12V cummins turbo rebuild?

RenegadeT

RenegadeT

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1998 Dodge Ram Cummins 12V, turbo silencer ring removed years ago. I noticed my turbo sound changed drastically this weekend, its louder and the tone is different, higher pitched, sounds like an electric motor now. Still pushing 21psi, throttle response feels the same.
I don't know much about turbos, never took one apart, but if I had to take a shot in the dark, I'd guess there are some bearings going bad in there. Sound about right? I plan to remove the air inlet elbow, see what it looks like, maybe find sone play in the turbo shaft. What should I do to diagnose this? Could this be serviceable in-vehicle, or am I looking at removing the turbo? If I do nothing, am I risking major failure?
 
if it has more than a few thou in radial play (and contacts the compressor housing), then it needs rebuilt. If it has basically any felt axial play, needs a rebuild.

And it will have to be removed; fwiw, I'd buy another used charger and keep on trucking, assuming you are going to keep it stock.
 
No "bearings" to speak of really. It's a bushing more or less, the turbo shaft floats on oil film. They're pretty easy to rebuild, but like Hurley said, swap it out and keep truckin!

Or....get some 7x.011s and a 62mm whirrly gig and feel the boost! :D
 
They are "easy" to rebuild. They are almost not possible to do it right unless you're a shop that does it professionally and have the tools to do it correctly. Find a working used one, they are all over the place from people upgrading.
Sure you didn't put a hole in a hose or blow a clamp off somewhere?
 
I have to take a closer look, about the only thing I'm sure of is the boost gauge rises to 21 psi at WOT like it always has, factory oil pressure gauge reads normal, no oil puddle.
 
I found a rebuild thread on the net some guy posted when he rebuilt his. It seemed very simple. How do people screw it up? It didn't appear to use any special tools. I know JT has successfully rebuilt the turbos on both of his Rams
 
If it is just leaking oil then it is an easy job to rebuild. If it has a worn shaft and put the compressor wheel into the housing making the noises he is talking about, it is a different story.
 
drkelly said:
I found a rebuild thread on the net some guy posted when he rebuilt his. It seemed very simple. How do people screw it up? It didn't appear to use any special tools. I know JT has successfully rebuilt the turbos on both of his Rams
Click to expand...
Some of the snap rings require a very long and small set of snap ring pliers. But as already said if the housing is damaged you'll need a new housing, or some machining and a compressor/turbine wheel.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
RenegadeT said:
1998 Dodge Ram Cummins 12V, turbo silencer ring removed years ago. I noticed my turbo sound changed drastically this weekend, its louder and the tone is different, higher pitched, sounds like an electric motor now. Still pushing 21psi, throttle response feels the same.
I don't know much about turbos, never took one apart, but if I had to take a shot in the dark, I'd guess there are some bearings going bad in there. Sound about right? I plan to remove the air inlet elbow, see what it looks like, maybe find sone play in the turbo shaft. What should I do to diagnose this? Could this be serviceable in-vehicle, or am I looking at removing the turbo? If I do nothing, am I risking major failure?
Click to expand...
The sound definatly sounds like impeller wheel to housing contact. Main thing is best case scenario eats into the housing and just throws tolerances out of whack and no boost, worst case is sending some of the impeller wheel in to the expensive motor and as joe dirt would say "it goes boom". Personally i wouldnt rebuild it myself, theres a lot of tolerances with the bearings and shaft and getting everything tight. Making sure the shaft is balanced. Remember the turbo is spinning at many thousands of rpms so its easy to have to be doing the job all over again within a few days. I know this very well, had a brand new Industrail Injection $2200 turbo go out in 2 days because the nuts were to tight that hold the impeller wheels on, and it came from II like that, luckily it was warrantied. I wouldnt exactly shy away from it but would be very mindful of how easy it is to screw up and the cost if it does. Also if there is contact of the wheels and housings you have to remember no rebuild kit comes with either wheels or housings so putting bearings and seals in doesnt help the problem. If you do decide to buy a new turbo check out either dieselautopower.com or cumminsperformanceparts.com . both are sponsers on cummins forum and have a lot of choices on turbos so you could step up a little for around $1100, just a something to look into if you dont want to go back stock.
 
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