Afternoon gentlemen! My 7.3 is making a painful sounding rattling noise. The closest I can pinpoint it, it is coming from the turbo area. It does however clear up when you give it a couple hundred RPM's. It is pretty destructive sounding at idle, and when the truck first shifts gear while you are driving. The oil pressure gauge shows normal pressure, and the oil is topped up. The truck has run with low oil on a couple occasions (the rear main seal leaks...)

Anything I can do to test the turbo for problems? I don't want to remove it if I don't have to.

Also, if it is the turbo, should I look at putting a bigger aftermarket one on? The truck does a lot of heavy towing and snowplowing. Everything else is stock. If I upgrade the turbo, do I need to upgrade other things to see the real benefits?

Thanks fellas

 

Pull the intake hose and see if the fins are contacting the housing. See if there is any side to side movement of the shaft.

 

^^ What he said just verify if it really is your turbo and not something else. But since you mentioned you have ran it low which in our engines it is harmless thanks to the HEUI injection.

 

Thanks boys, going to check it out right now!