so a buddy of mine has a 2000 7.3L. he was asking me about why his turbo surges and i have no good answer. i searched this site and the ones that i found are a little "out of reach" as far as understanding goes. so i have two questions for you guys (or Gals). keep in mind the only thing done to this is a homemade k&n intake, we cut out the muffler and put in 4" pipe, there was no cat or resonator under there, it also has a TST (i think) chip and some gauges.

1. What is turbo surging?

2. How can it be fixed? (other than selling it and getting a cummins..... tried that one ..... it didn't work)

 

surley someone has to have some ideas

 

His turbo isn't surging unless he installed a throttle plate and is blocking off air from getting into the engine somehow.

I think the sound he hears is his wastegate opening.

 

Turbo surging with the 7.3 is pretty common, especially when adding mods. One of the cheapest solutions is replacing the turbo compressor with a 'Wicked Wheel'.

MikeyB

 

If it sounds like a pressure cooker letting off air at WOT when shifting or towing heavy it is probably surge. On a 7.3 with stock turbo you can disconnect the wastegate or add an ATS turbo housing, wicked wheel, or both.

 

I have done some pondering on your question, 3 things come to mind.

1- have him remove the tst and try driving it to see if it helps.

2-If that does not work try putting the muffler back on, also that year 7.3 had 3.5" exhaust and in Fords infinite wisdom they decided to change the turbo compressor housing to actually create turbulence within itself so it would muffle the whistling, wide open exhaust eliminates back pressure which that engine needs to run correctly with a stock turbo housing.

3- has he had the #8 injector changed? They are a long lead injector and they are the last one in the circuit to get fuel, and if an failure is pending it will create a slight surge as well as some other driveability concerns.

Let us know,

Tim

 

we had unplugged the TS Performance chip (6 position 140 extreme) and it doesn't do it then and only builds about 12 psi. with the chip in he can hit 37 but when the wg catches up it goes down to 28 and he is able to maintain about 22 PSI on the highway. also it seems to not do it as much with the muffler off as it did when it was on. the injector has not been changed... really don't have a reason to suggest an injector but i'm not a diesel genius, he hasn't had any other drivability problems with it........... yet. when going WOT and letting off quickly of it shifting it makes a loud WOOSH sound followed by the sound of a dog getting his man parts zapped by an electric fence (or if you down shift with a manual tranny, don't rev it up and pop the clutch, the sounds followed by the tires squealing on the black top) (or maybe even a beagle houling) something along those sounds...... one more thing.... it doesn't seem like blocking off the wastegate would stop the surging (if thats what it is) am i right here or am i just loosin it??


--MaC

 

It sounds like a waste gate issue, the tst is overfueling and creating more boost forcing the wastegate to open hard and not return fast enough, someone else had mentioned going with a bigger waste gate actuator, (good advice). 22 psi of boost is the norm for that engine, 12 is to low and 37 is beyond max efficency for that turbo. The cheapest way out is to change the waste gate actuator. Also check all the boost boots for tears and check the clamps for tightness. The air to air is known to pop seals on the side tanks from over boosting.


Tim

 

Look at the backside (clean side) of the air filter element, does it look like splatters of oil are getting forced out from inside of the factory air box or aftermarket tube?

 

we have checked the boots for the I/C and they appear to be just fine, no cracks or tears or anything like that. i havent checked to filter it self..... it is a K&N cone type filter, however at times i have been know to see black oil (motor oil) inside the intake tube.... he says it is supposed to be that way however i beg to differ on that one. my truck doesn't do anything like that. could this be a bad seal of some sort in the turbo?

--MaC

 

It will have some oil in there because of the way they do the CCV.

 

No, the morons at Ford decided to vent the crankcase into the intake.

Search around, I believe there is a kit to vent it to the atmosphere.