks for your wisdom bros and gals!

 

Avoid short trips as much as physically possible, they are very had for your engine! Let it get hot and drive it hard every now and then. It's a diesel engine from a medium duty truck it's meant to work so work it occasionally!
Idling excessively isn't good, short periods or warm up isn't bad.
If you have a tuner don't let it smoke too heavily or that will seize it up too

 

That VGT% is backwards??????? IIRC higher % is less boost.

AFA the head gaskets go, if you're studded and can't stand 35 psi boost then something is wrong with the gasket job.

 

I got the the repair shop today and the truck was already back together...seems my mechanic likes to under-promise and over-deliver! The bad part is I didm't get to see what my turbo looked like before or after he cleaned it.

Tha good news is the truck's pulling better and sounds right. The PSI is not going above 25 even with my foot buried. It still does seem a bit sluggish though and I am wondering if there might be more to the problem. I'm sure there are more things that I need to address and I will as we go along here. I know one thing for sure...I WILL NEVER LET MY TRUCK SIT LIKE THAT AGAIN! I really had that thing running sweet when I dropped it off for its summer slumber for a car audio makeover...sucks!

I will be looking at several options to make sure nothing else is wrong.

Thanks guys, you are all the best!

 

That was my transposing the numbers.

The mechanic said the vanes of the VGT were malfunctioning because the ring was rusty and the turbo coked up.

I KNOW I suck!

But after $400+tax I feel I've paid my debt to diesel society and I'm ready to begin a new life...Ha!