I had an overboost happen to me twice over the weekend, pulling two separate grades an hour apart with a 6000lb trailer at 100% go-pedal and engine load. I was logging data with Torque Pro at the time and see the VGT% went to 15% for 8 seconds and I had 29.5psi for those 8 seconds before the overboost threw a code and put me into limp mode. The log I looked at showed me going 55mph in 3rd gear leading up to the issue, and as soon as the overboost happened, I felt a hard gear shift, which the log shows was a 3-5 shift. I pulled over when I could both times, read the code to see it was overboost, and shut the truck off, restarted it, and it was fine both times.
I'm thinking I need to clean the turbo and have been looking up the options for that. I stayed off of full boost the rest of the trip and didn't have any issues.

The writeups and youtube videos on how to remove and clean the turbo seem easy enough, it's the parts that are a little confusing. I want to make sure I have everything I need to finish the job, but not waste money:

For about $30, I can get the o-ring & hardware kit 3C3Z-9T514-AG and 3M cleaning kit 03050. For an extra $40, I can get the ford kit 4C4Z-9V424-AA with those parts plus caps for protection during cleaning, a new V-band clamp, and antiseize.
I don't really think it's worth the extra money - am I missing something? Do the V-band clamps fail that often? I already have a jar of the same kind of antiseize in the picture of the kit on White Bear Lake Ford's parts site. Are the caps that necessary? I'll be working in my garage, so no birds will leave any presents in my turbo while I'm working on it.

Also, for the last 6 months, I have had a short whine right after engine start that coincides with the oil pressure "gauge" going up to the normal range. It sounds like a bottle rocket shooting up for about 1 second, then stops. I was thinking that could be a turbo sticking noise, but never found out for sure. Does the turbo do a vane sweep right after startup, when it gets oil pressure, that could be this noise?

 

Vein sweep happens after 3-5 minutes of idle in park

Post BARO MAP EBP @KOEO

Sounds like you on track with turbo clean unless we find a bad turbo controlling sensor

 

Sounds really familiar, just an underboost code instead. I guess it depends on where the unison rings sticks finally.
I too would have the truck go into limp mode when pulling hard up hills. Not so much if I manually dropped the tranny into 3rd and babied it up the hills.
Mine too would groan, grunt, and bark at start up until I finally changed the unison ring.
I recommend that you don't just clean the unison ring, even if the solenoid slot is still good, as mine only lasted 25k after cleaning the first time.
My first sticking ring occurred at about 85k.
Now it pulls like a dream without issue.

 

Baro 14.2
Map 14.3
EBP 14.2
At key on engine off.

 

Here is some of the data from when it happened. I highlighted the row where I think it happened, along with a few other parameters where it did something I don't fully understand. VGT% and boost suddenly went up for 8 seconds leading up to the overboost.

 

Time to pull the wrenches out. You'll be glad you did when finished.
Like I said before, new unison ring, turbo gasket kit, and for me, a Blue Spring kit while apart.
Good luck.

 

Just for the sake of me learning, what exactly leads you to that conclusion? Something in the data log? (I'm not trying to argue, and have no issue doing the turbo clean, just want to learn more about it)

I already did the blue spring so I'm good there, though I can't see fuel pressure, so I'm just hoping for the best on that currently.

 

In my opinion, your koeo leads my to believe you are sending the proper signals from your MAP and EBP. You are pulling way too much sustained psi, and your turbo vgt signal is trying to compensate.
Going into limp mode, grunting and groaning, pulling an over or under boost code, all makes me turn towards the turbo ring.
How many miles on the truck?
You're probably flying when you pedal down, thinking all is okay, but you will find it a bit slower after you fix it. But it will pull much better.

 

Truck just rolled past 190,000 miles, about 4500 hours. I've owned it since about 172,000 miles, almost 3 years ago.
Thanks for the input.

 

Any idea as to whether the turbo has been cleaned before? Something tells me it has and hopefully you've got the records for reference.

 

It hasn't been cleaned since I got it. I don't have service records from previous owner(s). I have an oasis report at home I can check tonight, but that's it.

 

the over/under boost wrench is from that condition occurring for more than 5 seconds and/or for 4lbs or more during the time period.

At 17:13:32 it commanded 15%, which is full boost and it answered 1 second later. Looks like it held that boost for 6 seconds and commanded the gear change. At 13:38 the RPM dropped... ICP went from 3951 to 1381.

I'd say it stuck because it took an extreme VGT movement to get motion.

 

Back to another question, is the whole kit with the caps/covers and a new V-band clamp worth the extra $40 over buying the 3M cleaning kit and Ford o-ring kits separately?

 

Nope. Caps and covers are pointless

 

Update now that I cleaned the turbo: it didn't make the shriek noise a few seconds after startup that it's been doing pretty consistently the past few months, so that's an improvement. I only started it one time so far, though.
It drove fine, but I didn't get over about 20psi since I was unloaded. I'll be towing 6k up some 2000ft mountains in about two weeks, so that will be the full test.
When I had it apart, my unison ring seemed to be sticking around the pilot of the intake side of the turbo. The surface the vanes slide on was a bit ugly, too. I cleaned it up and put anti seize on it. I cleaned up the pilot where the I.D. of the unison ring contacts, and the ring rotated much easier afterward.

I also found that someone has been in the engine bay before I owned it and broke a clip on the VGT electrical connector, didn't reinstall the front two FICM mounting nuts, and left the rear two FICM bolts loose. It was also missing the CCV o-ring into the valve cover.