How do you know when a turbo is going out. Mine doesn't whistle as much as it used to? Should I worry as the weather is changing and I am new to this diesel thing.

 

Pull your air cleaner off and check the shaft play, wiggle the end and see how tight it is up and down and front to back

 

a little up and down is ok, but if its alot, like enough that it can hit the housing then yea, thats bad.

usually when they go bad tho you will know because they will make LOTS of noise. its metal, spinning at like 50,000rpm...its gonna make noise if something bad happens

 

It will make a god-awful screeching noise when the blades are hitting the housing. Like what was said before a little lateral play is OK, after all these are FLUID bearing turbos. Meaning that the shaft ends have bushings and oil seals but it relies on a pressurized oil supply for full support and lubrication of the shaft. So it is natural to have a little side-side, up-down (lateral) play in the shaft. Back and forth is another thing, and AFAIK (as far as I know), it is ideal to have no back and forth play. My turbo has none.

 

I have wanted a bigger turbo for a while now. But when I removed air intake to replace oil filter when I service the CTD I found oil inside turbo so I checked for sided to sided play and found alot more than I wanted.It's not hitting yet but you could not fit a piece of paper between blades and housing .So here was my exscuse to replace it {justification to wife} so CTD sets idle till new one gets here {USPS please hurry} and don't want to ruin old one so I can rebuild it! So thats my story on how I found mine !
LOL Fishjager

 

Thanks for the info guys, mine checked out fine.

 

i would venture to guess the oil on the inside of your turbo was coming from your k and n filter. actually, if you were running a k&n air filter, i would gaurantee it.