Going through chargers

I have gone through two fresh rebuilds in the last year and some change. The latest one had a non gated 1.0 turbine housing and a wicked wheel.

I have 160's with stock nozzles, intake/exhaust mods, and boost/pryo gauges.

I keep an eye on the temps and always have kept it in range. I never run the boost over 30psi and rarely at that. I mostly keep it at or below 25psi for a max boost. I have no boost leaks, a clean intake tract, and have checked lube oil pressure at the pedistal. Cold oil pressure at idle at the ped was 40psi and came up to 60 with a little throttle input. Just did an oil change and strained everything out of curiosity. Oil was the usual black but debris free. I even cut open the oil filter and checked the pleats for debris and found nothing.

Am I just asking too much from a modded stock charger or could I possibly have another issue causing failures?

160s on a stocker should be fine, a combo thats run all the time.. who is doing the rebuilds?? have the shafts been balanced both times it was rebuilt?

Yeah, as far as I know they where balanced both times.

I thought with a 1.0 housing the wicked wheel was counter productive? The design of the ww was so it flowed less air to help with surge. It was always my understanding that once the exhaust housing is increased the need for the ww is done away with. I doubt that has anything to due with your turbos being eaten up but who knows? Are you rebuilding them? Are they failing in the same way or same part going out on you? No problems with oil getting to them?

Possibly a problem in the center section? Have the rebuilds used the same center section both times? I really have no idea how possible or likely it is but just a thought?

Maybe there is a problem in the oil feed or drain.

Fordcowboy said:

Possibly a problem in the center section? Have the rebuilds used the same center section both times? I really have no idea how possible or likely it is but just a thought?

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Yeah, same center on both.

Groomzybanshee said:

Maybe there is a problem in the oil feed or drain.

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Dont know for sure but I know it is at least getting oil as I checked pressure at the port on the pedistal. I recall the pressure there being the same as at the port on the bell housing so It would seem that there isnt a restriction there.

Is it still a EBPV pedistal? We used to see tons of failures on OBS turbos that went to Canada or Alaska, started changing over to non-ebpv pedistals and the problems have all but dissapeared. I think the solenoid can go bad in them and rob oil away from the turbo somehow.

Bean said:

Is it still a EBPV pedistal? We used to see tons of failures on OBS turbos that went to Canada or Alaska, started changing over to non-ebpv pedistals and the problems have all but dissapeared. I think the solenoid can go bad in them and rob oil away from the turbo somehow.

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It is a non complex ped. Chris is working on it but he really didn' know what to tell me untill he had it apart. Just trying to go through everything on my end.

Do you think I can have good oil pressure at the ped and still have an oil flow problem?

neverkickn said:

Do you think I can have good oil pressure at the ped and still have an oil flow problem?

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Definitely.
If the drain is restricted, or flat out plugged, you'll have excellent pressure on the feed, but little to no flow. I'm not sure if there is a good way to check the return flow.

Might try going back to a stock wheel, or better yet, have ****** make you one with the 38R wheel or whatever he's using on the D66's.

Anything other than that WW would probably move the same air with less shaft speed. May just be spinning the wee out of it to move the air with the WW.

What kind of blowby/crankcase pressure are you seeing? (IE - is your motor worn out? does the CCV work?) If the the pressure differential between the crankcase and the turbo pedestal you won't get any flow.

If I remember correctly there is a plug that resembles a freeze plug on the pressure gallery going up to the turbo. Possible it may have come loose and fallen down to the pan. Just a guess.

Thanks everyone for the input. I talked to the builder today and he said that it was an oiling issue. There was scaring and some burned spots. I mentioned that I have had the motor out twice with that turbo so thats twice that I have had to prime the lpo system. It was his opinion that the dry starts caused or at least greatly contributed to the problem. I tend to believe him but I still want to rule out an oil flow issue.

Hey, HRT it wont lift the oil fill cap at idle with the crankcase vented to atmosphere and not plugged or restricted. I have never had a magnahelic on it. When you refer to a pressure differential between the pedistal and the crankcase are you talking about fluid pressure?

Where would I need to check the pressure of the crankcase to determine if there is a disparity?

By the way Charles I am having it rebuilt with a 65mm wheel I believe. Gonna have to machine the shroud a bit but I agree with you that I will get some better flow.

I highly doubt that a dry start would hurt the charger considering that it looks like a ceiling fan at idle.

But..... fwiw, before I place either charger back on my engine after removing them for any reason and having them sit, I will pour a little bit of rotella into the drain hole with the charger upside down and spin the shaft a bit to let it lube everyting up well before I reinstall it.

Charles said:

I highly doubt that a dry start would hurt the charger considering that it looks like a ceiling fan at idle.

But..... fwiw, before I place either charger back on my engine after removing them for any reason and having them sit, I will pour a little bit of rotella into the drain hole with the charger upside down and spin the shaft a bit to let it lube everyting up well before I reinstall it.

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I will keep that in mind on future installs. Thanks.

Any idea on what to do to diagnose an oil flow problem at the charger. Would blowing some compressed air down the drain gallery into the crankcase help to rule out a drain restriction?

neverkickn said:

Hey, HRT it wont lift the oil fill cap at idle with the crankcase vented to atmosphere and not plugged or restricted. I have never had a magnahelic on it. When you refer to a pressure differential between the pedistal and the crankcase are you talking about fluid pressure?

Where would I need to check the pressure of the crankcase to determine if there is a disparity?

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Based on these statements - I would assume your OK- but based on the past history you have - I would install pressure gauges - at least temporarily in the turbo pedestal and somewhere that you would get crankcase pressure like say the valve cover or oil fill tube or oil cap. Make them the same pressure range and you can watch them driving down the road and in full throttle runs. Lets just say you have 40psi of oil pressure in the turbo pedestal at WOT - but if your crankcase pressure is something stupid high like say 30 psi - then its just like you only have 10psi feeding your turbo. Its a super long shot based on your last statement - but something is causing you to eat turbos.

How long should it take on cold start to see pressure at the pedestal. It took about 5 seconds to start to build and about 8 seconds before I had full pressure when I started this morning.

Could not get a reading on the boost gauge with it tied into the oil fill cap. Not enough pressure to raise it off the stop. Oil pressure at operating temp measured at the pedistal was 22 psi idle and 50 wot.

neverkickn said:

Could not get a reading on the boost gauge with it tied into the oil fill cap. Not enough pressure to raise it off the stop. Oil pressure at operating temp measured at the pedistal was 22 psi idle and 50 wot.

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Then that is not the issue - figured it was a long shot.