I am just finishing a project truck and for the first time I fired my 97 f-350 7.3l turbo up and it ran smooth. I shut it off in 10 secs as there is no rad, pump, etc. Now while doing other stuff such as installing all the fuses just to see that the throtle was working etc. I removed the rag in the intake tube a saw broken turbo vanes. The four leading vanes all have the corners boken/torn/cracked off. When I bought this truck the state police told the wrecker driver the owner had it running - he tried to get out of the ditch etc. The owner guaranteed me that it ran. Now I am wondering what the heck to do. The vanes have a darker ghost or shadow behind the damaged areas as if they had been running like that and the extra turbulence left some dirty air marks past the vanes. The comp turns freely and I could not find any missing chunks in the intake tube that could have been swallowed by the motor. I did turn it over once with the rag in the intake but it should never have torn/broken vanes off as it never did fire and my buddy pulled the rag out after one quick try. But anyway... how far do I go? I am removing the whole turbo to fix the compressor wheel and am wondering should I take off the intake runners? The heads? Remove the injectors and try and vacuum around in there? ( I did that w a chev 350 after breaking a rusted stuck spark plug once ) Is there enough of a hole to do that? Them broken vane pieces have to be somewhere!!! This went from a good investment to a unknown nightmare just this afternoon... and then it started raining on me... Oh and the state police stopped by and issued me a ticket for hitting the guardrail with my dump trailer (flat tire ) and not reporting it... Can it get any worse? I will be glad to e-mail you-all pics to any one interested. Any guess, story, help, consolation, hint, or jeer would be greatly appreciated. THANKS!!!

 

I would bet that it was liek that when you bought it. probably didn't do any damage so I would just put another wheel on it and call it good.

 

Judging from your rig it looks like you're into that stuff. Can I ask if its possible to change just the wheel without pulling the whole turbo - pedestal and all that? I see the nut with the locking outfit on it but my cheap manual doesn't cover that sort of thing.

 

yes it can done. the downpipe needs to be unclamped so you can get a wrench/socket to hold the other end. and you will need to remove the intake housing (the snail shell, its held on by 4 or 5 5/16th 12 point bolts). then the wheel is threaded onto the shaft. for parts check out this guy on ebay. he is excellent to deal with and has great prices. i just post this cause it what I have
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...9058515&rd=1,1

 

If they are stopping by your house, because your trailer hit a guardrail due to a flat tire, and they didn't pull you over and ticket you then, you can fight that ticket.

Tim knows whats shakin in PSD world, hes my hero. =)