Turbo Flutter or Surge on Idle?
 

Hey guys.

I'm getting some turbo flutter or surge when my truck is at idle. Been going on a for a few months and it's getting really obnoxious. Usually the truck needs to be warmed up a little for it to happen, but it's pretty consistent all the time now, (see the video below).


I've got about 104,000 miles on the truck, no performance mods or tunes. I did have a friend replace my cracked exhaust manifolds and studs last November. We inspected the turbo and found a some play in the bearing and went ahead and swapped the turbo for a new stock turbo at the same time. I didn't have this issue before the new turbo or for the first 6 months of this turbo, but it's been happening the last 5 or 6 months now.

I'm thinking the truck is making just a little boost at idle, so I'm considering adjusting the wastegate. Can anyone confirm if that is the right approach? If so, how do I determine how much to adjust? Pretty sure the turbo needs to come off to adjust the wastegate, so I want to get it right the first time if possible. Not sure if it helps, but I still have my original turbo for comparison.

Thanks!

It sounds like the truck is snoring. I'm interested to hear what others say. Just to confirm, the flutter happens on idle, not on acceleration? You can hear the turbo spinning quietly and then the flutter? It does sound like the waste gate is overly sensitive.

I am curious as well... Sounds like vanes close to spool then dumps it all. Do you have ability to read vane position?

My friend brought over his SnapOn scan tool and I don't think we were ever able to see the vane position. I'm not sure there is a PID for that. We were kind of wondering the same thing, but I'm more and more convinced that the wastegate just needs a little adjustment. My friend is going to see if there is a factory recommendation for the adjustment we can try.

Really strange issue though.

see the TSB and see if that fits your issue.

On my monitor on a 15 it is vgtdc%. As in variable geometry turbo duty cycle