How to clean the turbo

[HOBrian]

This might be a dumb question but, is there anyway to clean the turbo fins? With all the talk about air filters a friend of mine and I checked our turbos his was dirty (high flow filter) mine was not (paper). He seems to think that he could clean his with something. My question is is it possible to clean the fins or should you just leave it alone and get a better filter. Will the turbo clean itself?

TIA Oo.

 

[rbattelle]

There shouldn't be any harm in cleaning your compressor blades. Just be careful. If it were me, I'd get a spray bottle and fill it with Acetone. Spray some on a CLEAN rag, then a little bit on the impeller blades. Gently wipe it off. Acetone will completely evaporate within a few minutes, so your engine won't ingest any. Wait 30 minutes before starting the engine, just to be sure.



Beware that when you pull off that hose all you're looking at are the impeller blades. Unless you crack open the housing, you're not going to clean the compressor blades. If I were brave, I might try dousing the impeller with lots of Acetone, then starting the engine. The compressor would sling the acetone around, theoretically cleaning the blades. Problem is, you're going to suck all that dirt and acetone into the engine.



These are mostly just opinions...

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Leave it alone. You can't get to the majority of the blades with the housing on, and I don't recommend taking it apart. It's too easy to damage something. Eventually the blades will become cleaner. Hopefully the crud is evenly distributed. If you don't get the wheel completely clean, you could leave it unbalanced (depending on the amount of goo on it. ) If you use an oiled element filter, use a good one like AFE and don't over oil it.

 

[RKohn]

Some people...

Have WAAAAAAAAY too much time on their hands.



If it runs, quit poking around in there before you break something.

 

[JBlock]

Spray it with acetone, and start NOT an Option

The acetone could possible ignate in the grid heater, that why the "Do Not Used Diesel StartingFluid" sticker.

 

[jungledave]

leave it alone. You can risk turbo inbalance if you clean one blade better than the other. The reason your friends impellar is clean is paper filters have no oil in them. Your hi flow probably does. That oil is, although very low volume, being sucked through your turbo. It is in your intercooler and all the duct piping. It will eventually gradually clean itself with a normal filter. If you think your intake compressor is dirty, you should see the exaust side!

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

You may break stuff loose which could work its way through the intercooler and sucked into the engine next time you run it.



Vaughn

 

[scotty1]

I've noticed over the years that whether its a K&N or aFe or whatever oiled filter, sometimes they can come from the factory with too much oil, which will do exactly what your buddy has on his turbo.

 

[Blakers]

If it were just oil from the over-oiled filter it would just leave a film and go on its way through the engine. If there's crud sticking to the oil, the crud must be getting through the filter somehow.



What filter did your friend use that allowed dirt to pass through?

 

[HOBrian]

He has a K&N filter on his.

 

[rbattelle]

leave it alone. You can risk turbo inbalance if you clean one blade better than the other.

Ahhh, the TDR... where I can always find something new to worry about.



Last night I was inspecting my intake system (stock) and found an extremely fine black particulate "dust" on the turbo impeller. Without a second thought, I got out a paper towel, soaked it with acetone, and wiped out the inlet/silencer ring area and the impeller blades (just the front side of them).



I even if I failed to clean any dirt off one side of one turbo blade and got all the other blades perfectly clean, I doubt this would cause an imbalance significant enough to do any damage. But of course, now I read (or rather re-read) this thread and now I'm worried about it.



I guess I shouldn't be... it's not like there's anything I can do about it now.



Has anyone ever had a turbo go bad over time that was attributed to a slight imbalance problem?



-Ryan

P. S. Sometimes I think this place exists only to make me nervous.

 

[klenger]

Clean the trubo blades? Sounds like something Monk would do.

 

[JCleary]

I cleaned mine by replacing the AFE PG7 filter that sucked in a bunch of rain. After my first AFE got soaked by the rain (and sucked water all the way down the intake, creating a corrosion issue in the TT) I looked at my impeller blades. They were coated with sticky black goo. I replaced the AFE stage 1 & TT with the stock intake, and when the rain stopped installed a new AFE PG7 with the whole system.



I've been running it all summer, and Saturday when I switched back to the stock intake, the impeller blades were clean. I did nothing but drive the truck for 10k miles with a couple of good filters.

 

[HeavyHauler]

Ahhh, the TDR... where I can always find something new to worry about...



-Ryan

P. S. Sometimes I think this place exists only to make me nervous.

I'm with you Ryan! I've learned a lot since I've been a member, but I've gotten so paranoid in my truck it's almost not any fun to drive! I'm constantly waiting for my 5th gear nut to spin off, my VP44 to bite the dust, and before the AirDog, waiting for my lift pump to fail. :-laf



I've gotten so worred about the VP44 that everytime I blow smoke I look out the mirror to make sure it isn't white! :-laf



I've often wanted to start a thread on this just to see if anyone else is as paranoid as I am.



But anyway, just go out and drive your truck and have fun. Don't worry about a little goo on the turbo fins.

 

[AMassaro]

And don't go messing with acetone, not good for your liver or your Cummins.

 

[dmurdock]

I'm with you Ryan! I've learned a lot since I've been a member, but I've gotten so paranoid in my truck it's almost not any fun to drive! I'm constantly waiting for my 5th gear nut to spin off, my VP44 to bite the dust, and before the AirDog, waiting for my lift pump to fail. :-laf



I've gotten so worred about the VP44 that everytime I blow smoke I look out the mirror to make sure it isn't white! :-laf



I've often wanted to start a thread on this just to see if anyone else is as paranoid as I am.



But anyway, just go out and drive your truck and have fun. Don't worry about a little goo on the turbo fins.

Run it hard, change the oil/air filter every time the Cowboys win a superbowl, and shut it off while the turbo is still glowing. My neighbor does this and his has 160000 miles on it stock with no problems :-laf



I think the engine can sense your paranoia and you convince it that there is something wrong

 

[Texasrattler]

Hold a K&N up to the light and notice all the holes. They pass dirt.



Pete

 

[CaptNemo]

And don't go messing with acetone, not good for your liver or your Cummins.

I thought it was Jack Daniels that was bad for your liver... Oo. :-laf

 

[RankRam]

I thought it was Jack Daniels that was bad for your liver... Oo. :-laf

I sure hope not! :-laf

 

[Diesel Nut]

Dirty compressor fins? Sounds like a good excuse to get a bigger turbo!





"But honey, I needed a new SP66. The old turbo was dirty. " :-laf