powermax

Short Bus · Jan 2, 2018

Anyone had one start leaking oil into the exhaust? I hauled water friday and noticed a faint burnt oil smell when coming to a stop, but havent seen any burnt oil on the manifolds or drops/ puddles on the ground. Monday i went to haul water again and after it had idled 15-20 min to warm up (-10f), i came out and it appeared to have blueish smoke coming out the exhaust. I bumped teh throttle a little and it blew a huge cloud of blue smoke and continued to smoke pretty good until i shut it off. I didnt hear any sounds of wheel to housing contact while the turbo spun down and friday it seemed to be making normal boost pressure. The turbo only has maybe 40-45k miles on it... Now the kicker if it is bad, do i just rebuild it or make the jump to a kc turbo? I do have a stock turbo that im going to put back on it today. The truck is a f450 that tows a lot.

sootie · Jan 2, 2018

check shaft play. personally i would just rebuild it with a 360* thrust bearing.

Short Bus · Jan 2, 2018

sootie said:
check shaft play. personally i would just rebuild it with a 360* thrust bearing.

Shaft play is good, hot side IC pipe does not have excessive oil residue in it, crank case vent does not have much coming out as far as vapors go and theres not any wet oily residue in the down pipe or outlet of the turbine housing. I know what i saw, now why cant i find the source lol.

powerlifter405 · Jan 5, 2018

My original factory was leaking at 298k on the exhaust side. I replaced w/ KC unit.

You could do a simple rebuild and call it a day.

Short Bus · Jan 8, 2018

Yeah i picked up a rebuild kit and just got it back together. I guess i'll see if the rebuild fixed it.

Short Bus · Jan 25, 2018

I rebuilt it and everything was normal for a few days. It gradually started smoking again and over a weeks course it was leaking bad enough that there was oil seeping out of the exhaust. I thought maybe some how either id screwed up the rebuild or possibly had something else wrong with the turbo so i ordered another powermax. Its now doing the same thing after about 10-15 miles. What the heck is going on, low oil pressure? truck runs, starts, sounds good. Just looking for ideas before i bring it back in the shop.

Smitty0560 · Jan 27, 2018

Injectors condition and mileage? Have you checked the rest of the fluids? Have you checked for any codes? And what do you have for gauges etc?

Short Bus · Jan 29, 2018

Smitty0560 said:
Injectors condition and mileage? Have you checked the rest of the fluids? Have you checked for any codes? And what do you have for gauges etc?

engine and injectors have maybe 40k miles on them. Other fluids look fine, no puking, no excessive blow by through the ccv or oil fill cap, no misses, no intermittent problems, no codes, just smoke. The longer i let it idle the worse it is, driving there's no noticeable smoke until you pull up to a stop sign or light and set for a minute then it gradually comes back. I havent torn into it yet so i dont have any other info, other than when i rebuilt it and removed the rebuilt powermax the shaft play wasnt what id call excessive. Looser than fresh rebuild yes, but no in/out play and no wheel to housing contact.

sideactiondiesel · Jan 29, 2018

how does the oil drain look? Updated one?

SICKS LITER · Jan 29, 2018

What's the inside of your old turbine housing and center section look like?

Short Bus · Feb 2, 2018

sideactiondiesel said:
how does the oil drain look? Updated one?

Im pretty sure i put an updated one on when i put the new engine in a couple years ago.

Short Bus · Feb 2, 2018

SICKS LITER said:
What's the inside of your old turbine housing and center section look like?

turbine housing is oily on the inside, inside of up pipes are not. Oil seeping of exhaust pipe connections between the muffler and down pipe. what am i looking for on the center section? I think next week i'll have time to tear back into it.

Short Bus · Feb 14, 2018

Finally got the truck pulled into the shop and turbo off yet again. The turbo is still the source of the oil, no oil what so ever in the up pipes. I pulled the drain tube and made sure it wasnt some how restricted, its not. Put shop air through the drain to make sure ccv wasnt plugged its not, also pulled oil fill cap at the same time to make sure there wasnt a huge pressure difference and there was not. Im out of ideas, what else can i look for?

Short Bus · Feb 19, 2018

I think i had my head in the sand...or up my ass i dont know. The very first time i pulled the turbo off i noticed that the breather tube between the intake and the ccv wouldnt stay clipped into the ccv and i ordered a new hose and didnt look any farther. I got tired of screwing with this pos so its sat for a few days and today i decided to pull the valve cover just to take a look. Well i think i found the problem.. as soon as i tipped the front side of the valve cover down water drained out of it and the whole filter was full of oil and water sludge. Inside the cover wasnt much better, quite a bit of sludge built up on the cover. BUT no sludge piled up down below in the rocker box. Oil on the stick looks good but i'll still change the oil again even though theres only 100 miles on it. Evidently when that little hose was unclipped out of the ccv i got water or coolant in it. I did have a hose clamp break on the bottom of the coolant tank so that might have been the source. Hopefully the new filter solve the problem. That sludge build up must have created just enough pressure to oil push through the turbo, or at least thats what i hope.