Deuce Down!

[FreightTrain]

Well,I think I may have killed the turbo today.Driving to work the turbo suddenly surged(Pitch went from a pleasing whistle to a ZING!) and then went back to normal.About a 1/2 mile farther it did it again but this time it got real ugly!Just ask the cars behind me.Looked like I had a fog machine going.Couldn't see the 2 lanes behind me.I managed to shut her down and coast down hill for about 1/2-3/4 miles towards the race car shop but had to fire her back up.Idling it was smoking pretty bad but when I got down on it to get up some speed here comes the forrest fire.Smoked like a freight train.Shut it down and coasted the last 1/2 mile to the shop where I had to leave her.Well,Looks like she will be getting another turbo.Still build boost though all this and ran without any skips or odd noises(except the quick initial surge in the turbo).

 

[gimpyrobb]

Sorry to hear it, that sucks dude.

 

[cranetruck]

Oil seal?

 

[mangus580]

When you say its still building boost, is it the same boost (gauge verified?) If you are still maintaining boost, I would agree with Bjorn that its the oil seal. What does the smoke smell like? Is it a diesel smell, or burnt oil? That would help diagnose some too.

 

[lacoda56]

Be carefull running it that way. The noise was the intake fan destroying itself inside the housing. The smoke is motor oil being dumped into the exhaust. If the seal on the intake side goes, you start burning motor oil and end up with a unstoppable runaway. The white smoke is kinda impressive, but I hope I don't see it coming from any of my trucks again!

 

[Banshee365]

Yes definetly watch the runaway engine with a blown turbo seal. Only way to stop it is put the truck in high gear and let the clutch out to bog it to a stop. I've heard of a few motors being saved this way. If not, it will come apart for sure and make a huge mess.

-Kelly

 

[wreckerman893]

This problem can be directly linked to a loose nut behind the steering wheel.

The driver needs headspacing and timing calibrated.

I'd let him fix it at my shop but......THE DOOR IS TOO SMALL.

I just talked to FT.....he is wrenching as we speak.

He will post later as too damage assessment.

 

[jwaller]

I have a good used turbo I can sell ya for $100. It was good when it came off my truck. Sorry to hear about yours but like everybody says. be careful. I would remove the pipe from the turbo that connects to the intake if you must drive it. that way you wont ingest any more bits of compressor wheel into your motor.

 

[Blythewoodjoe]

I picked up an old 5 ton a few months back from GSA and it cranked with my batteries. Fired it up and it ran. Shut it down and brought back the truck and trailer a few days later. Fired it up this time to load it and it ran away and smoked bad. I could only keep it from running away by pulling out the engine shut down cable. Loaded it on the trailer like that. My behind hurt for a few days.

I concluded it was the turbo oil seal. Removed the turbo a few weeks ago and the engine runs fine. I guess one of these old multifuels will run on oil

 

[OPCOM]

Any idea why it may have cratered?

 

[WillWagner]

The shut down cable won't stop an oil fed runaway.They will ALL run on oil! The only thing that will stop it is, zero air to burn or no more fuel source, ie, no oil in the pan! A run away will only happen if the compressor seal fails. If it fails on the turbine housing side, you get what FreightTrain had, cotton ball thick smoke that leaves black spots on all the cars you pass by. The company I work for shelled out almost a grand to wash a bunch of cars that got covered in that nasty, black, sticky oil from out the tailpipe of a truck we let go without dynoing to burn out the oil. I'll snap a pic of one that failed a turbo when it's on the wheels.

 

[FreightTrain]

Yep,Turbo is dead.Nuts.It is rebuildable.Not sure what happened.When I got it,the shaft had a little play(I would say 10 thousands dry) but not enough for it to contact the housing.When I took it off today it had 50thousands or more play.Pulled the intake side and teh wheel rubbed a spot about 1/3 of the way around.Just scuffed the aluminum so it should be ok.No groove cuts.Hey,is that turbo a C or a D?I really want to keep it C cause I love that whistle.Also,when I pulled the elbow pipe off it was coated about 3/4 way down with what was once motor oil.Now is like a super thick tar that you can't rub off and is stick like the Glue on duct tape.Maybe the seal was holding the shaft tighter than the bearings and when it spit out(Exhaust side had MUCH more play than intake) the shaft wiggle increased.Oh well.Like I said,I will just have it rebuilt and if I get Jwallers turbo I can keep this one as a spare.I like spare parts.Lots and Lots of spare parts....

 

[houdel]

Freightrain - sorry to hear about the turbo. Where do you get them rebuilt and what is the cost? I agree on the spare parts, that's why I have two multifuels in containers sitting in the back yard. No spare turbos though, darn! Used to have one, till I sold it some guy on this site with a real funky avatar of a monkey shooting a handgun......

 

[Autocar]

To FreightTrain-curiousity question. You mentioned race car shop. Your shop? What kind of racing?

 

[rdixiemiller]

FT, That C that you got from me failed almost the same way. The seals held, but i heard the shriek when the compressor started rubbing the housing. Mine had spun the bearing out and worn out one bearing bore. Before I installed my second turbo (D) I made sure the shaft was well oiled and turning free.

 

[ken]

I can rebuild it for you. But it sounds like your going to need some parts. I have some used housings and wheels here. Or i can order new parts if you like.

 

[FreightTrain]

Ehhh,Not your fault Houdel.I may have helped it along.Just before it failed I forgot to look at my pyro and was pushing 1300 degree on the hill.Didn't stay there long.Would say 5 seconds before my Eyes told my Brain to tell my foot to MOVE YO ARSE OFF THAT GO PEDAL!I think actually was the turbo that was bad and caused the engine to get that tag you spoke of.Oh well.Got a good rebuildable core I hope.

As for the race shop.Not mine.Buddy of mine.I use it as a base to fix my trucks.And his son and me build a race car together.Ford Pinto dirt car.This boys brother and Brother inlaw/Cousin(yea,for real!But only cousins though other family members hitchin) built another of the same cars beside mine.We have built everything from a Camero Bomber car and Nova bomber car to Pintos and Mustang Pony mods.

 

[Autocar]

to FreightTrain. Thanks for the info on race car shop. I own a couple of race car parts manufacturing Co. Seems like a lot of race car and off-road guys on this site.

 

[FreightTrain]

Nice,Do you make anything for Pintos and mustangs?Looking for stock type suspention parts,2.0L,2.3L and 2.5L engine parts,Stock pinto and mustang trans parts(Mainly a screw in shifter with a metal threaded insert.Stock is plastic and nearly all are stripped or buggered.).Maybe we can do business together.We have 2 cars right now that are racing plus we have another one that was once a Mustang II(Pinto with a higher price tag) that is going to be built,a Chevy Berlinetta bomber car,we help out with a Crate Late model.

 

[Autocar]

To FreightTrain-sorry can't help you. Do only drag race and off-road stuff.