It was suggested on another forum that I ask for help here. So here goes.

My truck is a 2005 F-250 6.0 PSD with 80,000 miles. I live in SC and normally take one trip out west each summer towing an 11K fifth wheel from 5000 to 8000 miles. About three years ago I noticed a flap-flap noise when the transmission shifted back in OD after towing long steep grades. It occurs when the RPMs drop from around 3000 to around 2000. Last summer I had an EGR cooler failure in Amarillo, TX and it was replaced along with the oil cooler. The paperwork also showed that the turbo was reconditioned but I don’t remember if there was any change in the flap-flap noise. After the first fuel stop on this years trip, while I was accelerating back on the interstate up a fairly steep grade the truck started sputtering making this same flap-flap noise on each sputter. After limping to the top of the grade I noticed I had forgotten to switch on the tow-haul mode. I switched into tow-haul and everything seemed normal except for the flap-flap at the top of grades until six weeks and 7,000 miles later I experienced the same sputtering after stopping for fuel and accelerating back on the interstate up a steep grade. I noticed the boost gage would go past half-way and drop back to ¼ with each sputter. I realized it was not in tow-haul and engaged the tow-haul with no improvement. It was so bad this time that I stopped on the shoulder to decide what to do. After idling for a couple of minutes I started off again and the it ran fine so I continued the 2,000 miles home without any problems except the occasional flap-flap at the top of steep grades. The truck runs completely normal when not towing up steep grades so I cannot duplicate the noise near home. The wrench light never came on the CEL. I told the diesel tech at my local dealer about the problem and he says I need a new shaft in the turbo. The truck is out of the warranty so I will have to pay. I probably will not tow again until next summer. Questions: Should I let him install the new turbo shaft or go with a complete new turbo? Will it be OK to wait until I tow again before doing the repair as long as the truck appears to run normal? Should I just continue to use the truck including towing as is unless the condition gets worse?

Thanks, Rob

 

HI Rob.
sorry it took so long for me to reply ive been at work all day.

I think this may be what you are talking about.
YouTube - 6.0L Powerstroke SCT Tuned "Turbo Fart"

if this is the case to some extent this is normal. its caused by the lack of a wastegate on the turbo. So what is happing is the air is being pushed back threw the intake.
this becomes abnormal when it is very excessive. the fix would be to disassemble and clean/ replace the chra (center section of the turbo) as needed.

if this is not the same type of sound you are hearing let me know.
O btw nice to know Im famous on other sites.....

 

Welcome to FTE oristorob

We had another user with the same symptoms as he is describing, turbo is over boosting pulling a hill, the excess boost will escape under load/acceleration. Another with the same syptom had an erratic sensor reading from BARO, tap the sensor with a wrench and the readings would go wild.

 

Thanks for the replies. I think I am going to wait until just before I tow again or until the symtoms show up under normal driving before carrying it to the shop. Do you think the stumble I experienced could of been from over-loading the engine due to the transmission being in to high a gear due to not having the tow-haul on. The last incidence occurred in east Montana and didn't happen again during my trip back to SC via Niagara Falls, Canada and Shenandoah Valley, VA. My turbo was reconditioned September 9, last year during egr cooler repair. I was wondering if Ford would give any help if I carry it in tomorrow before one year expires on the recondition. My warrenty expired last December due to time, mileage is 80,000. I would be risking the cost of checking it out. What do you think, is it worth risk?

Rob

 

the warranty should be 12/12.
so far as a stumble with out having it happen its hard to say.
without having the truck in front of me its hard to awnser if its worth the risk.
if the youtube video is the sound you have then you will be told more then likly it normal.

 

thanks cheezit. Its hard to say if the noise is the same as the video being out on the interstate when mine occured. Its similar but not as severe. I forgot about the mileage I'm over the 12K there as I put over 10k on the last trip. I'm going to wait until the symptoms show up again.