I did a turbo rebuild a few weeks ago and injector swap on a young blood brotherhood truck.
Injectors came from full force thru clay. All parts in fact came from clay. I have never had an issue with anything i have used from Riffraff.

The injector job went smooth as glass.
Turbo had been run hard around 260k on it if i remember correctly.
Billy please correct me if im wrong on mileage.

Turbo came out like a dream.
The clamps didnt fight me at all... it even came apart fairly easy. Light taps on the ratchet broke all the rusty bolts loose. It wasnt too bad inside... not more than usual side play and there was no fore and aft travel to speak of.
I didnt get pictures because there was nothing out of the ordinary for the life it has lived.

The rebuild went smooth as they always do. Reinstall was dreamier than pulling it. You guys that know i have a way with setting turbo's... this went like spooky smooth.

N e hoo.
I go do a checkup on the truck after reports of smoke, and a grindy noise on shutdown.
Pull the intake boot and i dont even have to grab ahold of the wheel to know some $}{|¥ is chewed up!

Today ... went out to dig deeper and rebuild it again if it isnt toast.



The next two illustrate side play...


Fore and aft travel for the next two...



Light scratching from the compressor wheel striking?



This is the worst condition i have ever seen a thrust bearing come to be in.
This is after 75 miles of driving.



I think this backplate/housing adapter is done.





I think this is the trailing edge of the sealing groove on the turbine side of the center cartridge. There is some chewed up metal in that location.



Billy ray and i have both contacted Clay about options... he offered free shipping on replacement turbo rebuild kit.
Im almost at a loss to understand why the parts failed.

Assumptions ready...
Conjectures get set...
Finger pointing GO!

 

Was the "C" shaped thrust plate installed facing the back plate as it is laying in picture #10, or like this? Could it, accidentally, have gotten flipped over?

 

Sure looks bad. I think I'd get a new one this time. Don't know why you had a problem maybe Roland is on to something here. It could of been backwards I hate to say.

 

Pulling it back apart today... everything was oriented as it should be.
I have only ever seen this happen with one other turbo that had been rebuilt b razzi.
It was the one that i pulled off TXtinct when i swapped the motor.
It also had all parts in the correct orientation.

I just got home from seeing the victoria metal scene and have imbibed more 5han an adequate amount of inebriant for the evening.

Brain numb... bonfire calling...


Brothers... have a good and safe weekend.

 

Chris sorry to hear this one is giving you issues. Now I seen your photo of thrust bearing upside down in photo which lead to agree with Roland I had to go back to my photos to check how mine came apart. And the open end goes at the bottom too.

Now the only other things I could think about was turbine shaft & turbine wheel oil seal. When I built my turbo I made one out of 2 turbos and a rebuild kit. I had found that one of turbine shafts had alot more wear than the other on the turbine side were the bearing rides. Also the oil seal on the turbine side I had a hard time cleaning the groove out where it goes. So I am wondering if the turbine wheel oil seal didn't seat correctly or broke could that cause the turbine shaft to walk around. I might be wrong but I thought that the oil seal turbine side and thrust bearing was what keep the shaft from in and out? And after this issue I would measure the turbine shaft for wear.

 

Yeah the backing plate is toast. From that picture it looks like the shaft was badly out of balance or the oil seal clip was not seated properly maybe? How was the wheel torqued?

Any close up pics of a cleaned up turbine shaft looking for wear? Definitely need to find the root cause before using any of these parts again. Unless you find the smoking gun it's time for a new turbo before chunks get sent through the IC.

 

Agreed... this one is done.

Looking closer at the shaft on the turbine side... i think you are on to the culprit.
The shaft is quite worn and the seal clip looks to be oversized now because of it.

With that in mind... i can see how it would chew the seal groove in the turbine side... allow enough fore/aft travel to chew the back ring on the thrust bushing... and poof... magic smoke.

I think i can get another rebuildable turbo but if it does not pan out... anybody have a center cartridge and compressor housing mounting adapter they might wanna sell?

 

I still have one.

 

Jason what would you like for it?

 

I have a question about the flow paths for all the fluids in the early '99 turbos; oil, intake air, and exhaust. Especially as to where these fluids can go when things begin to fail. I have a consistent and noticeable light blue smoke at all engine speeds and loads. Higher loads, more smoke.

A little turbo history. This past summer the 4 screws holding the exhaust housing to the center section together backed out pretty much as far as they go (these are the four bolts that would be in the outer holes shown in BadDogKuzz's first picture - I' not familiar with the part terminology here), creating a huge exhaust leak with soot all over everything back there.

From Riffraff I bought all the orings and dismantled it and cleaned everything up, but now a few months later I think I'm losing oil through the turbo into the exhaust. I didn't get the bearing rebuild kit, though, and I'm wondering if that, along with more orings, would fix any oil / exhaust leaks through the turbo. As far as the "C" shaped thrust plate goes, I'm certain I put it back as it was, but I also think it only fits one way, due to the notches. Am I right about that?

I hope my smoke problem is turbo related, as I presume it's probably the easiest fix. At the same time this summer I also deleted the EBPV (which leaked), and did the Riffraff mods in my sig, and cleaned / changed every oring I could find on the top of the engine, including injectors. My deeper fear is that by cleaning everything, I strengthened those parts and have now highlighted weak links in more expensive things like the HPOP or injectors themselves, or possibly compression.

 

SaintITC,

It would be best to start a new thread with your questions. That way it would get more exposure. Not trying to be an A$$ just trying to help....

 

Good point, and well taken. I planned to post a simple question, but I drink waaay too much coffee in the morning.

 

Did you find a Turbo?

I found one here locally on CL for $300. I could pick it up and ship it to you if needed?

GARRET TURBO 7.3 FORD

 

When Jason posted up we took it to pm's. He is sending his. Thank you for posting it up though.
See... there i go not updating my threads.

Reps sent for lookin out.

 

I rep'd him too Chris.