Turbo life span?

[RDThompson]

My Turbo on my 2008 6.7 was replaced at around 33k The truck now has roughly 106k and the turbo is acting up. Intermittent operation of engine braking and maybe a bit sluggish when it's acting up.
Is this the average useable life of these turbos.
I'm thinking of snagging a Re-man unit to keep handy. I know these turbos soot up and can sometimes be cleaned, but I don't plan want to wait for a complete failure without having a back-up plan ready.
What or Who is the best source of re-man turbos for these beasts.

Thanks

 

[seafish]

Excessive soot buildup in the variable vanes of the stock turbo is an ongoing problem that causes sluggish EB operation or spool-up just like you are noticing.
The problem is compounded if the truck is used mostly as a "grocery getter" or city truck, and is not used HARD at least occasionally for either towing or other purposes. Driving it harder (ie HOTTER) tends to burn off the soot.
You might try (safely) driving it like you stole it (ie consistent high rpms in all gears) for a few days to see if you can burn off the soot. It CAN help.

Or, if you are mechanically inclined, it is not that hard to remove the intake and turbine housing and then really get in there with brake cleaner or MAP sensor cleaner and compressed air to really get the soot out of the exhaust side of the turbo. The dealers also have a protocol for cleaning out the turbo using a plug and some sort of cleaning fluid while it is still on the truck. But I would try driving it hard first to see if it helps. All that is assuming you don't have another problem with your turbo, but the Holeset VGT turbos are very robust in spite of the sooting issue.

 

[RDThompson]

I did figure on it being soot related and I do drive it pretty hard. I keep it in a gear that allows it to make 2400 rpm's most of the time and it carries a lot of tools and parts on board, I also tow a trailer with const eq. on a regular basis. I do have to deal with L.A. traffic but I kick it down in gear and let it roar a little. It has worked up to this point. I can drop the turbo without any difficulty but I think I want to have a back-up so I don't have to drive my gas truck for work. If it becomes a regular thing I'll have to do something. I'd prefer to do it sooner than later.
I will look into having it cleaned. I'll have to compare my labor rate to theirs to see if it makes sense.

 

[cerberusiam]

It will depend on what the failure is, electronic or physical. Since the EB and the control is electro-mechanical and even though the electronics are cooled at some point that can become an issue. If you aren't getting any codes it may be simply degradation of the controls that manifesting as physical issue. The ECU and controller don't see a problem but it is there.

Cleaning first and then see what happens. Sometimes you can pick them up cheap on Ebay but like anything else that sits there waiting there is no guarantee it will work when needed.

 

[RDThompson]

The only code that has come up during the malfunction is PO871 which I understand to be a transmission issue. Oddly though, I have not had a reoccurrence since I made my initial post. The weather has been beastly hot out here lately and the truck is running at just below 200deg F. on the gauge. I will continue to observe.

 

[AnOldBiker]

I through this at a couple of people I know and they said if you follow the basic guideline for your engine, your turbo should last a long time.
One has an 03 with 123k miles on the original turbo. Another has a 98 with over 228k on his original turbo.

There are 4 items that concerns the turbo:
1. air filtration to the turbo is cleaning properly with good flow
2. oil to the bearings has a good flow
3. the exhaust gases are free flowing and not heavy in soot
4. the most important is ~ cooling the turbo oil down enough before shutting down.

Most people treat this engine like a gasser. Pull up and shut it down. If you pull a load light or heavy, you should consider how long to let it cool before shutting down. This is a big killer for any turbo. Only takes a minute or two if medium to light load. Heavy loads pulled for a long time should take 4 to 5 minimum the shut her down.

My friend and neighbor had a truck with almost 400k on it, and following the above considerations, never changed a turbo on her.

 

[seafish]

I through this at a couple of people I know and they said if you follow the basic guideline for your engine, your turbo should last a long time.
One has an 03 with 123k miles on the original turbo. Another has a 98 with over 228k on his original turbo.

There are 4 items that concerns the turbo:
1. air filtration to the turbo is cleaning properly with good flow
2. oil to the bearings has a good flow
3. the exhaust gases are free flowing and not heavy in soot
4. the most important is ~ cooling the turbo oil down enough before shutting down.

Most people treat this engine like a gasser. Pull up and shut it down. If you pull a load light or heavy, you should consider how long to let it cool before shutting down. This is a big killer for any turbo. Only takes a minute or two if medium to light load. Heavy loads pulled for a long time should take 4 to 5 minimum the shut her down.

That is all VERY good advice.

THat being said, while it applies to both the HE351cw and the HE351ve, the HE351ve that comes on the 6.7 CTD, with its variable geometry sliding collar controlled by the water cooled electronics, IS definteily more sensitive to soot build-up and heat soak then the fixed geometry turbos on the 5.9 CTD, which ARE almost bullet proof even with high mileage.

 

[RikDavis]

I suspect the newer turbo's are more complex. The turbo on my 99 is still original at 577,000 as are the injectors. Maybe I have just been extremely lucky

 

[Newsa]

Is the turbo covered under the powertrain warrantee? Or is it on the bumper - to bumper warrantee?

 

[cerberusiam]

I through this at a couple of people I know and they said if you follow the basic guideline for your engine, your turbo should last a long time.
One has an 03 with 123k miles on the original turbo. Another has a 98 with over 228k on his original turbo.

That is nothing unusual, but, definitely not applicable to an HE351VE. Way more moving parts, electronics attached, and handling a lot more power plus the EB operation.

I have over 230k on an HE351CW, and over 200k on a couple others like it. We have trashed a few of the VE models on tune dup 12V's so they are not the as reliable as the older ones.

Good new is they are better than the Garrets, bad news they are still a VGT and susceptible to failure of the variable part and the controller. The Holeset is much better as it uses a sliding collar instead of variable vanes but they run hot and sooty for enissions reasons and the controllers just quit after a while for no reason. Best analogy is they are the VP44 of the turbo line.

 

[SRay]

My buddy has 338,000 miles (540,000km) on his 2009 truck. Original turbo. This truck is the hardest working truck in pretty much all of Tdr trucks. 54,000 lbs gross weight (25,000 kgs) and it actually behaves like a transport truck.

The cummins truly loves to work extremely hard. And exhaust brake is turned on all the time, right from turning the key. No problems yet.

But these are truly heavy loads, and the cummins is having fun. All the emission stuff is still intact as well.
Small trailers, short trips, light driving easily plug up a truck.

Sometimes, load up a trailer with a good load, and giver a rip for bit.

My own 1997 truck works hard all year and actually runs better after getting a good work out.
Dynos, sled pulling, and drag racing also helps ;D

 

[RDThompson]

Well I appreciate all the examples given, thank you. Does anyone know of a reliable vendor for a re-man turbo for a 6.7 ?

 

[seafish]

RD, I have a very low mileage HE351ve turbo that came off a freinds truck at 15k. I bought it because I was gong to be installing the VGT turbo on my 5.9, but have since been able to get an upgraded VGT turbo from another friend. It is VERY clean and young, as far as these turbos go and was working when it came off. It was taken off by the original owner to be replaced by a single, alrger non VGT turbo While I cannot guarantee that it works, only becuase I have not run it on my truck at all since I bought it, given its condition and age, there is no reason it would NOT be working. ALSO, there is zero end play and only normal axial play on the shaft. It is the turbo only, no coolant lines or down pipe. It is an IDEAL canditate for you to send in to have rebuilt if you so desire, or to take apart and learn how to clean yourself. It is NOT that hard to clean these things when they are off the truck. Anyone who is even slightly mechanically inclined and imbued with common sense can do so. If you are interested, you can PM me.

Here are a few pics--

 

[Newsa]

I'm amazed at how some of you tow more than what is considered safe by the manufacturer.

Really love the grunt in my truck, but only tow light loads ( up to 6000 lbs).

My concern is that I have the manual transmission which is not rated for the 20,000+ loads.

Also since the torque/power is electronically down rated, I wonder if my truck will plug up.

I run the EB continuously. And it worked wonders pulling a travel trailer through the smokies.
I really got on the pedal on some of those inclines as well in 6th gear when traffic allowed to help blow out the cobwebs.

 

[SRay]

Newsa: the 2009 is a g56 with a SBC con ofe clutch. Truck also has a tuner for some extra oomph to pull those loads.

The truck owner paid the $$ to have his gvwr increased. It's still factory specs but he licensed the weight limit higher.

My nv4500 is rated for 180hp/420tq with a 19,00lbs gross.

In my sig, you'll see I've hauled 73,000 lbs of beans over 20 kms in 2 big dumper wagons. Drop that load, take empties back, grab another 2 full ones, take to another place, drop, grab empties, and take 2 more yet to a different farm.

In total, 190,000 lbs delivered in just over 134 kms travelled.

I still had power to spare in the little 5.9 but the SBC single disc hated those loads.

I now have a dual disc

 

[Newsa]

Glad to see the g56 handling such loads. I was told that I shouldn't use 6th gear when towing in the mountains.

My load was only 5000 lbs -6000 pounds though & its bone stock (no tuner)

My rationale was that the truck had 6000 miles on it with fairly light use & this past summer vacation was a good time
to get on the accelerator as part of the break-in period. Several hundred miles of smokies (loaded, but not too heavy) was good for it

 

[Little John]

Here's a starting place for you, $2750, plus a $400 core charge...no, I haven't had to get one, my 2011 has 59K and runs good for now

 

[RDThompson]

Since I posted my initial entry I have had only one recurrence of the problem. It lasted briefly and the next day I took it to the transmission shop. They spent a day with it and came up empty as far as a cause. They said they tweaked and optimized a few things and I haven't had any difficulty with it since. Also I have since added a deep sump trans pan and I have done the coolant replacement service along with a water pump, thermostat and rad and heater hoses. The truck is now at 107k and change with no further incident. I might add that when I changed the trans pan, I serviced the filters as well. I also pumped as much fluid as I could out of the trans. I ended up with just a bit more than 2 gallons of waste trans oil.
I will of course continue to monitor the situation.

 

[RAM1964]

Not lucky rik Davis my 95 was like new with same everything ie; inj, turbo, automatic transmission @ 557,000mi never touched except waterpump and fan clutch. Just a little maintenance goes literally a long way with these animals, hope I get the same out of my "11" 6.7 6speed auto

 

[cerberusiam]

Not lucky. Not maintenance. Just 1/2 the power and none of the emission sor electronics which is the downfall of all the newer trucks. Unless you are going to put that 550k on it in the first 4 years of its life odds are there wil multiple issues as it ages.