HELP - Stranded

[jskrepnek]

Hi,

We lost power and started smoking this morning on the way to sell at farmers market (of course). Opened hatch - appears as though the Turbo was smoking and there's enough oil on it (but not so much that it's dripping, I was told this is normal) for me to wonder if it's the oil that's smoking.

Our factor here - we're running on a PlantDrive system - and just returned from Salmon Arm to tune a few things. Odd coincidence that Turbo went right after that work on the SVO system was done.

Makes me wonder:

- does coolant run through the Turbo? If so, then maybe I have a coolant issue and the turbo got too hot, leading to the oil on it smoking.

If it's not VEGGIE related - what else could be going on? Could it be anything other than the Turbo needing replacement?

I'll start calling around for a Turbo :).

Thanks for any help,

-- Joel

[delicat]

Turbo are only oil cooled, not water cooled. I'd start by checking your oil supply lines to your turbo and all your connections, especially if you just installed your PlantDrive kit.

That's all I can afford, wish I could help more!

Good luck,
David

[after oil]

air in the veg system is my guess. i also guess that the smoking turbo is unrelated.
my truck has been on veg for a couple of years and the only thing that ever causes power loss is no fuel, clogged filter, or air in lines

[jskrepnek]

air in the veg system is my guess. i also guess that the smoking turbo is unrelated.
my truck has been on veg for a couple of years and the only thing that ever causes power loss is no fuel, clogged filter, or air in lines

Yeah, I'm convinced now that this is not related to my Veg system.

Has anyone out there had their Turbo go? If so could you PM me - I'd be curious to compare and find out what you did and how much it cost to repair.

Thanks,

-- Joel

[jwfchase]

Contact Green1

[Mystery Machine]

Just for info - all L300 turbo's >June 1993 are oil cooled. Turbo's from Jun 1993 are oil AND water cooled (my 1994 L300 has water cooled turbo)

Seeing as yours is a '92 then it'll be the oil cooled type.

One of the best ways to check the condition of the turbo is to remove the induction pipe to the turbo and feel for play in the bearings on the shaft. A tiny amount of play (approx 1mm) is OK -but if you can move the shaft more than this, then you might be looking at a turbo rebuild.

You need to move it quite firmly - grip it tight and move left/right then up/down.

Also, shine a torch into the intake area and look to see the condition of the impellers (any bent blades or chunks missing) and also if there is any 'scoring' on the turbo body around the impellers (not a good sign!)

Let us know what you find.....

[BCDelica]

Not sure, but have seen a few Delica turbos with a good coat of oil, and assumed that would burn off under a extended turbo boost periods. If the whole turbo body exceeded the smoke point of motor oil, and had a previous leak, you could be looking at plenty of smoke.

Cheers

[Green1]

Has anyone out there had their Turbo go? If so could you PM me - I'd be curious to compare and find out what you did and how much it cost to repair.

Have yet to have it repaired, I've just been driving without it, it's a little less power than with one, but it's no show-stopper.

[jskrepnek]

Just for info - all L300 turbo's >June 1993 are oil cooled. Turbo's from Jun 1993 are oil AND water cooled (my 1994 L300 has water cooled turbo)

Seeing as yours is a '92 then it'll be the oil cooled type.

One of the best ways to check the condition of the turbo is to remove the induction pipe to the turbo and feel for play in the bearings on the shaft. A tiny amount of play (approx 1mm) is OK -but if you can move the shaft more than this, then you might be looking at a turbo rebuild.

You need to move it quite firmly - grip it tight and move left/right then up/down.

Also, shine a torch into the intake area and look to see the condition of the impellers (any bent blades or chunks missing) and also if there is any 'scoring' on the turbo body around the impellers (not a good sign!)

Let us know what you find.....

A local shop looked at it and determined that the Turbo is still spooling. With further test driving on DIESEL I could not reproduce the symptoms (loss of power + over-heated Turbo). So I'm suspecting some relationship to the ill-performing Veggie system. No expert, but wondering -

- if thick veggie is passing through the injector pump could that throw timing, causing the Turbo to over-work?

Mardy also suggested I look at the air filter - it was nearly plugged. Thinking many factors together could have led to an unhappy Turbo?

Mystery, I'll look at the Turbo. Check the shaft and impellers. What's the best access to it? Take the driver seat out?

Thanks for all the help,

-- Joel

[delicat]

Just curious as to what makes you so certain it's not related to your veggie? If it works fine on Diesel and troubles you while on veggie it should be pretty clear cut.

Good luck,
David

[after oil]

try pouring out your onboard veggie filter, and purging all the lines of air. make sure no air can come in anywhere

[jskrepnek]

Just curious as to what makes you so certain it's not related to your veggie? If it works fine on Diesel and troubles you while on veggie it should be pretty clear cut.

Good luck,
David

Now I think it is veggie related. At first I wasn't sure because I was having power-loss on Diesel. Now I'm trying to connect the over-heated Turbo to the Veggie.

-- Joel

[jskrepnek]

try pouring out your onboard veggie filter, and purging all the lines of air. make sure no air can come in anywhere

I *may* have too much air in the veggie-fuel lines, but the major problem seems to be air in my coolant lines. What appears to be happening is a air bubble gathers and grows in the coolant lines running to the rear Veg filter and tank and consequently no circulating coolant ever reaches to heat the filter or the tank (Hotfox). Ed helped to rid the coolant lines of air, and for a few days the system was running flawlessly ... then on day 3 I'm back to where I started - air in the coolant lines.

I've tightened everything and then some. Arg!

-- Joel

[delicat]

First thing would be to find out where the air is coming from, could be the water exit valve at the bottom of your Vegmax that isn't tight enough or any other junctions.

Park your truck with the front wheels up (like drive over the curb with your front tires or jack the front end) so that the highest point is your radiator cap and the expansion tank. Open the radiator cap, air bubbles will travel upwards and find their way out... You can also accelerate the process by running the engine at low speed for a few minutes. Or you could use a radiator pump!

If it works for you then you know the reason of your trouble, just need to pin point the exact culprit!

Good luck,
David

[Mystery Machine]

Mystery, I'll look at the Turbo. Check the shaft and impellers. What's the best access to it? Take the driver seat out?

You've got it - remove the floorpan under the drivers seat (instructions HERE) and remove the air intake pipe from the front of the turbo.

Now you can get straight onto the intake impeller/shaft....