Papa Delta said:
My torque tube had a seemingly powdery white streaking on the inside, brand new before I installed it. I tried to wipe it off with some alchohol and saw that it was somewhat sticky. Are you saying that the turbine blades now have a sticky residue on them as well. I love the sound of the system and as you say the look, but I'm fearfull of decreasing the life of my turbo or my engine. I know there are many experienced Cummnis owners out there that swear by this system. I put it on mainly to get better airflow and to control EGT's with my TST box. Mark at TST told me it was unecessary. He told me that they had done testing with and without and it didn't make a bit of difference from the viewpoint of EGT reduction. I noticed that with the stock air box and TST the EGT's might have been slightly less but I also noticed they seemed to come down a little quicker. I may have been imagining this and would have to experiment in a more controlled manner. We have had a ton of snow in southwest Ohio and with that snow melting comes the moisture and slush. I'm hoping that I haven't messed anything up running this intake system without a prefilter during this time.
As a side note. I never barked my turbo with the tst and stock air box. Maybe it sounds different when it does and I just didn't recognize the harshness of the sound because it was dampened by the paper filter, intake baffles and silencer ring all which are now gone or replaced.
When I first took the system off, I touched the turbo shaft to see how freely it spun. Before I even moved it, I felt the nut was sticky. I then washed my hands completely. I came back and looked at the compressor wheel, where I noticed the black stuff (for lack of a better word). I rubbed one of the blades with my finger, and sticky black stuff came off and stuck on my finger.
I don't think there will be any problems with the turbo. The sticky matter shouldn't make a difference as long as you have clean intake air. I think the compressor wheel spins too fast for anything solid to stick to it anyway.
The main reason for me removing the system was the soaking part. I do not think moisture in the intake is going to help anything. Additionally I did not want the water to displace the oil in the PG7 (which I think is a really good filter) reducing the effectiveness of the filter media. If the oil is gone, the dirt will have to be trapped by only the 7 layer gauze. I'm sure the oil combined with the 7 layers of fabric is the magic combination. No oil = fine dust coming through.
I think I may try the Volant intake next. I haven't seen anyone on this site talk about it, I'll have to do a search. Their box is enclosed and draws air from both the stock location and from the front of the box. It also has a tube similar to the AFE tube. The front opening looks as if it can be blocked to keep water out, plus there's an additional cool air tube available that will draw from the front of the truck.
I don't think any system will sound any better than the AFE except maybe a BHAF, but it is susceptible to the same soaking problem. I would imagine the paper getting wet is even worse.
Lastly, I have been told that the stock airbox will work fine until you get a bigger turbo. Apparently the stock turbo won't flow much air anyway. I bought it to make my truck sound better, along with a Banks exhaust.
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Have inspected filter several times and no evidence of any wet stuff getting through the pre filter. I do however when I clean the sock give it a healthy shot of silicone spray to help out.
