Educate me about my turbo- factory ATS

[smolkin]

I am a total turbo newbie, I've never owned one. My new truck has what I believe is a factory wastegated ATS. At the moment, I'm not sure how well it's functioning, and particularly with the wastegate I'm unsure as to what it's supposed to be doing anyway. Can anyone give me some general info on the normal operation? And how do I tell what exact model this is?

A few things I've noticed:

-Does not appear to have any major leaks, but top is barely wet...is this bad? (also missing an airbox bolt)

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-Wastegate rod was not attached when I got it, I hooked it back up, and it is missing whatever holds it on.
The actuator has some good spring tension on it and was hard to pull out. It also has an ugly welded repair to where it
apparently broke in half. When driving it, I can't really hear any turbo or wastegate noise.

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-CDR is leaking at the valve cover, is this the grommet that is hard to find?

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So far, all my time and post-sale money have been spent getting the front end right. Yesterday I replaced the whole front brakes and bearings, and it got new tie rod ends earlier in the week. So I'm scraping the bottom of the money barrel atm but at least I've gotten the truck to the point where I can drive it now. Anything you guys can tell me about these turbos would be helpful and I'd like to know if there's gonna be an expensive fix on the horizon...

 

[79jasper]

Someone probably purposely unhooked the wastegate rod, for higher boost.

 

[smolkin]

Someone probably purposely unhooked the wastegate rod, for higher boost.

Should I have left it off? The lever was kind of half-open/ half-closed when I first noticed it. Is it bad to tie it shut without a pyro or boost gauge?

 

[79jasper]

Gauges would be best. At least a boost gauge. Higher boost doesn't necessarily make higher egt's.

 

[Leeland]

Should I have left it off? The lever was kind of half-open/ half-closed when I first noticed it. Is it bad to tie it shut without a pyro or boost gauge?

Just find another clip and later down the road a new can, that thing looks roached from what I see enlarged on my phone. If you leave it unhooked you won't build boost, you need the spring in the can to hold the waste gate closed in order to build any. Your fuel rate also plays into the #'s. If your not smoking or 'rolling coal' and your were able to easily reconnect your waste gate by hand then your very likely to be in what people consider a safe range for boost, but you do still want those gauges sooner the later.

 

[smolkin]

So if I understand correctly, the can uses vacuum to overcome the spring tension. Is there a way to test this? I definitely have tension but unsure if the diaphragm is working. What is the "can" officially called (for purposes of trying to find a new one)?

 

[Leeland]

No vacuum. You have a spring on one side of a diaphragm holding the gate closed and boost pressure on the other side to open it.

You could hit it with some metered air to see if it moves and or leaks since that is the direction it works. Some times as a cheat I just physically move the rod on a can like a vac advance and put my finger over the nipple and if it returns to the full rest position AND I don't get any movement of air when I uncover the nipple then the diaphragm is likely torn. Other wise I use a mightyvac on vac advances to watch for movement and bleed off.

 

[smolkin]

No vacuum. You have a spring on one side of a diaphragm holding the gate closed and boost pressure on the other side to open it.

Gotcha. I was confused by the vacuum line looking thing.

 

[Leeland]

Cool, well you know what it is now.

 

[typ4]

All the grommets are hard to find. Im down to a very few for sale and will soon only have snail gaskets and orings till i can get the grommets made.

 

[icanfixall]

How the bost and waste gate works. The waste gate is help closed by the boost can with the hose connected to the inlet of the turbo. In that can is a spring that holds the gate closed. Pressure from inlet boost overcomes the spring pressure and the waste gate opens limiting the amount of boost you can make. You really need another boost can or as its called ..Wastegate actualter. They are adjustable for higher or lower boost numbers. I noticed in pic number 2 that you have a hot side exhaust leak on the turbo. Thats not a bad thing because its on the outlet side of the hot wheel in the turbo. Its used uop all the enegry in the turbo by then. Its just going to make more soot and probably some noise. As for the wet looking top of the turbo. Thats the oil feed line. That brass fitting has a square o ring in it. sometimes you can tighten up the brass nut and fix the weeping. Usually you need to replace the o ring. Russ can find that for you too. The CDR valve leaking is usual stuff too. As Russ posted. Those grommets are difficult to find so getem when you can.