Hello guys, my name is Emilio and i’m from Brazil. This is my first post on these boards and I here to gather some info so I can help a good friend of mine. He has a 2011 6.7 F-450 with a few mods (Bullydog + full exhaust and some deletes). Last week his turbo (OEM) went fubar.


There’s an old school knows it all turbo Yoda in my city and he guaranteed us that something came out of the engine and collapsed the turbine wheel. We found that odd but its hard to go up against Brazilian Turbo Yoda lol.

With that in mind I called a few diesel shops on the States (ATS, BD Performance, etc) and they gave me some intel. One dude even told me that these 6.7 PowerStrokes, specially the early models (2011ish just like the one my friend has) had a few problems with camshafts and followers. He told me that in some cases, the followers would disintegrate and end up in the combustion chamber and then head to the turbine wheel (boommm).

He advised me to check the engine’s internals and oil pan for debris. My plan was to buy an aftermarket turbo and drop it in the engine, but after he told me that we were scared. The thing is…this is the one and only F450 in Brazil. They didn’t sell those here, he had it shipped from the US so we are taking the time to gather some info before making a move. Things here usually cost 5x the normal price and take 2 months to arrive  FML).
I’ve read in others boards that on the early models, Ford would change the turbo on those engines. They knew the problem was not in the turbo charger itself, it was inside the engine but they couldn’t figure out what it was, and would just end up installing another turbocharger in. Does that make sense?

Can anyone shed some light on this issue?

1) Is this ‘normal’ ?
2) Do the explanations of the shops I called make sense?
3) Would you recommend me opening the engine?
4) I’ve been looking into the ATS Aurora 4000 to replace the OEM turbocharger, would that be a good choice?

Thanks in advance….

Pics 

 

Check out this guy's video about failed turbos in 6.7L engines: 6.7L Turbo Failure -- Powerstrokehelp.com

 

A lot of early 6.7s like your friends had turbo failures due to faulty bearings used in the turbos. Your "turbo yoda" is wrong. While debris from the engine certainly can cause a turbo failure I can tell you that as a professional diesel tech I see turbo failures all the time due to bearing failure, lack of oiling, wear, ect that are not caused by any sortof engine damage.

 

Nice...That's probably the issue most ppl were talking about on another board when they said Ford would replace the turbochargers.

My friends turbo didnt come to that tho. At least he didnt report me any type of whistling. When i arrived at the shop it was already out

 

God dammit. Turbo Yoda had failed me.... Would u recommend me opening the engine and checking for anything out of the ordinary? I guess that option doesnt make much sense now....

 

If it was me I'd change the oil and cut open the oil filter. If you dont find any metal in the filter you're probably fine.

 

you can also pull some glow plugs. If those are broke/damaged then you will also know that most likely you have a valve issue.

 

The early 6.7's had issues with ceramic turbo bearings. They disintegrated and failure followed, obviously. Ford fixed the bearing issue and now it just the normal random problems. I agree with 02F250V10 and check the oil and filter. Might want to go one step further and send an oil sample into the lab for analysis also.
Order the OEM replacement turbo if all else checks out.

 

Thx for all the quick replies guys. I got a hold of some pics






So what i reckon from what i've been reading:

1) Simple and common ceramic bearings problems. Shaft got unbalanced making turbine wheel/rotor colide with turbine/compressor housing.

2) Valve/Glowplugs/Something debris coming out of the combustion chamber, coliding with turbine wheel, unbalanced everything and made them hit the housings.

Turbo Yoda did not know this turbochargers had ceramic bearings. For that mistake he was downgraded to Turbo Skywalker

Ill check the oil filter/pan and glowplugs like 02F250V10 and senix suggested. Good hints.... Im gonna run a probe+camera to check the combustion chambers and see if theres any dmg on the valves, cuz if anything comes out of the engine again and makes us lose another turbine, we will lose the entire trucks retail on the fix ("this is Brazil" - TORETTO, Dominic.)

Instead buying an OEM replacement for the turbo, my friend is considering upgrading it. We were reading about ATS' Aurora 4000. Would that be a good choice considering his pick already has a few mods?