Turbo gumming up as reason for head gasket failure

[brillmtb]

In adding smarty touch I came across an article that stated the main reason for head gasket failures was not the minimal increase in modest tunes but that with the exhaust brake the variable fin turbos are getting clogged, fail and put too much pressure back to the cylinder. For those that know much more than me on this is it.....

1. True
2. Can it be prevented by not using engine brake as much or adding additives

Thanks

 

[Jim W]

I fine that hard to believe! I am no way a Turbo design expert but I do not seeing that as an issue. I have installed gauges on my truck to watch my Boost pressure and I have never gone over 35PSI of Boost using my Smarty S67 on CaTCHER level 3.

I do tow heavy with my 5th wheel and I use my exhaust brake 99% of the time. The truck now has 123K miles on the engine and I am still using the stock turbo. I have cross the continental divide at the Eisenhower tunnel on I70 pulling 30 to 35 LBS of boost pressure in 5th gear towing my trailer at 55MPH. Then using the exhaust brake on the way down the from the summit to control my trailer and truck speed, everything worked great. I would have no fear in using your exhaust brake.

What I have seen and read is high boost pressure can and will damage the head gasket do to the head lifting on the engine under extreme boost pressure. The way to prevent this is to install head studs with nuts fasten to a higher torque load than the head bolts that are used to hold the head in place. One brand that I know of is ARP head studs. Another trick is to fire ring the head and also with the use of head studs + nuts, but this is used mainly for extreme boost pressures.

 

[JR]

It's not as much about boost as it is peak cylinder pressures. Rewriting the stock fueling to gain a couple of hp can result in peak cylinder pressure increases of several hundred psi above what is typically seen with the factory programming if you aren't careful. I think Smarty does a good job addressing this in their tunes.