Turbo Damage

[FlyinRyan86]

Have some lovely photos here of an abused turbo. Compressor is pretty banged up - the question I have is how long is she gonna last. Imminant failure? Nurse her for a few months? I'm thinking definately replace before chipping the beast. Other photo shows the dirt and crud in the intake tube immediately prior to the turbo, which brings the next question. Local garage suggested replacing the crank case breather box, and in the process of pricing replacements I came across this BD Diesel Crank Case Vent Filter - Powerstroke Diesel - Diesel Power Magazine - any experience with them? Worth the $300? seems keeping oil outta the intake would keep any dust from turning to goo and going through the turbo as nice gooey chucks.

[late_99_PSD]

First you need to figure out where all that dirt is coming from. What filter are you running? Hows the shaft play on the turbo? It could last years or months. The wheel doesn't look too bad, as long as the shaft play is ok, I wouldn't worry too much about it. As far as the crankcase filter, I couldn't justify that much so, I just dumped it to the atmosphere. Costs $10 maybe and it keeps the oil out of the intake.

[FlyinRyan86]

The truck lived in Texas for years so I'm guessing the air filter was left in too long once or twice and that was all it took to gooiefy the oil from the breather. Didn't think about just getting a longer hose for the breather and running it down to the ground... guess I could do that... don't think I'm going to single handedly ruin the environment from that! 10 bucks for some hose does suit my budget a lot better!
Now as far as shaft play am I checking for axial or radial play and what kind of limits do I have?

[late_99_PSD]

Both, in and out as well as up and down. Your big limit is the housing. As you can imagine, contact is bad, but some play is to be expected. I would say that .050" is "normal", but getting closer to an 1/8" is getting bad.