6.0 Diesel Turbo fixin'

[Yovan]

Hi gang,

I think my turbo is locked up pretty tight. I first noticed a lack of power and running higher egt temps than usual, then noticed my boost gauge never getting above about 5psi. I've also noticed I'm hearing no turbo spool. I have checked all air passages and elbows and no obvious leaks.

I have new silicone elbows that I will install, but I think it is time to pull the turbo and give it some attention as long as I have everything apart.

What I wanted to ask the collective their opinion on:

- New reman turbo from someone like circuit board medics?
- Turbo rebuild kit and do it myself (my least preferred option). I'm good at much repair work, but not detail work, typically.
- Upgraded new turbo from one of the online folks.
- Send current turbo to a smaller shop for repair. I think someone on here mentioned Bell Turbo in OR that does a slightly modified VGT design to prevent future freezing up.

My goals are mostly related to long term reliability in remote locations. Without going broke on all of the repairs I sink into this 6.0.

Thanks!!

[Bellpilot]

When my turbo went out in the 2007 I just bought a new one from Ford. I am a believer in keeping it simple, staying with factory Ford parts for ease of replacement and the 2 year warranty by Ford.

[ShuttlePilot]

Greetings Yovan,

My recommendations, the cheapest route would be do all the labor yourself to remove the turbo, clean, and replace the unison ring with a stainless ring and reinstall. I don't think this is the route your wanting to do. It isn't that big an ordeal for a novice mechanic with help from youtube.

I believe the best route to accomplish your goals would be to just buy a new Garrett GT3782VA and either replace yourself or have a mechanic you like do it. The latest Garrett turbos are new manufacture, not rebuilt, and have many updates that prevent the issues of the turbos of the early 6.0 years. They have come down in price to around 700-800$, which in turbo world is cheap. The advantage of the new Garrett in addition to the improvements is that it will perform exactly the same as the original (see below).


It's fine to upgrade turbos via a fully designed unit like the KC 1.0 or one that a shop has souped up however there are drawbacks to consider. First is cost, many of these can be at least twice as expensive as a stock Garrett and you will need to tune your ECM for them, even on a stock motor. Aftermarket turbos for the stock to mild powered motor offer significant gains in efficiency, but the stock ECM will still configure the VGT (the veins in the turbo) duty cycle the same as the original Garrett. In short, it doesn't know the turbo is different. This often results in the new turbo actually producing less manifold pressure through out the power band (think daily driving throttle positions vs wide open throttle) and causing the engine to run fuel rich (black smoke) and less power. Long story shorter, if you install a not factory turbo, even though it is a drop in replacement, it will still likely require some tuning of the VGT regime to gain any benefit or even regain lost performance. All of this is less obvious in the F series trucks as they have different factory tuning than the vans, but it still happens. Lastly, if you go this route and you live in a location that is "excited" about smog testing that will add complexity to this as well. Just factor that in.

I'd go with the new Garrett and call it done.

- Eric

[JoeH]

ShuttlePilot is spot on. I'll only add that if you do rebuild it with a new stainless ring I'd consider a billet compressor wheel. I did that with my original turbo and honestly I preferred that to the stage 1.5 KCturbo I have now.
Even with tuning the 1.5 still has too much turbo lag which isn't ideal when you are off road on an incline and need to gun it to get over a ledge. But holy cow is it sweet when it spools up a bit higher in the power band.

[Jeffrey]

^^^What Eric said^^^.

[Yovan]

Thanks to you both. It is good to know that the new Garrets have solved some of the early turbo issues; and that pricing is just over a reman -- in reviewing repair records (pre-me) it looks like this turbo has already been replaced... and I'm only at 169k miles.

I've reviewed the excellent you tube resources and am comfy with this level of repair... so I might talk myself into that route. It usually turns out better all the way around and has me learn a new repair....I was more worried about a relatively quick return of the same issue as I tend to run the van in Baja and in salty air environments....

[JoeH]

Well then consider the upgrade kit from KCturbo. https://kcturbos.com/collections/6-0...me-rebuild-kit


Also good to have one of these on hand: https://bulletproofdiesel.com/collec...arness-6000045


And of course other turbo upgrade parts if they haven't been done already like the oil drain and feed tubes or the HPOP connector. Kinda depends on the year as these were running changes made by Ford.