Need some technical advice...

Goad

Member
Feb 29, 2020
73
3
8
Las Vegas, NV
Red wires to the right and orange to the left. Doesn't matter which stud each wire goes on

Then I got it right - and made sure everything was snug.

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I know I am just grasping at straws here and posting a bunch.....but I am trying to figure this out and dump my thoughts/ideas into one place...so bare with me.

I am starting to lean towards my turbo is dead/fried/bad. Let me explain...

Let me bring the history of all this up to speed first....This turbo is the original one to the truck. I have since replaced the motor due to torching the head because of a bad head gasket. I attempted to repair the bad head gasket, but still had issues (no compression in #7 and no power) - so I replaced the motor with the one I have in the truck now.

I still have no power.....now that I think of it, when I just took it for a cruise, I got zero turbo spool up noise. I do not have a boost gauge in the truck.

When I first fire up the truck cold, I have zero smoke. As it warms up, it starts to smoke....and its white smoke (oil, right?)....so I think the bearings are shot and its dumping oil....and as it warms up, the oil starts to burn.

So maybe when I had the head gasket melt down (it was REALLY bad - see picture below).....maybe I burned down the turbo too? When the head gasket failed, I remember I was climbing a hill towing and I noticed I had no power, so I throttled it a bit to get it to drop down a gear and spool up the turbo....when I did that, that's when the water jacket blew out the side of the head in the picture.

20190627_184036.jpg
 

2004LB7

Super Moderator
Staff member
Dec 15, 2010
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Norcal
It very well could be your turbo but I would suspect the smoke to be more gray then white. Unburned fuel is normally white or excessive amount of coolant.

Why don't you disconnect the band clamp at the bottom of the down pipe and see if it is oily?
 

Goad

Member
Feb 29, 2020
73
3
8
Las Vegas, NV
Well, I fixed the no boost issue....I guess during all the other stuff I was doing I bent the wastegate bracket. I vaguely remember using it as a pry point to free up the downpipe bolts. Derp... I took the downpipe off and could feel the wastegate valve was loose. Bent the bracket back with a pry bar and its good to go. I did not find any oil residue back there....just tons of soot

Before when I took it for a spin around the block, it was night. I could just see it was smoke billowing behind me when I romped on it, couldn't gauge the color of it. I just went for a quick spin and its white when at idle....black when I romp on it.
 

darkness

Well-known member
Jul 15, 2009
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Here's a driving log. I didn't see anything really wrong with it. Thinking it might be a cup issue. The truck only hazes at idle when it's warm but lots of white smoke while driving. Not a real strong smell of fuel either. I think the injector issues were fixed. Balance rates looked real good.
 

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Goad

Member
Feb 29, 2020
73
3
8
Las Vegas, NV
Thanks again Rob for coming over.....I am at my wits end with this damn truck....I was hoping it was just the injectors....but it seems now that I have fixed those, it's shined a light on a bunch of other issues. I think I am going to take a break from it for awhile because working on anything while you're frustrated takes all the steam out of it. Once I get my morale back, I will probably pull the motor out of the truck and re-seal/re-seat the cups...fix the oil leak in the back (I think its the turbo return line) and fix anything else I find along the way.....along with replacing the wiring harness since its throwing a U1800 code too....not to mention the slew of transmission codes its throwing too.

The joys of owning a 16 year old truck with 200k miles on it :mad:
 

S Phinney

Active member
Aug 15, 2008
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Quncy, Fl
Do a compression test on the truck before you pull the motor. Also is there any condensation under the oil fill cap?


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S Phinney

Active member
Aug 15, 2008
4,008
18
28
Quncy, Fl
Those compression numbers are low. Heads have been off the truck so has the piston protrusion been measured? Stock should have seen 12-13 thousandths area.


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