2016 Ram 1500 Eco Diesel turbo replacement

[VK2019]

Last weekend I got the Service Electronic Throttle Light while driving on the freeway at about 65 mph. Took the truck to the dealer, and had the P0234 turbo over-boost code. The next day the Service Manager called and said that they diagnosed a bad turbo and they need to replace it. The truck has been properly maintained and has about 35K miles on it. I would like to get more info on the details of the turbo replacement work. It appears that this is a major effort, and I am trying to get an understanding of all of the work and procedures to be done, so I can have some assurance that work was performed completely and correctly. I believe that work needs to performed by a trained, experienced, knowledgeable, qualified, technician. If they need to re-fix the problem a second time, they generally are not qualified to perform the work the first time.

Please, can anyone provide details on the reason for turbo failure, and replacement work procedure? And also share their experience with the dealer service shop that performed this work. Thanks.

 

[Arkie 16]

Shop procedure to gain access to turbo is to lift the cab.

 

[VK2019]

Shop procedure to gain access to turbo is to lift the cab.

thank you, it must be a bear of a job to lift the cab to get to it. Any suggestions for inspecting that the job was done correctly?

 

[TC Diesel]

I doubt the turbo has failed.

I believe that work needs to performed by a trained, experienced, knowledgeable, qualified, technician...

extremely rare to find at any dealership.
___

the Service Manager called and said that they diagnosed a bad turbo and they need to replace it.

What procedure did they use, Did they check the Plenum, MAP, TV, EGR.
___

Was the DPF checked for % of soot level.

 

[VK2019]

I don't know what processes they used to arrive at the failed turbo yet, I will be talking with their "experienced" technician later today to find out their diagnostics for the conclusion. When I drove it to the shop, there were strange noises coming from under the hood close to the location of the turbo, they sounded like a gurgle and low frequency whistle when I let of the throttle, which sounded to me that it may be the turbo.. It went into the limp mode when driven with harder throttle to accelerate, and the Service Electronic Throttle Light came on immediately, about a mile from the dealership. The P0234 code does indicate that the turbo may be malfunctioning, the variable vanes actuator may be a problem. However, I am just guessing.

Is it rude to ask to see the service technicians qualification, or this will piss them off to the point of making the repairs poorly? What would you suggest to do? This "experienced" technician has supposedly replaced several turbos on the ED, and I really don't know his customer skills to start asking qualification questions. A typical mechanic of my generation would get pretty pissed off by questions.

As typically, I have requested a visual inspection of all of the replaced parts for my own information and evaluation. And also I will request their inspection evaluation of condition of the related components that may be suspect. i.e. Air intake manifold, throttle body, MAP, TV, EGR valve, etc.

I really want to thank you for your info input on this. This is my first time with a serious issue on the ED.

 

[TC Diesel]

More info the better, The whistle sound is more like a leak, and if its a leak it will throw turbo Codes, and if the turbo is done its probably just the beginning of your problems, the intake will be next and than the DPF.

If they replace the turbo demand to see the intake plenum , I'm 100% sure its sooted up and if its wet soot the EGR is leaking.

 

[VK2019]

I agree that this may be a beginning of an ugly continuing situation, and that is why I am being anal about it. The real question that I have is, what is the root cause of the turbo failure? Is it manufacturing or design or installation defect of the turbo, or is this an induced failure of other components malfunctioning? So what should I do at this point to ensure that the root cause of this failure was known and repaired properly?

thanks again, and btw is there a way I could personally speak with you on the phone? My typing is slow!

 

[TC Diesel]

#1 Cause Sooting of VGT vanes. The 3.0 a filthy dirty sooty engine when use primarily for city use.

 

[VK2019]

Thanks for the pics. I have been thinking that this truck may not have been designed for a city driving. What can be done so that this soot build up us minimized or cleaned up? Additives, driving highway miles, or something else?

 

[TC Diesel]

I tried everything and My final conclusion Tune or delete.

 

[VK2019]

How do you mean Tune? The GDE tune of the ECM? And also Delete, what all is involved? I do not know much about those. Thanks for your response.

 

[VK2019]

Well here is an update. Technician diagnosed the turbo fault by exercising the turbo controller, via simulated digital input, and the turbo vanes position would not change, 0% to 100% to 0%. The turbo was/is faulty, and the failure is the variable vanes (VGT) are stuck/difficult to move i.e. seized up, so it gets a new turbo and all of the gaskets for exhaust manifolds, etc. All the other parts, TV, EGR tube were all in reasonable sooted condition. Nowhere near the condition in previous above pics, no oil in the inter-cooler hoses, and no coolant leaks around the EGR cooler. I was pleased that the technician and the service manager were very cooperating about me visually inspecting the work and asking questions about this type of failure. That is to say that I was allowed in the operating room! This is an enormous job for changing/replacing a turbo, the cab was removed from the chassis/frame, disconnected all hoses and A/C connections, etc. I would not do a job like that in my garage, and I have replaced transmissions, diffs, transfer cases, suspensions, and then some.

The tech is a nice personable young man with diesel motor experience and I believe that he will perform the work correctly. Time will tell.
TC Diesel, I would like to thank you for your input. And, I do like my truck!

 

[Georgek]

Good luck! Hope it solves the problem and doesnt recur.

 

[Ram15]

Yes Good Luck, I Had a 2015 Eco, at 101K miles lost the High Pressure fuel pump, two weeks later one exhaust sensor, two more weeks and the entire DPF system, all totaled to about $14000 from private mechanic, Dealer was way more $$, and the 14K was out of my pocket, Ram would do Nothing to help with, as the warranty was up with 101K miles in a the two year old truck, (FYI fwy miles, no towing or hauling, just me in the truck) seems no one can pin point why the Service Electronic Throtlle control goes off, mine was reset three times by the dealer just BEFORE we had all the issue.
again Good Luck, I plan to sue Ram for finanancial recovery

 

[1st Ram]

They had the cab and front end off our 17 eco when they fixed the timing cover leak. Said it is easier to work on them like that. Something like six bolts some electrical plugs, AC and radiator hoses all it takes to separate. Don't know if it was a coincidence, but I had coolant issues later on. I did find out that if the coolant is not vacuumed to purge all the air it can cause the egr cooler to leak. Had two EGR coolers put on since. One at that dealership and the other one at another dealership when the first one kept telling me there was nothing wrong. Second dealership put the dye in the coolant, found coolant in EGR. That's when I was told about vacuum purging the coolant.

 

[Gossman78]

Yes Good Luck, I Had a 2015 Eco, at 101K miles lost the High Pressure fuel pump, two weeks later one exhaust sensor, two more weeks and the entire DPF system, all totaled to about $14000 from private mechanic, Dealer was way more $$, and the 14K was out of my pocket, Ram would do Nothing to help with, as the warranty was up with 101K miles in a the two year old truck, (FYI fwy miles, no towing or hauling, just me in the truck) seems no one can pin point why the Service Electronic Throtlle control goes off, mine was reset three times by the dealer just BEFORE we had all the issue.
again Good Luck, I plan to sue Ram for finanancial recovery

I'm curious. Why if the cost to fix was $14k did you opt to replace instead of delete the DPF and tune with GDE? Are you in an area that requires the emissions?

 

[cs in Alabama]

Yes Good Luck, I Had a 2015 Eco, at 101K miles lost the High Pressure fuel pump, two weeks later one exhaust sensor, two more weeks and the entire DPF system, all totaled to about $14000 from private mechanic, Dealer was way more $$, and the 14K was out of my pocket, Ram would do Nothing to help with, as the warranty was up with 101K miles in a the two year old truck, (FYI fwy miles, no towing or hauling, just me in the truck) seems no one can pin point why the Service Electronic Throtlle control goes off, mine was reset three times by the dealer just BEFORE we had all the issue.
again Good Luck, I plan to sue Ram for finanancial recovery

If you still have the truck the new, extended warranty might cover it.

 

[Chuck Reagin]

What altitude were you at when this happened?

 

[Agapetus]

I have had this 5 times. Each time the truck went into lip mode. First time the dealer did a update. Second time they replaced some sensor, after I didn't even get 10 miles down the road before it came back. Went to different dealer. Took two weeks to replace turbo. Didn't fix problem. 4th time I was told I had a bad turbo again, replacement didn't fix it. Now they replaced the air hoses for the turbo ( or something like that).

 

[Georgek]

Agap, im sorry. I love my truck but you should lemon law it.