Reducing Turbo Bark?

[Dr.Pants ESQ]

Any suggestions on mods to reduce turbo bark? Would an intake horn help at all? I have a nasty thump around 45 mph and I'm getting concerned about the life of my turbo... Cheers Chris

 

[Forrest Nearing]

I'm assuming you have the silencer ring removed?

 

[cerberusiam]

Drive it harder or get a different turbo. About the only fixes.

 

[Dr.Pants ESQ]

Not sure about the silencer ring as the Afe and exhaust were done when I got it. Unfortunatley the harder I drive it the worse it gets... . I'm worried that the thump will turn into a BOOM one of these times!!! Suppose I'll have to look at turbos

 

[JVolpe]

Well on mine the bark just got louder with the II SPS66. With the air intake and a built tc/transmission mine would bark pretty much any time I let up on 3/4 throttle or more.



Expensive but effective for me was the BD Turbo Guard (BOV). Eliminated all barking during normal daily driving and has a cooool factor to boot.

 

[DE Jeeper]

If you can't afford a new turbo take the AFE off and go back to stock. The bark got much worse on mine after I installed the AFE when I had a stock set up. BTW, twins will also eliminate bark .



Aaron

 

[Radshooter]

I'm assuming you have the silencer ring removed?

Will removing the silencer ring help with a 6-spd? Seems you guys here are talking about auto trannies. I don't have much problem with barking except when I am towing heavy uphill and have to downshift quickly. If I ease off it to reduce boost before I hit the clutch, sometimes I loose a lot of momentum getting up the hills.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

honestly? what most people consider "barking" isn't harmful to the turbo in any way... there's no throttle blade on these trucks... the compressor wheel doesn't "go backwards" when you hear that noise. it's simply the air stalling around the wheel.



removing the silencer ring can help with surging, which IS very harmful, but unless you're hearing the thing literally barking like a dog (like I'm sure Volpe's 66 is doing... but probably more of a "woofwoofwoof") it's not hurting anything

 

[AllianceDiesel]

what forrest nearing said was correct, its stalled out air around the turbo, but I have seen it blow up a turbo, its very uncommon but if you have a higher horsepower truck it could happen.



If you want to see real turbo bark, get on a 4,000hp locomotive, it will scare the crap out of you, it litterally shakes the whole locomotive and all the door around the engine look like there gonna come flying open.

 

[cerberusiam]

honestly? what most people consider "barking" isn't harmful to the turbo in any way... there's no throttle blade on these trucks... the compressor wheel doesn't "go backwards" when you hear that noise. it's simply the air stalling around the wheel.

Respectfully, I highly disagree with that conclusion. It is not air that is stalling that causes the bark, its the compressor wheel itself stalling. I don't care how you model it, stalling an object spinning 8-10k to a dead stop almost immediately is gonna stress something. In this case its the shaft and when it lets go pieces are gonna fly!



If one is hearing what sounds like a large propane torch lighting off under the passengers feet, thats "bark" and it ain't good!



If you can't drive thru it and it still does it when your shift points are high or you can't drive around it you have a couple of choices. Find a turbo(s) setup that will minimize it or turn the fuel down and judiciously use the right foot. That poor little 03 stock turbo, if thats what you have, will NOT live long if its barking hard.

 

[Dr.Pants ESQ]

Yup, I have the propane boom and it shakes the whole truck if I hit it just right so I'm pretty sure it's not so good for turbo. I don't have the stock box so I can't put it on. I'll just have to drive like a granny while I save up for TWINS LOL! I'll look into the turbo guard as well. Thanks for all the suggestions Cheers Chris

 

[Forrest Nearing]

I don't care how you model it, stalling an object spinning 8-10k to a dead stop almost immediately is gonna stress something. In this case its the shaft and when it lets go pieces are gonna fly!

try 100-150k rpm and it DOES NOT go to a dead stop... not even close... if all you're getting is a little sneeze out of the airbox, this is totally normal and a factory truck with factory fueling with an unobstructed air intake tract and the silencer ring will make a fair amount of noise



this is compressor surge and it's hard on the shaft because it's rapidly accelerating and decelerating... if you've got this going on, it's pretty bad, but if you're just getting a little sneeze when you get off the throttle, I honestly wouldn't worry about it. my sps62 has sneezed at 50psi too many times to count over the course of ~65k miles, and the bearings are as tight as the day I installed it.



YouTube - Compressor Surge - Grand National

 

[cerberusiam]

this is compressor surge and it's hard on the shaft because it's rapidly accelerating and decelerating... my sps62 has sneezed at 50psi too many times to count over the course of ~65k miles, and the bearings are as tight as the day I installed it.

Not anywhere near as hard as bark and a full stall, yes they WILL full stall or close enough there ain't no difference. As the man said, WUMP under the floor boards not the wimpy surge problem, and the louder it gets the more reverse TQ is applied to the shaft until WUMP BOOM!!



There is HUGE difference from and SPS to a HE341, on all fronts. Just mentioning them in the same breath is sacrilege! :-laf

 

[DCreed]

just get an external exhaust gate mount it on the boost side of the turbo somewhere and run the orifice to drive pressure of the ex. manifold. when you let off to shift the DP drops and the boost vents. done.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

Not anywhere near as hard as bark and a full stall, yes they WILL full stall or close enough there ain't no difference. As the man said, WUMP under the floor boards not the wimpy surge problem, and the louder it gets the more reverse TQ is applied to the shaft until WUMP BOOM!!



There is HUGE difference from and SPS to a HE341, on all fronts. Just mentioning them in the same breath is sacrilege! :-laf

oh I hear ya, if it sounds like a leperechaun is pounding on your floorboard, you're trashing your turbo!!! LOL

 

[cerberusiam]

if it sounds like a leperechaun is pounding on your floorboard

Thats a good one!!! :-laf:-laf