The first one I've seen fail, was burning a ton of oil, had bad compression, and downright clanked more than it should. Another one dropped a valve, and tore up the piston and destroyed the connecting rod and block, another one had a TON of blow by. They might not have all been related to having an aftermarket turbocharger, but the stock ones I see still run fine, and IDIs already have some blow by, and turbos make it worse, not to mention cavitation is worse on the 7.3L.
None of these have anything to do with it being turbocharged.
Burning a lot of oil is high mileage/worn rings/valve guides.
Dropping a valve and destroying a cylinder/piston/rod/block, again, valve guides. IDI’s are known to have valve guide issues with high mileage.
I don’t understand how a turbo makes blow by noticeably worse, the 21:1 compression is more at play than a few PSI of boost.
Cavitation in the 7.3 is worse due to thinner cylinder walls, not adding a turbo. I’ve not seen where the cavitation happens more with a turbo than N/A.
I had a 92 N/A and now have an 88 with a hypermax turbo. The 88 runs better and has less blow by than the 92 had with about the same miles. The turbo has been on the engine for most of its life.
Most I’ve seen fail is due to valve guides, or just plain being beat on. Wether heavy loads, way over fueled, or trying to push them WAY past the limits with fuel, or water/methanol injection or Justin with his huge pump, sky high boost.
I know it’s just plain abuse, but you want to see just what an IDI can take, goto YouTube and search for “Zip Ties N Bias Plies” and watch his various videos of Slave Lake....... they are somewhat painful to watch...... but it shows these are not as fragile as many want to believe.
I and most everyone else has no intention of removing their turbo. A turbo used in reasonable limits, should not damage the engine or shorten its life..... but max the fuel, run the egt’s high.... then yes it will, but that’s not the turbos fault, it’s the operators fault...... I’ve seen many stories of someone pushing an engine past it’s breaking point with modifications, and when it breaks, call the entire engine family junk.......