Well, not really a full-on disaster, but it would have been a huge inconvenience.
Pulled the 5th wheel to a campground about 130 miles from home. Fully loaded I was 21000 lb combined weight and there were several mountains in central PA that were sustained pulls of 2800 rpm, 25 psi boost.
When I arrived at the campsite we set up I I took a peek under the hood. There was oil spray on the underside of the hood. Not a huge oil stream or anything, but you could tell that it had been spraying or misting for some time. Enough that when I lifted the hood, it ran downhill into a drop or two. I looked at the turbo boot and there was a crack lengthwise from turbo to cac tube. It wasn't blown wide open, but I was concerned about making those pulls on the way home.
I ran by the local hardware and picked up some Gorilla Tape. Wiped the turbo boot clean with some kitchen degreaser, then with water, then dried it. I got three pieces of Gorilla tape wrapped around it; each went around about 1-1/2 times.
Started off a little timid & tried to keep the boost down, but there's just no way. Pulled home just fine. Back up the same mountains running sustained 25psi the whole way
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Ordered up some new Riff Raff boots & clamps a few minutes ago. The duct tape held nicely, but definitely took a beating from the heat. Would the boot have come apart on my way home? Who knows. I figured the little extra insurance was worth it
On a related note, this is my first pull after semi-bulletproofing over the winter and my first pull in semi-hot weather. Over Christmas I did a new oil cooler, BP EGR cooler, HPOP STC fix. I never heard my big fan come on before today, but pulling the grades, at 218°ECT it would ramp up & get everything back under control nicely. ECT/EOT stayed nicely about 8° apart. There's always those moment when cresting mountains or other odd transitions that temps go further, but on average in the mountains and the highways, I'd call it an 8° split. I'm quite happy with that.
All in all, it was a very successful first trip of the year. With my new boots installed, that will be one less thing to concern myself with next time
05-20-2012, 03:22 PM
Get the new boots on and you should be good to go!
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