Anybody ever heard of such?

I got in the truck to run to the store tonight, and pulling out of the drive, with normal acceleration, heard that whine. The same one I heard when the stock turbo bearings got loose enough for the impellor to rub the housing.

I checked the HX35's compressor wheel, and dang it, it's very loose (side to side play).


Crap! This thing's not got 10k miles on it, if that.




I reckon I've the weekend to come up with a love letter to Mark with PDR.

 

I'm sure if PDR can help make the problem right, they will. I've heard nothing but good things from a lot of folks both here and elsewhere on the web. While you've got the weekend to think, run down all the vitals on the truck, if for no other reason than to answer possible questions from PDR on Monday. How's the oil pressure? Check for a restriction in the turbo high pressure supply line and the return line on the bottom. Put a mechanical gauge in the port that feeds the turbo (temporarily move the turbo supply line to the other available port, of course) and check the readings against what others have found. Not to say that a PDR product can't be flawed, but check what you can first. Good luck!
greg

 

I have one of their HX-40s. Haven't blown it it up, yet. Has seen 40# ( a few times) and 1600* (once).

 

supposedly, if, when you spin the wheel by hand, you can't get it to touch the housing in ANY direction, you're ok. does it pass that test?

dave

 

Start the truck and let it idle for a few minutes...let some oil fill the bearing chamber..then shut down and check the shaft play.
If you have slight side to side without touching your ok...if you have any forward/back movement then you need to contact Mark or Harry and speak to them about it....
They WILL do right by you....

bob....

 

Bushy, isn't the amount of freeplay about .050? Again, as long as it doesn't hit the housing.

 

Well shoot! . . . . .

I parked the truck and took nearly a week to get to it but . . . .

Pulled the turbo and sent it to PDR.

Harry called yesterday.

It appears I've toasted the turbo.

Sure enough, bearing failure on the turbine's side. The shaft's blue.

Quoting all that mentioned in my Sig, 35# tops boost, max EGT of 1250, etc, we're not sure as to why it's failed. What I'm seeing in operation/gages/etc, the turbo is sitting pretty. Apparently, history suggests too much heat or lubrication issues.

Regarding heat; perhaps there's a boost leak. I've currently got the boost gage connected at the intake manifold's horn. I'm gonna move it to the compressor's waste-gate tap to see if it presents with a substantial difference. To further add to that question, there was no mention of coking of the bearings in the report from the turbo-shop.

Then there's the question of allowing the turbo to cool prior to shutting down the engine (see note on no coking above).

I've got the fuel screw set to limit the EGT's to a max of 1250*F.

Regarding lubrication; It was asked if I might have a problem with diesel diluting the oil . . .. not that I'm aware of. MPG seems the same as best I know. I'm running Rotella and changed it after 500 miles or so on the new HX35. Might have 3000 miles on the turbo . . . tops. My oil pressure is monitored the same way you guys mess is, the typical stock dash gage and idiot light. Not indications of problems there.


Hockey-snot!

The best we can figure is I'm not allowing enough cool-down time after normal driving. If memory serves me correct, I'm letting it idle a minute or so allowing it to drop to . . . . . . (I can't remember the exact numbers at the moment) 400* or 500*F. I can't remember for sure. Harry (W/PDR) recommends 300*F.

To make sure this isn't an issue in the future, I'm gonna go ahead and install a cool-down timer.

I'm hoping to have it all back together by the end of next week.


And this ain't covered under warranty.

 

Unless you are towing it should not take very long to cool down. I think you should take a sample of your oil and get it tested to see what's in it. I would not think you would kill a turbo that fast unless you are getting it way hot, or not lubed proper.

 

I reckon while I'm waiting on PDR, I ought to do as suggested and check all the plumbing from the turbo back to the pump for any restrictions. Same for the return.

Just as well get some PVC fittings and check the complete IC and associated plumbing as a unit with a pressure test.

As one of the fellas suggested, it's interesting that the original turbo failed with a bad bearing. I wonder if it died of plain"ol old age or do they both have something in common.


It'd be a good time to go ahead and see about fixing some other loose ends as well.


Crap!


The wife's got the '95 Intrepid on up toward 185K miles and it's had a damning knock in the valve train (maybe as simple as a collapsed lifter, but that'd present with a tic so to speak. This is much worse).
Now she says 3rd gear and OD have taken to slipping real bad.

The frigging BlueBook's value is only $500. Maybe $1000 with a knock-free engine and a wash. DOH!

Gotta get a new car.

 

Just as a point of interest...in my truck I have found that when I pull in and wait for the pyro to drop below 300* it takes alot longer to do that if I have even my heater still on while waiting....if I anything else on, it won't actuall drop under 300* at all.....just a tip...

pb...

 

Well, PDR sent me a replacement unit (for cost of repair of the one I burnt up) and I had them add a BD Cool Down Timer to address the cooling question.

I'm planning on installing it all tommorow. Along the way, I'm gonna pull the oil filter mount thingy to see if there's any blockage going on in there. I'm gonna eyeball the little adaptors that connect the turbo's high pressure oil supply line. . . . .. See if there's any blockage there. Same with the return line. Got a new supply line just in case something's up it's sleeve.



The cool down timer's function is based on the pyrometer's output and has an adjustable setpoint. Seems as though it should serve its purpose quit well.



We'll see.


I reckon while I'm in there I'm gonna tighten up the boost diaphram's spring and cut down on that expensive black smoke.

Maybe advance the timing a wee bit more.

 

Well I finally got the replacement turbo installed.

All the oil lines, both supply and return are wide open as are the adapters and fittings. The IC and related plumbing is airtight.

I suppose in actually looking at the pyro after parking the truck, watching the turbo temp drop, it could very well be that I wasn't always letting it cool to 350ish*F before shutting down. And it takes a moment to get there with easy driving. There's no telling what the wife was doing.

If you put full trust in my pyro, you'll need a good 4 to 5 minutes of runtime to get it down to 300*F (PDR recommended) (about 65*F outdoor air).


Lemme do something about that expensive smoke right quick . . . . . . then the timer.

 

Well, the truck's running sweet.

I've still got to finalize the cool-down timer, but for the moment, we're making danged sure to see it hit 300*F before shutdown.

Changing nothing else, I backed-off the AFC spring thing, cleaning up the heavy smoke on stomping the throttle till the turbo spools up. It's now just a substantial cloud of dark-grey smoke. Interestingly, unless my boost gage is now lying, I've picked up an additional 2psig boost.


Bought a '06 300 tonight.

Anybody need an ol Intrepid? 'ts got a quarter tank of regular in it.