# 6.7L Cummins Turbo Questions



## WildCard07

Background info:
I have a 2008 Ram 3500 with a 6.7 liter Cummins. At 91,000 miles my truck lost power while I was entering an on-ramp to 610 in Houston. The engine did not die, it just did not have any power. I was able to get the truck to the Dodge dealership and after inspection, the service manager told me that the turbo needed to be cleaned. I requested that the turbo be changed while the truck was under warranty. The manager insisted that the turbo did not need to be changed and that the cleaning process was the standard procedure. The turbo was cleaned under warranty and I went on my way. As my truck crossed the 100,000 mile mark (and the end of my warranty) it started making some noise when I accelerated. It sounded like the intake or turbo was sucking air. I first noticed it while towing my boat and the sound is louder under load. I had my mechanic at work check the filter and air intake for signs of damage or cracks. There were none, so I took him for a test drive to hear the noise. He thought it was the turbo so he pulled the intake off the turbo. There was a small amount of oil residue on the inside of the turbo on the air intake side and the rotor blade had some (not very much) play in it. I took the truck back to the same dealership and had them check it out. I was told that the sound was coming from the EGR valve. The mounting bolts were loose and allowing exhaust gas to escape when I accelerated. I was told that the oil was coming from a leaking valve and line on the transmission. I argued that the oil was on the inside of the turbo and that to my knowledge (I'm not a mechanic so I could be wrong) there should not be oil leaking into the intake side of the turbo. He agreed and had the diesel tech check the turbo again. He said the turbo checks out fine. The oil is normal and the small amount of play in the blade is in spec.

Questions:
Has anyone else had similar issues?
Is it common practice to clean a turbo (or at least this particular turbo)?
If you are a Cummins Diesel tech or diesel mechanic, does this diagnosis sound correct?

Sorry for the long post and I thank you for your time.
I am in no way trying to bash Dodge, Cummins, or this particular dealership. I have used all three for many years. I am just concerned because of the previous problems that I have had with my turbo and the fact that this is happening as my warranty expired.


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## eric5678

a loose egr could cause a boost leak which would also cause a loss in power

Have you gotten any messages on the overhead concerning your dpf? I've been in a truck with a clogged dpf and it's pretty awful. You can hear the engine trying to rev, but it just can't.

There's cost involved, but in my opinion at 100k miles you'd be better off in the long run deleting egr/cat/dpf.


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## WildCard07

There have not been any codes about the DPF being clogged. And that was not the problem when they cleaned the turbo at 91,000 miles. The problem this time was the noise and oil on the front side of the turbo. There hasn't been a loss of power. I have thought about deleting the dpf and egr. I was waiting on the warranty to expire.


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## Bearkat73

I have an 08 just like you and haven't run across that problem. That being said I ripped the DPF/EGR off at 55,000 miles and haven't looked back. Sorry your going through the hassle of all that. If I were in your shoes I would take it to a diesel mechanic outside of the dealership, maybe to one of the performance shops to let them look at it. I don't trust the dealerships at all. Had way to many problems with them. After I did that I would be deleting everything I could now that you are out warranty.


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## WildCard07

I've never had a problem with the dealership before. And I might be making too big a deal out of this and I might not. I have just never heard of cleaning a turbo before. When the truck lost power at 91,000 miles they said the turbo was sticking, so they drilled it, tapped it for a cleaning port, and performed a turbo cleaning procedure. I'm just wondering if I should have pushed the issue and made them replace my turbo under warranty the first time. They insist the turbo is fine now. But I have a bad feeling that I will get another 2,000 to 5,000 miles (if that long) down the road and the turbo is going to fail. Have any of you heard of this or performed this procedure before?

I always had it serviced by the dealer so I would not have warranty issues. I have wanted to do the EGR/DPF delete since I bought the truck. But I wanted to wait until the factory warranty ran out. And to be honest I am a little leery of chips and things of that nature because I started having trouble on my old truck as soon as I got my chip installed. When it ran it ran a heck of a lot better than before the chip but it blew sensors constantly. It was a 2000 model 24 valve 2500. I finally took the chip out fixed the sensor and sold the truck. 

Either way thanks for reading and for the replies.


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## FishOnOne

The Cummins 6.7 07-09 years are notorious for soot clogging the turbos and yes the normal warranty procedure is to clean the turbo.

Make sure your dealer installs the latest flash which is supposed to help with the soot build up and also it helps when the truck goes into regen to drive the truck until the regen has been completed to mitigate the soot build up in the turbo/dpf.

Good luck...


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## WildCard07

"The Cummins 6.7 07-09 years are notorious for soot clogging the turbos and yes the normal warranty procedure is to clean the turbo."

That is what I was wanting to know. Thanks for the reply.


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## Galveston Yankee

You should check your crankcase ventilation filter. It is supposed to be changed every 67,500 miles. The CCV filter takes the oily residue out of the engine gases that are fed back through the turbo to be burnt up in the engine. If it isn't changed on schedule or earlier if you do a lot of heavy towing, the turbo will get coated in oil.

Some people delete it. Here is a link showing how one guy deleted his.

http://www.dodgeownerforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=18133.0


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## WildCard07

I had the crank case filter changed on schedule. It should not be due to change again for a while.


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## fishNwithfish

Bearkat73 said:


> I have an 08 just like you and haven't run across that problem. That being said I ripped the DPF/EGR off at 55,000 miles and haven't looked back. Sorry your going through the hassle of all that. If I were in your shoes I would take it to a diesel mechanic outside of the dealership, maybe to one of the performance shops to let them look at it. I don't trust the dealerships at all. Had way to many problems with them. After I did that I would be deleting everything I could now that you are out warranty.


X2 F the epa stuff. 61k on my truck ripped all that stuff off and now it runs like a 5.9 with more power. Only problems I had was ujoint went out causing my tranny to crack in half. Get rid of the emissions stuff and it will help a bunch!


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## Bearkat73

I have replaced two U-joints and hub bearing in the last 15,000 miles so hopefully I am done for a while. Getting the factory u-joints off is a pain in the arse when they glue them and don't have the clips on them.


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## fishNwithfish

Replaced all mine when I replaced the tranny.


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## dieselwiezil

Think you need to call your buddy down in Manvel, hand. ...


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## Jaysand247

I put 180k miles on a 08 . I deleted it with 20 Miles on it . Never had a problem with it . I've got 120k on my 2011 deleted it too no problems yet.


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## WildCard07

As I expected, my turbo ended up going out less than 2,000 miles later. I started having problems at the end of last week. Power surges and running very rough at idle. Took it in and got the call after they had time to check it out that the turbo had failed. Good news is the dealership went ahead and covered the replacement under warranty and the ol' red goat is back on the road.


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## fishNwithfish

Trash that epa stuff
Your turbo will thank you later. Heck everything will thank you later! My truck would throw the dirty turbo code once a month got rid of all that junk and never looked back. Sittin at 105k now with no problems!

if it smells like trout get out


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## Galveston Yankee

WildCard07 said:


> Background info:
> I have a 2008 Ram 3500 with a 6.7 liter Cummins. At 91,000 miles my truck lost power while I was entering an on-ramp to 610 in Houston. The engine did not die, it just did not have any power. I was able to get the truck to the Dodge dealership and after inspection, the service manager told me that the turbo needed to be cleaned. I requested that the turbo be changed while the truck was under warranty. The manager insisted that the turbo did not need to be changed and that the cleaning process was the standard procedure. The turbo was cleaned under warranty and I went on my way. As my truck crossed the 100,000 mile mark (and the end of my warranty) it started making some noise when I accelerated. It sounded like the intake or turbo was sucking air. I first noticed it while towing my boat and the sound is louder under load. I had my mechanic at work check the filter and air intake for signs of damage or cracks. There were none, so I took him for a test drive to hear the noise. He thought it was the turbo so he pulled the intake off the turbo. There was a small amount of oil residue on the inside of the turbo on the air intake side and the rotor blade had some (not very much) play in it. I took the truck back to the same dealership and had them check it out. I was told that the sound was coming from the EGR valve. The mounting bolts were loose and allowing exhaust gas to escape when I accelerated. I was told that the oil was coming from a leaking valve and line on the transmission. I argued that the oil was on the inside of the turbo and that to my knowledge (I'm not a mechanic so I could be wrong) there should not be oil leaking into the intake side of the turbo. He agreed and had the diesel tech check the turbo again. He said the turbo checks out fine. The oil is normal and the small amount of play in the blade is in spec.
> 
> Questions:
> Has anyone else had similar issues?
> Is it common practice to clean a turbo (or at least this particular turbo)?
> If you are a Cummins Diesel tech or diesel mechanic, does this diagnosis sound correct?
> 
> Sorry for the long post and I thank you for your time.
> I am in no way trying to bash Dodge, Cummins, or this particular dealership. I have used all three for many years. I am just concerned because of the previous problems that I have had with my turbo and the fact that this is happening as my warranty expired.


Just about guarantee that the closed crankcase ventilation filter is/was totally soaked and letting oily residue blow into your turbo. The CCV filter has a replacement schedule every 67,500 miles. However, if you regularly put your engine under a heavy load, it needs to be replaced much more often. The filter is supposed to clean out the oily stuff out of the engine gases that fed back into the engine for reburning.

You can delete it which takes next to nothing to do. You engine will be thanking you, too.

http://www.glacierdieselpower.com/dept.aspx?dept_id=67-001


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## BadBob

if i remember correctly there is an electrical plug you can disconnect in the engine bay to stop that carp going back through the motor or you can install a plate in between the valve and intake fwiw but i think youll have a cil


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## Galveston Yankee

What I do know is that when I went to change the CCV filter on my 6.7 at 135K miles, it was completely soaked in oil. I put a new filter in, but decided that I didn't like the possibility of a bunch of oily gases being fed to the turbo. I ordered the bypass kit from Glacier Diesel and installed it. When I did, the turbo had a bunch of oily deposits on it. I have cleaned it the best I can, but will have to pull it eventually to do it right.


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## fishNwithfish

Haven't done the full egr delete but wont that do away with my ccv?

if it smells like trout get out


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## bigfishtx

Glacier diesel sells a crankcase bypass filter that will stop your turbo from being clogged. 

I put one on my 2010 and the turbo looked like a new one at 85,000 mi. 

I see someone already posted this.


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