Serious Turbo Problem

[Slow Six]

I was cruising down the highway with the fiver on pushing a lot of wind. As I was passing a Power Stroke I suddenly had loud and weird sounds from under the hood. It sort of sounded like a big boost leak and my boost pressure was a bit off. As soon as I got a chance I pulled over and checked and tightened all the clamps etc. I drove a little furher and things got worse so I pulled off again and had some lunch while things cooled off a bit. I than pulled the intake hose off the turbo inlet. When I pulled the hose off parts were falling. What had happened is the silencer retaining ring was in 2 pieces. The small piece and the silencer had been rubbing on the turbo wheel. There is missing material from the fins. Everything still turned freely and nothing was bent so I cleaned out the pieces, put the hose back on and started for home. Other than the wierd turbo noise and some lack of boost I got home. So now I need a turbo or can these be repaired if all that is wrong is the damaged fins. Now is not a good time for extra expense. If I need a turbo what would you recommend for a daily driver and fairly heavy towing? Also any ideas as to why the retaining ring broke?

 

[MMeier]

Don't forget now, those parts went somewhere, hopefully just into the IC and not the intake and engine. You better pull that IC and have it cleaned out/ replaced and pull the manifold inlet and see whats in there while you're at it.

 

[cerberusiam]

Yep, what he said. Pull the charge air system as far as you can and clean it out. FOD in the intake is bad news. :{ The poor little HE341 is probbaly suffering a bit from heat and heavy towing.



If expense is an issue, look around on Ebay or the classifieds here and look for an 04. 5+ take off. Much better turbo, will do you quite well on towing, and won't break the bank. You want an HE351W Holset turbo.



Good luck.

 

[231jasonS]

Yes go with the 04. 5 and newer stock turbo. I know Eric@TVP did this to his eary 04 and gained 50+hp with just the turbo.

 

[rlsjeep]

Will the HE351W Holset turbo bolt up directly to and 04? I dont have the 04. 5 motor in my truck.

 

[Slow Six]

I was able to get a new turbo quickly at a good price so that is the route I am going. I cannot have the truck down for very long and it is slow to get things to the area where I live. I had a closer look at the old one last night. There was a lot of play in the bearings. I find it hard to beleive it was working as well as it did. Also pulled the intercooler and cleaned it out. There was no sign of any debris in the cooler or any of the pipes and hoses. Pulled the intake horn and grid heater and all is clean. I'm thinking the blades wore off in small particles and just passed through. The only concern I have is damage to the cylinder walls or rings. New turbo should be here in the AM so I can start replacing. I would really like to know why the snap ring broke. I'm considering removing the ring and silencer on the new one before installing the turbo. I really don't need more noise as the old turbo with the silencer ring in was very noticeable and got real loud when boost started reaching 30 psi.

 

[JDiepstra]

I honestly don't think removing the silencer ring makes much of a difference. For my truck, it was removal of the baffels in the intake tube that made the most "improvement" in noise.

 

[231jasonS]

As long as you have the 04. 5 exhaust elbow and 4" down pipe it bolts right up. You need to plug the threaded hole for the sensor and install a boost elbow to control the W/G.