Rebuilding a Turbo

[Daxman]

I posted a few days ago about my truck smoking when i take off. After some research i believe my turbo seal is going bad. The truck only has 72,000 miles on it . My question is has anyone ever rebuilt a turbo or replaced the turbo seal before. Is this something i should leave to a professional. I dont want to pay someone to do it if i can do it myself. I hope someone will chime in on this because i need some advice please..

[scott331]

there is a great video on youtube on how to clean a turbo, i would asume its about the same prosess... looks pretty easy to me....

[dazdillenger]

The turbo doesn't have "seals" persay. What's the problem you're having?

[Daxman]

My truck is smoking when i take off. I dont really see it once im going. It smells like burned oil and its a bluish white color. When she's cold i dont see any smoke, it only smokes when it gets hot. For some reason it started right after i did an oil change. I put in 15 quarts of rotella and didnt do anything different than before. One more thing, it only has 72,000 miles on it so i find it hard to believe it would be rings.

[PSDMikeB]

I have read that the first step to diagnose a leaking turbo oil seal is to pull the downpipe and look for oil. If no oil in the downpipe, your smoke is coming from another source.

If you keep searching the forums, you will find a fellow who successfully rebuilt his own turbo (not the cleaning procedure, a true rebuild). He had to get parts directly from Garrett as FoMoCo does not sell them.

MikeB

[Evil Eye]

Originally Posted by PSDMikeB

I have read that the first step to diagnose a leaking turbo oil seal is to pull the downpipe and look for oil. If no oil in the downpipe, your smoke is coming from another source.

If you keep searching the forums, you will find a fellow who successfully rebuilt his own turbo (not the cleaning procedure, a true rebuild). He had to get parts directly from Garrett as FoMoCo does not sell them.

MikeB

I would agree that there should be oil in the downpipe if your turbo seals are leaking. BTW, you can buy the rebuild kit at the link below. I believe the Diesel Stop was were someone had posted their rebuild experience with pics.

LINK

[Daxman]

Ok i will pull the downpipe this weekend, when i get off work its to dark to do it. Thanks for the advice guys, im kind of scared i wont find any oil and it may be something worse.

[Evil Eye]

Mine didn't have any "real" amounts of oil in the downpipe, although when we swapped it out, the gray(ish) smoke went away. (Exactly like you describe.) Might want to pull the intake tube out and check shaft play while you are at it.

[justa03]

Guess i wasnt in the other thread but what color is the smoke? Any mods? Any coolant or oil consumption?

[Daxman]

One day the smoked looked kind of white and then another day it looked really blueish color. Its really kind of hard to tell, but im leaning towards a light bluish color..It only does it after the truck gets hot, i have tried several times to make it smoke when its cold and it wont do it. The only thing i have done to the truck is add straight pipe. This all took place after i did an oil change. ( 15 quarts ) Also i want to point out, i think the turbo is sticking because usually the exhaust sounds like a vaccuum, but on and off i can hear the rumble of the motor as if the turbo has stopped for a moment and then kicks back on?