Hello everybody,
Have been fairly quite on here the past couple months, mainly been busy with work and classes in full swing. Here recently I have been noticing a couple dribbles of oil here and there when I went to start my 7.3 up in the morning. Well, the other day I went out to go to work when I was greeted with a large puddle (roughly 3' x 1'). I have been searching for the source, and found that under the intake plenum boots it was decently wet. Dove in further and took off my intake, and was greeted by this:

And also this:


Needless to say, I believe it is time to perform the CCV mod on the old girl. I decided while I had access to them, I would check on my intercooler pipes/compressor wheel to see how they were fairing after this oil discovery. Upon looking at the compressor wheel, it seems that it may have seen better days. A couple of the fins look to be a tad chipped, and all seem to be fairly saturated with oil/grime. The shaft had the slightest amount of play - not too much but enough to be discernible. Here is what I am dealing with:




I also found a bit of oil in my intercooler pipes (which I expected after finding that much oil in my intake) and will be cleaning them while I have them out. I do plan on cleaning the oil off/out of the components I have removed/have access to, and will be replacing parts as needed. My current action plan is:

1. CCV Mod
2. RiffRaff Complete Intercooler CAC Boot kit (may as well replace spyder/IC pipe boots while I am in there)
3. Plenum reinforcing inserts
4. HPx (Currently debating)

I know these crummy cell phone pictures aren't really the best thing to go off of for diagnosing, but figure asking if you all see anything that I am missing can't hurt a thing. I appreciate any help/guidance you all are willing to share. Also, if you need any other information let me know and I will get it to you ASAP.

Thanks again.

 

Perfect picture for diagnosing - your air intake filter system completely sucks. You're dusting your turbo, and this is bad juju. There is nothing wrong with a little oil vapor getting in the intake - it keeps things lubed in there, corrosion can't take hold, the vapors are burned off, and you really want a vacuum in the valve covers (which pulls from under the pistons).

Fix your air intake - I suspect it's OEM with a leaking box, or you have been remiss at changing the filter often enough. The Ford AIS is ideal for a truck with stock injectors, but upgrading the sticks would call for a bigger intake.

Turbo blades are showing outer wear - implying your journal bearing may be done. This would send gobs of oil into the intake.

Possible revised shopping list with Riffraff Diesel:

• Ford AIS
• WW2 turbo compressor wheel - yours has one foot in the grave.
• Turbo rebuild kit.

If there's money left over, your CAC boots with intake plenum inserts (and 4 T-bolt boot clamps for the lower boots) are a good call.

How many miles on that oil?

 

Yup early signs of a dusted engine, I would rebuild the turbo, and change that wheel asap. You in the right track.

 

I really appreciate the info guys. I was afraid the turbo was running off life support, but thought just maybe there was a glimmer of hope.

Funny story about the intake. When I first got the truck I noticed a bit of dust in the intake (albeit dry, not oily) and assumed it was from the hackjob that was an attempt to better seal the OEM intake. I took that out and put a 6637 on it (Has~13k on it) with a sleeve. I am beginning to wonder if I have a small leak post-filter.

As far as new intake goes, later down the line I plan to get a 38R and Stage 1's. They're about the same price wise, so would it be better to go ahead with a S&B over the AIS from Riffraff?

Oil has about 5500 on it. It is going to be changed while I have the truck parked (had that planned before the turbo discovery).

As of now, I have the following:

• RR Billet Comp. Wheel (94-03)
• GTP38 Journal rebuild kit
• GTP38 Reinstall kit
• Plenum inserts (boots or no boots- these would be nice insurance)
• Intake - TBD

If there is anything I missed for the rebuild, let me know. All my life I've been working on N/A four and two-stroke diesels and replacing whole turbos. Machine shop typically rebuilt the ones I condemned in the past.

Will do. I am going to be removing the turbo this evening and will start the teardown process.

Once again I thank y'all for your help! One day I hope I can return the favor.

 

With a puddle of oil the size you say it was, are you sure your oil cooler didn't puke it out?

 

Same thing I was thinking. If a 3x1 puddle came from a CAC overnight then you have a blown turbo seal and a hole in your CAC boot.

 

I was thinking it was possibly the oil cooler as well at first (should have put this in the OP) but all except a tiny bit of grime it is clean. After looking at the puddle again I believe my memory made me believe it was larger than it was, as now (~a week later) it is only about 1'x18-24". I followed the fresh oil path (and could only find oil) on the passenger side block, up behind the exhaust manifold/up pipes. There's quite a lot of grime in the valley, and eventually led me to feeling the plenum boots. The underside were wet to the touch, and upon pulling them, found oil on the insides of the boots and in the plenums. I plan to get my valley degreased while everything is out in order to try and trace down any other culprits that arise.

 

If you're rebuilding the turbo, I would upgrade to the 360deg thrust bearing. The kit from SP Turbo also has an upgraded step-seal oil seal ring on the turbine end.

 

Complete rebuild kit with 360 bearing and step-seals.

Powerstroke 7.3L Turbo Upgraded Full Rebuild Kit (1994 - 2003) ? SP Turboost Company, LLC

Complete rebuild kit with 360 bearing, step seals and the SPX billet wheel.

Powerstroke 7.3L Turbo SPX Billet Compressor Wheel Full Rebuild Kit Co ? SP Turboost Company, LLC

When I rebuilt my turbo, I bought the complete rebuilt kit with the 360 bearing and step seal kit from SPTurbo and then the 4/4 billet wheel from RiffRaff. I am very happy with my build and was hitting 22 PSI of boost before adding the GearHead Hydra tune.

I also added a high flow outlet and deleted the EBPV with parts from RiffRaff.

 

Thanks for the link to that rebuild kit Sous. Once I stop by the bank tomorrow I will be ordering the following:

1. Riffraff:
   • Riffraff Billet Wheel
   • Plenum Inserts
   • Complete CAC Boot Kit
   • GTP38 Reinstall kit
   • S&B CAI kit - dry
   • HPx
2. SPTurboost:
   • Turbo rebuild kit (w/360 thrust bearing)

Off the top of my head I cannot think of anything else I would need to get the turbo rebuilt. I did find my EBPV actuator arm was covered in oil/grime, so I will be getting it cleaned and rebuilt once I recover from this Buck$Zooka blast. Eventually I may remove the EBPV, but for now I plan on wiring it to manually control it (Would come in handy on the downgrades when towing). Albeit it may be easier to just grab a tune to close it, but flipping a switch between computer controller, and disabled is a bit more appetizing.

Also, anybody have experience with the SPX wheel? After reading z31freakify's review on it, it seems to be very similar to the riffraff wheel? $200 for the wheel and rebuild kit is a bit appetizing.

Thanks for y'alls help!

 

Since you already have the 6637, I would make sure it's not leaking - all that debris in the turbo intake may be from before the 6637.

When it comes time, the 6637 can work with the 38R - but prepare yourself for a loud ride. The S&B may be the call if you want to tame the screaming banshee that is the 38R with stage 1 sticks.

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ade-count.html

Hopefully I did this right but this is a link to the thread where I installed a SPX 5X5 wheel and rebuilt my turbo. The kit included everything you need and two sets of turbo to pedestal o-rings so you can pull the pedestal to gut or rebuild.

I have no experience with Riffraffs 4X4 but the WW2 and the SPX perform very similar.

For $200 shipped and first rate customer support i felt like I made a good choice.

With the AIS with a hole cut on the fender side the minder pulls down about 1/2 way at 30 PSI boost and a filter with 30k miles now.

 

Well, the parts are starting to trickle in and I just wanted to give a thank you to all that helped! The SPTurboost and DieselORings packages came in today, and my RiffRaff package should be here tomorrow. I plan on getting everything together within the next couple days.

I ended up going with the RiffRaff wheel due to the claim that it was quieter, so figured I might as well give it a try. I enjoy the level it is at now, and don't really want to over do it. I will be planning on keeping my build log updated, so most of the posts I make regarding the wheel and how I liked it will be documented there.

Once again, thanks for everybody's help! Helped catch something that could have ended up a much larger bill than what it was.

 

Good luck, take your time and ask questions if you get to a point of uncertainty. You will like the RR 4/4 wheel, I like mine a lot and have a similar set up as you do. It is very quiet (comparable to stock) until the truck reaches about 20 PSI, then it picks up a bit of noise. Even all the way up towards 30 PSI it is very tolerable though and not overbearing in anyway.

Remember to post pictures, we love pictures...

 

Pics, pics, pics, you will be fine also leave a review on the wheels thread.