Turbo pedestal oil leak after replacing O rings

[79jasper]

Like this. https://www.permatex.com/products/g...ght-stuff-black-1-minute-gasket-maker-7-5-oz/

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[Tiha]

Are there any updates to this?

First thread I came across. I have a Full Force pedistal and after my 3rd try, with permatex it still leaks between pedistal and block.

Was pretty confident it was the FF pedestal and was getting ready to order the KC turbos one, but now I am not so sure they are any better.

My truck sat and the warranty ran out before I ever fired it up the first time otherwise I would have returned it long ago.

Why doesn't someone make a gasket for these?

 

[Tiha]

I have called and searched all over. It seems the garrett pedestals are nowhere around. Back order everywhere.

Not sure what I will try next. Reading this thread kind has me thinking about the plasti gauge though. Might be interesting see what it tells me. Pretty easy to do with the turbo off.

If nothing else it might show me how to check the new pedestal I get from someplace else.

Still thinking a thin steel gasket would solve all of these problems. I also have some anaerobic sealer used for transmission flanges, kind of wondering about that, but depending on plasti gauge readings maybe the gap is too big for that.

 

[Tiha]

Okay, pulled the turbo, can anyone see what is wrong? I don't think I can.

I had used a little permatex which actually helps read what is going on here. Looks like the permatex was pushed out completely allowing a metal to metal contact.

Anyone got ideas? If I buy another pedestal I would like to have some confidence that the new one will seal before I put it all together again.

 

[Tiha]

I tried to install the pedestal only last night with plasti gauge under it, but could not find my plasti gauge.

Wanting to try and see something I used a piece of masking tape. Torqued the pedestal down.
Removed and read the tape impression.

Where it is marked in red I tried to capture it on camera, the line for the o-ring recess disappears. It gets lighter on the return line side, but on the pressure side it completely disappears.

Thinking about what to do from here. Order another one from someone? who? Or try to fix this one?
No idea yet.

I think my next step is to set it down on a piece of glass, or mirror if I can find one big enough. Maybe try to fit a feeler gauge under it, see if I can measure the difference.
Then mill the outer legs down until it sits evenly on the glass?

What I don't know is if the mounting points on the block and pedestal are supposed to be the same elevation or not. If they are, then drop the whole thing on a big belt sander, or mill it to the same elevation. If not, then it is trial and error.

Even was thinking about installing the o-ring, the smearing a thin coat of JB weld around them. Install pedestal and Let it set up. The JB weld would fill the gap and support the o-rings. Maybe that would fix it?

 

[Tiha]

Running a feeler gauge under the pedestal the tightest spot, about the only spot that touches the glass is the small o-ring surface, and it is the tightest where I thought it was leaking.

I am so confused right now.

Suppose I will try to mill it some and then install again to compare.

 

[JohnT24]

Who's O-rings are you using?

I just recently installed mine and I was so paranoid that it would not seal right that I insisted on official FORD o-rings

I did not want to use the brown O-rings that came with the kc turbo

So, along with those Ford O-rings I also put a light coating of Permatex ultra gray/high torque RTV on them.

And, knock on wood everything has been leak free and the truck is running great.

My pedestal came from full force diesel.


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[JohnT24]

I just remembered
I bought my O-rings from the local international dealer.

They were noticeably more pliable and thicker than the cheap O-rings that came with the KC turbo.

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[Tiha]

Maybe I will try that next. I know more than once I have googled "best o-rings" and ordered them. Not so sure I haven't tried a set already.

I put some 400 wet or dry on a piece of glass and sanded it down some. I need to try again with the masking tape and see if it is better or worse.

If it is worse I will order another pedestal, or go back to my EBPV pedestal.

If it is better I will try some IH o-rings. Still debating on JB weld. Read some great success stories and some epic failures.

 

[JohnT24]

Maybe I will try that next. I know more than once I have googled "best o-rings" and ordered them. Not so sure I haven't tried a set already.

I put some 400 wet or dry on a piece of glass and sanded it down some. I need to try again with the masking tape and see if it is better or worse.

If it is worse I will order another pedestal, or go back to my EBPV pedestal.

If it is better I will try some IH o-rings. Still debating on JB weld. Read some great success stories and some epic failures.

Yeah, I don't know if I would resort to JB Weld.
You would be better off to pull the whole engine out and TIG weld everything together

BTW,
I used the (thin layer) RTV on the top and bottom O-rings.....

Also, I'm not sure if it matters much but I put mine together when it was out of the truck and then by the time I got the engine back in and everything buttoned up with the wiring etc. The first fire up wasn't probably three weeks later.

So, maybe it was proper cure time?

Same thing with the oil pan
I used the official Motorcraft RTV

Cleaned everything like a mental case
Then torqued it down.

But again, it was probably a month before I fired it up.

So far so good.

On a sidenote
I'll tell you
KC 1.0 turbo
Hydra / jelibuilt tunes
New exhaust manifolds/intake boots etc.

STOCK injectors

This thing runs like a ****ing raped ape

I really can't imagine bigger injectors.

I think a lot of it has to do with the 1.0 turbo housing.

It makes power very quickly.
The only problem I have is first gear since it's so low with 4:10 rears
You have to hold your foot on the accelerator like it's an eggshell.

After that it's more manageable.


I'm sure automatic transmission would be no problem.


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[Tiha]

After milling it around on a piece of glass and 400 grit wet or dry sand paper I tried the masking tape impression again.
Only slightly better if at all. So I dug out my old ebpv pedestal and compared the two.

The high pressure o-ring port is really close to the edge. Overall there is less material there but there is a 1/4" difference between the two. Rom the edge to the o-ring.

Are they all like this or do I have a bad one?

 

[79jasper]

Run a straight edge across the block side?

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[Tiha]

I gave up.

My old EBPV pedestal was already gutted and plugged. I used it, put it back on. Even with the old o-rings. Seems to be holding perfectly.

The turbo also mounts higher, which helps getting the intake hose from the air filter on, before it was rubbing on the VC harness.

At least with the delete pedestal I got from Full Force, Not happy. Not sure if I just got a bad one, or if they are all that way.

 

[TexasJ]

I gave up.

My old EBPV pedestal was already gutted and plugged. I used it, put it back on. Even with the old o-rings. Seems to be holding perfectly.

The turbo also mounts higher, which helps getting the intake hose from the air filter on, before it was rubbing on the VC harness.

At least with the delete pedestal I got from Full Force, Not happy. Not sure if I just got a bad one, or if they are all that way.

Hey I'm just now seeing this. For some reason I never got any email updates that there was activity in this thread, so I apologize. I just read through everything you wrote and it seems like we're both in the same boat more or less. I never did get the deleted pedestal to work without leaking. I never did try the rtv though. Frankly, I dreaded the thought of doing this job YET AGAIN so much that I put it off for basically this entire year. I did, however, discover a mod a few months ago that allows you to swap out the obs pedestal for the super duty pedestal. It's called the "Freakify" mod, and was dreamed up by a user on another forum. I decided to go that route. I figured; worst case scenario, if it still leaks after I get everything put back together, at least it's much easier to take apart again! I just finished that mod this week and everything is holding up wonderfully. The downside is that I had to buy several new parts, so at this point I've sunk nearly $2,000 into this project if you include the previous pedestal and hardware which are now out of warranty and the new parts I just bought for the freakify mod. I'll try and link to the mod walkthrough on the other forum in a moment in case you're interested. I'm glad I sucked it up and did it. But I'll be a whole lot MORE glad once my credit card is paid off.

 

[TexasJ]

Hey guys, so after much procrastination I ended up NOT going with the RTV method. I just didn't want to risk having it still leak afterwards and needing to do the job AGAIN. Plus if it did leak still, I REEEEAAALLY didn't want to have to scrape all that silicone off too. So I did some searching online a few months back to try and find another solution, and I discovered what's called the "Freakify" mod. Essentially it involves replacing the center section of your turbo with a super duty 99-03 center section, then replacing the backing plate on your compressor housing with the EARLY 99 backing plate, and replacing the obs pedestal with an EARLY 99 pedestal. This allows you to keep your obs turbine housing and obs compressor housing, as well as your obs turbine, obs shaft, and obs compressor wheel. The benefit is that the turbo assembly now mounts to the pedestal with 2 top - down bolts, allowing you to pull the turbo out SEPARATELY from the pedestal, and install them separately as well. This makes removing and installing it MUCH easier in the event you need to replace Orings, bearings, or other parts.

One of the reasons I decided to do this mod was because of the ease of removal and install I already mentioned, but another is due to the fact I felt it was possible that NEITHER of the obs ebpv deleted pedestals I tried were mounting flush. I still don't know if this was the case for sure. But I do know that when reinstalling the turbo the passenger side rear bolt didn't want to thread in easilly. I had to sort of cant the turbo towards the driver side to get the threads to catch. I don't know if it was a case of the hole in the pedestal not lining up right or what, but because of this I thought the pedestal and turbo might not be seating flush with the engine block once everything was torqued down. I also wondered if the problem was the pedestal itself not sitting up high enough, and the exhaust flange nuts/bolts on the up pipe causing the turbo and pedestal to be pulled up and away from the engine when they were tightened down. I still can't say for sure. But I figured that if either of those things were the case, they might be rectified by being able to install the pedestal first and get it torqued down properly, THEN install the turbo. The Freakify mod allows me to do just that.

Since doing the mod I have driven on one 150 mile trip for Christmas and everythings looks great so far!! The only issue is an oil leak coming from the driver side valve cover gasket, but I've had issues with it for years. A local shop has replaced the gasket probably 3 times in the past 5 years, and I suspect that they probably bent the valve cover itself so badly that it won't seal anymore, because they've even added RTV to it as well. That being said I doubt the vc leak has anything to do with the turbo, but if someone knows better than me and thinks otherwise please let me know.

Anyway, I'll link the Freakify mod in my next comment in case anyone is interested. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

 

[TexasJ]

"SD bearing housing mod (Freakify Mod) - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

1994.5 - 1997 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel - "SD bearing housing mod (Freakify Mod) - Ok so there is a problem with our turbos, biggest flaw, trying to take it out. So I read went thru forums but no one actually did it so given the opportunity of having all the necessary parts I said Why not , I...

www.ford-trucks.com

 

[TexasJ]

I also used these 2 walkthroughs extensively throughout the mod process.

1994 - 1999 7.3L Power Stroke Turbocharger Removal & Installation Procedures

Step by step procedures on how to remove and reinstall the turbocharger on a 1994 to early 1999 7.3L Power Stroke diesel. Included in this comprehensive guide is a parts list and all the tips, tricks, and tools necessary to remove the turbo from an OBS or early Super Duty pickup equipped with a...

www.powerstrokehub.com

7.3L Power Stroke Turbocharger Rebuild Guide | Garrett TP38

Step by step instructions on how to rebuild the Garrett TP38 turbocharger found on 7.3L Power Stroke diesel engines. An overhaul is necessary anytime the turbocharger develops a leak on either the compressor or turbine side, or if the shaft is found to have excessive endplay. The TP38 turbo is...

www.powerstrokehub.com

 

[TexasJ]

Lastly, I should also note that part of the reason it became so expensive for me is due to the fact that the obs center section and obs turbine housing simply would NOT separate. This forced me to buy a new turbine housing. It also forced me to buy a new turbine wheel/shaft as well since I couldn't get the old one out to reuse it. And since I was in a time crunch and had to get these parts asap, I had to buy an upgraded turbine wheel/shaft with longer fins, which required I use a billet wheel to compensate for the higher rpms of the upgraded turbine. All of this added up QUICKLY. If you are able to get your turbine and center section apart in order to reuse the old turbine wheel/shaft and turbine housing, then you can do this mod for SIGNIFICANTLY less money.

 

[OBS-Addiction97]

I just recently installed a kc stage 1 on over of my work trucks. I bought a Rotomaster pedestal from diesel o rings. After install I too had an oil leak coming somewhere from the pedestal.

After pulling the turbo back off I noted an 1/8” plug on the back on the pedestal that had some oil residue around it. I put compressed air into an oil passage way and guess what, it was leaking oil. Resealed the npt plug and all has been well.

 

[JCart]

Back in the day lots of guys gutted the EBPV assembly out of stock pedestals. I used a zip cut saw and cut off the EBPV aluminum cylinder, that housed the EBPV oil driven piston. Once off I drilled and tapped as I recall two ports in the exposed cylinder housing (that remains attached to the pedestal, drill and tapped the actuation solenoid hole and plugged all fore noted holes with brass plugs and JB weld. At the exhaust rod end there is an opening in the pedestal that I JB welded closed. Pedestal has been working away on its third truck now…. Lastly with a ratchet wrench you can install the turbo once pedestal is on the engine. You need to set long bolts in pedestal prior to setting in place then rear ones will slide in and up after it’s set in place.
Cheers,
j