Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) Need a new turbo, which one?

[SGCLark]

This is my first post. My turbo is putting oil into my air to air which has been causing alot of blowby. Doesnt use any oil. Im going camping and will be pulling my camp trailer. My 02, auto, 4x, 3. 54 is stock but I intend to upgrade only to the point that I can pull trailers and not melt the motor. Will be pulling up to 11,000 ft, live at 4,500 ft. , up to 12,000 lbs. I do want a faster truck eventially, but reliable for towing. Which turbo and about how much are they? How did you guys get that lower back nut off?

 

[WILLD420]

I bought one on ebay. Took quite a bit of work, but it went on there and is working fine for the last 3 weeks. I had the HY35 like you, and was having serious issues with EGT's towing in the same conditions with the same load you are talking about. I have an Edge with attitude monitor and could peg the 1350 EGT alarm in the stock setting while towing with regularity. I posted in another thread about a guy looking for a cam in more detail.

The replacement was an HY35W? It's a lot bigger, came wiht a 14CM exhaust housing and a machined intake wheel. It's a little laggy right on the bottom, but it's driveable with no more issues than the factory turbo, just a hair more lag. My EGT's dropped from 380+ at idle to 305-340 depending how long I let it idle. In gear at idle it's around 425-440, whereas the stocker was 450-500.

I can now put my edge on 5, empty, and run through the gears without hitting the alarm. It gets pretty close, but with the stock turbo I couldn't even get through 2nd gear. Sometimes the alarm would sound in 1st gear.

BTW, my Torque Converter is an aftermarket with a lower stall, so adjust accordingly.

I also believe the truck has a lot more power now. Very little smoke, even at low rpm. Much lower EGT's and what seems like at least 1-2 MPG at cruise, with lower EGT's and boost at low load.

 

[blacksheepdiesel]

SGClark,

Not sure what you are saying about your current turbo. It is leaking oil past the seals into the charged air stream, going through the intercooler and into the intake manifold where it is burned during compression? If so, it has to be using oil. By blowby do you mean the tube coming out of the timing gear case cover? Need more info to understand what is going on. Are you for sure the current turbo is bad?

If you do need a replacement I would go with the same turbo, should run about $350. For your elevation and being used for towing a bigger turbo will only hurt your egt's for the most part. I would instead install an aftermarket camshaft and, if you don't have one already, a Smarty, both of which will help lower egt's.

Fill out the signature on your profile so we know what your truck is (transmission, mods, year, etc).

Godspeed,
Trent

 

[BDaugherty]

If your stock turbo is trashed/broken/not working right, then I think you need to ask yourself one question: What are your HP plans? If you're only planning a small HP increase, find someone who has upgraded the turbo on a truck like yours and buy their stock one. If you're planning on moderate to high HP increases, this is your time to buy a bigger turbo or even twins. I'm still running stock, but I've heard great things about the Garrett ball bearing turbos and well as a S300 as far as singles go.

 

[SGCLark]

There is oil running down the air to air when I took the hose off, it also has oil around the turbine when I took the air cleaner hose off. Puffs of smoke after engine is at 190 degrees. No joke, oil is only going down per the amount on the ground. BD a good one? Stock is supposed to be good for 300 hp according to BD. Will have to buy exhaust to go with it since BD has a 4 in, down pipe. I am doing this today to go on vacation. What about Phat Shaft? Garrett was mentioned. Thanks. Will fill out sig soon.

 

[SGCLark]

Cant figure out how to do the signature. My plans for power are to upgrade lift pump, Air Dog or Fass? RV275's, cold air intake if I find one with a paper filter. 4 inch exhaust. Smarty or Quadzilla. My weakest link is my transmission. Any body do the Elite diesel Allison conversion?

 

[Jefff929]

I signed up to watch this thread from when the op posted as I'm beginning to think someday I will up grade the spinny thing. :-laf



So far listed in my truck profile is:

125k+ original VP44

RIP's 4" down pipe to the back

BHAF with heat sheild & outerwears

FASS full meal deal

Jammer DD2 sticks

Smarty REVO

TST J-Hook

Billet TC w/shift kit



I was at a party maybe 4 or 5 years ago, where we were doing a gauge install on a guys '00. Long story short, you could see the oil streaming into the turbo after pulling the intake tube. I think he went with a PDR35 as a replacement for the hy35.



Back to my rig, I have no plans for mo power. When the stocky pops my current plan is to upgrade to either a hybird 35/40 or something like the PDR35. Likely what ever one of our vendors has on special, if they can get a set of twins w/install down to the price of a single... oops, reality is knocking.



WILLD420 I sure wish we could quantify laggy because that is not what I want. My sticks are small enough, but with the Smarty in DD i rarely smoke unless I want to. :-laf To me laggy just screams blackened trailer after a stop, also not desirable.

 

[SGCLark]

Not much front to rear play on turbine. A little up down play. From the turbine out, oily. Ordered a Pat Shaft 62/12 with down pipe and will rig the exhaust for now. $300 to next day air an exhaust system. Hope it dont have too much lag. Thanks. Now if I can just get that back lower nut off the old turbo I should be good to go providing the Phat has everything I need.

 

[PC12Driver]

Not much front to rear play on turbine. A little up down play. From the turbine out, oily. Ordered a Pat Shaft 62/12 with down pipe and will rig the exhaust for now. $300 to next day air an exhaust system. Hope it dont have too much lag.

Eeegads, lag is the only thing you'll get with that turbo without any fueling mods! A stock auto truck, with 3. 54s, pulling 12k lbs between 5,000 to 11,000' of elevation with a turbo designed for 450hp will be lathargic, at best. Even with your projected mods that turbo is bigger than what you need.



Not trying to be mean or dramatic, but that charger is going to make your truck pretty close to unusable for towing. Picture starting out on a slight grade: you don't have the fueling to light the turbo, so you need rpms. And your ECM won't add much fuel until it sees boost (smoke control), so it won't pick up any rpms. So you'll get stuck under the turbo - no fueling to create boost, and no boost to trigger fuel. Best case you'll crawl along until you get to a level area, worst case you'll sit.

 

[jkidd]

its either a 15mm or 5/8th. you have to loosen the other nuts so that there is room to take the back bottom nut all the way off. When you put the turbo on you will need to put that same bolt on first or just not tighten the others.

 

[SGCLark]

Took Exhaust manifold off to do it. I might have messed up big according to PC12 Driver. I did not mention that I have Quads little tuner, 40 and 65 hp but from what he said it wont help much. Will be pulling about 5000 lb trailer this weekend. PC, how would you fix this mess?

 

[PC12Driver]

I think Trent has the right idea - find a stock takeoff. For a situation like yours (towing, heavy, auto, 3. 54s, high alt) a small turbo is key. You want that thing to light off early in the rpm scale and start making air.



I can't speak for the stock HY35/9 on the autos, but a HX35/12 from a manual truck is good for about 350 towing horspower (which is about as much as you'd get with 275s and any box). I wouldn't go any larger than that (and it'll bolt right up).



Bigger isn't better when it comes to turbos. If you don't have the need for top end cooling, keep the turbo as small as you can (especially towing in the mountains with an auto with tall gears!).

 

[WILLD420]

Two things you can do. Buy a rebuild kit for your existing turbo and fix the oil leak. Or do something with the turbo you just bought. If you haven't opened the box, you can return it.

If your turbo was sending oil through the intercooler you are going to have to clean out all that oil and clean the intake hoses or it won't cool properly and may cause the hoses to pop off if they have oil all over the inside.

I'm a firm believer in the HX-35 that came stock on the stick trucks. There are a lot of them out there and they are running hard every day making plenty of power to tow with.

The bolts on my turbo were 15mm and took awhile, but they weren't impossible to get to. A 12 point 15mm wrench worked nicely, but I've got 3 different lengths and I can't remember if I used all 3 of them to get that nut off, or not.

 

[THoltz]

Check the Garret website, they have some suggestions and a great set of instructions. A very informative turbo website, it is: turbobygarrett.com

 

[SGCLark]

Thanks for the replies. I overnighted the BD and put it on today. Will do exhaust tomorrow. PC21Driver was right, it does need more fuel. WILLD420, an HX-35 might have been a better choice, I panicked. I needed one right away so I ordered one. I never thought about which turbo I would get if I needed one. Bigger sticks will be a must now. Hope I can keep it somewhat economical to operate. Not looking forward to cleaning the intercooler. Thanks

 

[WILLD420]

Good luck. Check ebay, they sell good intercoolers all the time. I think Banks had one listed in their ebay store for $150. 00

Might be cheaper to buy a good one than spend 3 days trying to clean the one you have. .

 

[PC12Driver]

Good deal. You just got the Super B, right (not the Special)? That's a nice little turbo. It'll be a little more sluggish than your HY, but much more responsive for towing than the 62/12. And it'll still keep 400 hp worth of egts in check for playing around. Gotta love them Schwitzers!

 

[BILLVO]

Don't get too carried away with injectors with the Super B. I would stay under the 90 hp mark for injectors I would suggest 40-60 hp range max from my experience with that turbo. I had a Super B with 90 hp injectors and It ran extremely hot while towing. I only ran it for about 6 months and went to my current set up. It was still quite a bit laggier as compared to my HY.

 

[SGCLark]

If I can get an intercooler for $150 I'll do it. PC told me I would need more fuel and he is right, 40-60 would be just about right. What about the Smarty to go with it?

 

[BILLVO]

I would do injectors and stick with the quad and see if you like it that way before spending more on a smarty.