Dirty turbo, and a possible dead tire?

[OBJDOG]

Hello all,

I'm doing some general preventative maintenance on the truck this weekend as it's a holiday for me and I've got nothing better to do. I came across a few things that have me sort of stumped. One is some fouling on the turbo and the blue boot on the air tube from the intercooler, and the other is some tire damage the likes of which I've never seen before.


Here's the tire, note the tread depth is still good, but there is quite a bit of exposed thread along the entire circumference of the tire in that tread well. The rest of the tires look fine, is this one kaput?


Here is the pic of the turbo with the funk on it. That's not shadow like it may seem. It appears to be dirt, which says to me that oil is getting on that section of the turbo.


And here's the blue boot I referenced. It looks like the gunk is wet, but it's not. When you run your finger along it it seems to be dried dirt.

Any ideas what that's all about?

-Ed

[Lilpooh]

The turbo and boot is from the oil that is put back into the intake thru the Crank Case Ventalation (CCV) to the air filter tubing. This oily mist eventually puddles up in the IC system and the oil soaks into the boots causing them to get weak and seep oil until the fail (blowout,rip).

It's best to remove the boot, clean all surfaces really good with a degreaser and replace with a new boot. You can also do a search on "CCV MOD" to eliminate the oily mist from entering the air cleaner tube either by filtering the oil mist or plumbing it out to the atmosphere.

Sorry can't help you on the tire issue. Looks like dry rot, need to be replaced.

[OBJDOG]

Thanks for the tip on the oil coating. The lower boot right at the intercooler looks spic-n-span but that upper one is dirty as all get out. I might just take the whole tube out and clean it up a bit.

The tire has me confused too. It does look a bit like dry rot, but why would it only affect one tire? They were all bought at the same time... May just be a lemon tire

[NYC F-350]

You'll find some oil in there to clean. That gunk on the side of the turbo? That is the oil being pushed through that boot and actually spraying a mist onto the turbo for the dirt to stick to. It is time for that boot to go, it may already be leaking boost from the underside, where you can't see it.
If you have difficulty keeping the new boot on there, use brake cleaner to wipe off the end, then hit it with hairspray, then re-install the new boot and clamp. That is just enough stickyness to get it to stay there. Or you could use that stuff in a spray can that you use to get gaskets to stay put, kinda gasket glue in a can. That stuff WORKS, just don't do both sides of the same connection, it aint coming apart easily.
You should consider the CCV mod. That will get rid of the problem once and for all.

[thenubsterman]

Ya that tire is junk, i wouldn't even haver iton my vehicle looks like in sides of tire is showing, heck i dont know why it broke before the rest of them did just like out trucks some trucks will blow head gaskets at 30,000 and ot hers at 170,000 and the trucks the same who knows lol.