Turbo let go on a 6.7 Powerstroke last Tuesday - what a mess

I was doing a routine oil change on a 2015 F-350 and when I fired it back up, it started howling like a banshee. Shut it down quick and found the turbo shaft had about a quarter inch of play in it. Ended up pulling the whole intake system to clean out all the oil and debris that got blown through. Customer drove it 2 miles after the noise started, so the intercooler was full of sludge. Has anyone else had a turbo fail that fast without any warning signs beforehand?

2 comments

2 Comments

miles_roberts2214d agoMost Upvoted

lol gotta love that "it was fine until i touched it" curse. 2 miles was all it took to turn that intercooler into a chocolate milkshake machine. bet the customer was real happy about that bill.

hart.zara14d ago

Oh please, @miles_roberts22, you're acting like you've never had a job that went sideways. That customer probably touched something they shouldn't have or drove it like they stole it. Intercoolers don't just turn into milkshakes from a gentle 2 mile cruise. Maybe they hit a pothole, hit a curb, or ignored a check engine light for weeks before bringing it in. Mechanics love to blame the "curse" when really they just don't want to admit the part was already failing.