Ford 6.7L Turbo Failure: Why It Happens & How to Prevent It
Full Video Transcript
00:00 so this is the Garrett dual boost VNT was gated dual compressor on a common shaft turbocharger and Ford used it in the 2011 to 2014 Power Stroke it’s this compressor I really want to show you two inlets into the turbocharger the conventional on Center Inlet and this
00:22 other Inlet that goes to what would be the back plate behind the compressor wheel so if we take off the compressor housing what we have here on a common shaft we have a compressor wheel with two faces and two sets of veins or thins on a common shaft the blade count looks
00:42 to be very similar I can’t see that much of the rear except in this cutaway that we’re showing you on screen and then it’s pretty obvious what’s going on the whole idea here was to have this work at low boost pressure low shaft speed low mass flow all the way up to high boost
01:01 pressure lots of density production and therefore lots of mass flow per CFM it’s all out here it’s like a popsicle on a stick you’ve got all this Mass dangling out on this shaft I can’t imagine the amount of money they spent on design bugging this out over a period of years
01:22 tooling it producing it only to have it gone in four years
Gale Banks Reveals the Ford 6.7L Turbo Failure
During a detailed teardown of a 2011 Ford 6.7L Power Stroke, Gale Banks revealed the secrets behind their innovative turbo. Garrett’s single-sequential turbocharger featured an industry-first double-sided compressor wheel mounted on a single shaft.
Why Did the 6.7L Power Stroke Turbo Fail?
Turbocharger failures plagued 2011 and 2012 model year 6.7L Power Stroke-equipped pickups. Engineers designed the system with weak ceramic ball bearings that shattered under stress. Although Ford switched to stronger steel ball bearings, the fix failed to keep this complex turbo design in production. Consequently, Ford opted for a more reliable single-wheel compressor for the 2015 model year.
Engineering Complexity Meets Reality
The Garrett turbo utilized a dual-compressor design on a common shaft. Ford engineered this system to perform at low boost pressure and low shaft speeds. It also had to generate high density and mass flow at peak boost.
However, this design created significant reliability issues. Imagine a popsicle on a stick; all that mass dangled out on the end of the shaft. Engineers spent years designing, tooling, and producing this unit, only to discontinue it after just four years.
Understanding the Dual-Sided Compressor
If you take off the compressor housing, you can see the compressor wheel clearly. This wheel features two faces and two sets of vanes on one shaft. The blade count remains very similar between the two faces. This innovative layout aimed to balance efficiency across the entire performance range, but the mechanical complexity ultimately led to the turbocharger’s demise.