Time for a Turbo Rebuild

[crazy4wdracer]

It's definitely time to rebuild the turbo on my 6.9. It's an ATS 088 non-wastegated which I'm told uses a rebuild kit for a Garret T3/T4. Good news is that the rebuild kits are cheap and I can rebuild it myself (I hope). It has some shaft play and just started blowing out oil today. I had to take the turbo off to get to my GPR which I also fixed today (wired it manually with a push-button because I didn't want to buy a new controller). And it works great!
Is there anything I should know before I get started? I found rebuild kits on ebay for only like $35 shipped.

 

[icanfixall]

These turbos are an easy rebuild but... You really need to balance the spinning parts. They run up around 130,000 rpm. Thats over 2000 rpm per second... Any turbo rebuild shop can balance it for you....

 

[crazy4wdracer]

Ok Thanks! About how much does a balance job cost?

 

[typ4]

That 35 dollar kit has chinese bushings and is crap, you need to spend at least 80 ish for the good ones. Also some of the non gated turbos have a carbon seal which is really difficult to get right and may leak oil like mad, it needs to be converted to a dynamic seal.

 

[crazy4wdracer]

OK, I did a little research and found a seller that has good reviews. Can anyone tell me if this kit includes dynamic seals? What would I need to do to convert mine from a carbon seal to dynamic? I read that the carbon seals are meant for carbureted vehicles.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0604940304&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I googled dynamic seals for a T3/T4 but this is all I could find:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/T3-T...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19c0826e3d

 

[RLDSL]

OK, I did a little research and found a seller that has good reviews. Can anyone tell me if this kit includes dynamic seals? What would I need to do to convert mine from a carbon seal to dynamic? I read that the carbon seals are meant for carbureted vehicles.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0604940304&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I googled dynamic seals for a T3/T4 but this is all I could find:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/T3-T...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19c0826e3d

I got my kit from that guy, very good kit. Great service . He used to offer balancing as well, you'd have to check, he doesn't list that anymore, but I just sent my wheels in with a couple of parts from the kit and he took care of it, very easy to assemble once balanced, it's the disassembling that can be a bear. soak everything with Aero kroil for a couple of days before digging in.

 

[crazy4wdracer]

OK, I did a little research and found a seller that has good reviews. Can anyone tell me if this kit includes dynamic seals? What would I need to do to convert mine from a carbon seal to dynamic? I read that the carbon seals are meant for carbureted vehicles.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...0604940304&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT

I googled dynamic seals for a T3/T4 but this is all I could find:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/T3-T...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19c0826e3d

Anyone Know?

 

[RLDSL]

Anyone Know?

I believe those are the critters. The kit I got from that ebay seller had those seals in it. You have to be careful to expand them square , just like a piston ring when installing on the shaft, if you try to twist them on, they will snap ( a wide flat blade snap ring plier works great, most all parts stores have them ) You need to look at the turbo and make sure that the ring gaps will be pointing basically up once pressed onto the center section housing and installed on the truck. If teh gaps are down, it will eat oil ( oil basically slobbers out around teh bearings into a large drain cavity next to the bearings, the seal just deflects any hard spray . The seal isn't intended to hold oil under pressure back, it is there to retain compression/exhaust pressure, but if the gap is on the bottom, it catches oil that is pooling around the seal and allows it through in a steady trickle.

 

[boggerted]

as far as i know, carbon seals are designed for applications where the seal is under both pressure and vacuum. thats why they are used in carbureted gas applications because when the carb is mounted before the turbo (also called a draw through setup and is really the only way to have a carb mounted since carbs dont work above atmospheric pressure) the turbo is exposed to manifold vacuum. Dynamic seals are one way seals and only seal under pressure, which is fine for diesels since they do not produce any vacuum. However, since those turbos can be used for either application, the seals must be converted to dynamics to prevent oil consumption.

 

[Diesel JD]

One thing to look at, a recent issue of Diesel Power walks you through a turbo rebuild, it assumes nothing inside is too badly messed up and the turbo they work with is a 7.3 PSD turbo(can't remember if it's the old non gated or newer super duty) which is a Garret with some slight differences from our 088s. Personally I'd buy the parts from Russ if I was inclined to do it myself and look for your local Stanadyne fuel injection shop or ask a big truck mechanic where they have fuel injection and turbo work done and see if they will balance the moving parts for you once you have it apart or if they're going to insist they do it all or nothing. Also what do you guys think is fair to pay to have a turbo balanced if you do all the disassembly, ceaning and reassebly work? Lastly, be sure no oil holes are plugged and no nasty stuff is in the oil ports of the turbo or truck. The main way Ive seen people here damage turbos is from oil starvation. It does sound like DslDog Catcher had problems with a rebuid on his old Banks system....but I don't know what went wrong in that case.