C-13 single turbo kit

biggy238 said:
Blown turbos and coolers in what time frame?

Sent from my Moto X using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The last time we blew a cooler was about 2 years ago and I want to say we lost a turbo about 6 months prior to that.
 
Aahhh OK.

The diaphragm mixing valves on the C13 need replaced. They thermally shock the coolers and rupture them. CAT has updated parts available.

Sent from my Moto X using Tapatalk
 
I'm not completely sold on the idea of going to an aftermarket turbo kit but oldguytuner.com seems to be having good luck with them. He said he had multiple fleets that have converted all of their trucks without issues. I like to keep my work trucks easily serviceable and break my duramax haha
 
Trojan366 said:
I'm not completely sold on the idea of going to an aftermarket turbo kit but oldguytuner.com seems to be having good luck with them. He said he had multiple fleets that have converted all of their trucks without issues. I like to keep my work trucks easily serviceable and break my duramax haha
Click to expand...

Is this the same guy that sells fixed geometry conversions for the ISX? We have gotten a few complaints from somebody out there selling them. They fail to inform the customer that they lose a lot of their braking. No Quality Complaints on his workmanship though.

On the single turbo C13:

I offer the kits at my shop but will never convince anybody to buy them. They are good for a guy with a low mileage C13 that wants to keep the truck for a long time or the guy who has convinced himself that is what he needs. It can pay off in that instance. However, a high mileage truck is better off getting new replacement parts and finishing its life that way because the conversion simply will not pay off. Out of all of my cores here the C13 and C15 compounds come in with the best components. No broken shafts, no rubbing of the housings, no burnt up turbines, etc... The only exception are ones with a valve going through them. Moral of the story is the turbos are tough as nails on those. They leak oil long before they grenade.
 
Last edited:
Trojan366 said:
The cost of replacing factory turbos or the precooler every 50-75k is not exactly appealing to me. As far as performance loss I find it hard to believe that a single on a c-13 would be any worse off than all of our single turbo c-12 powered trucks

Edit: We are not doing this for fun. The truck needs attention and this is not the first time it has had issues
Click to expand...


The C12 and C13 couldn't be farther apart if you were comparing a C13 to a Detroit. I've had both and still have one C13 that I would like to bury. Turbos have been the least of its issues. If your going through parts like this you have other issues. If your dead set on doing it be prepared to be disappointed and never make the cost back.
 
The truck has about 200k miles on it which is around the half way point in it's life here. Based on the fact that we are installing the 3rd turbo on the truck and it is on its 3rd precooler I think it would be safe to assume we would need to replace them each 3 times over the next 200k. We are going to try the single and see how it goes.
 
I would personally find myself a good running C12 and swap the entire C13 engine out. Sell the C13 as it still runs well. Tune the C12, get rid of the stub shaft Garrett turbo. Come out very well in the deal and never look back.
 
zfaylor said:
I would personally find myself a good running C12 and swap the entire C13 engine out. Sell the C13 as it still runs well. Tune the C12, get rid of the stub shaft Garrett turbo. Come out very well in the deal and never look back.
Click to expand...

More work than I am looking into dealing with. Trying to get the truck back on the road asap. The motor itself has given us no issue. It is almost all in the turbo setup.
 
Did i here something about removing the IVA and swapping parts from a 6NZ? correct me if I am wrong on this? Farmers main concern is oil pressure and has to do with IVA leaking. he said if he is spending the money he wants to go simpler and do single turbo, so he is able to work on it easier if need be and to clean up engine bay since the truck will never be sold. I got invited to talk to a company at the Peoria Farm show in Peoria Illinois about single turbo conversions and having our shop test some of there tunes on repeated customers. I told them I want to optimize stock tuning on the c13 before we make the swap to have numbers to back it up rather than just word of mouth.
 
vinniehobart said:
Did i here something about removing the IVA and swapping parts from a 6NZ? correct me if I am wrong on this? Farmers main concern is oil pressure and has to do with IVA leaking. he said if he is spending the money he wants to go simpler and do single turbo, so he is able to work on it easier if need be and to clean up engine bay since the truck will never be sold. I got invited to talk to a company at the Peoria Farm show in Peoria Illinois about single turbo conversions and having our shop test some of there tunes on repeated customers. I told them I want to optimize stock tuning on the c13 before we make the swap to have numbers to back it up rather than just word of mouth.
Click to expand...

I assume you spoke with Area diesel given they are big into the single turbo conversions. Really good people. Maybe not given they have had their programmers out for a while now but anyways. Simpler is not necessarily single turbo. Your local CAT dealer probably stocks all of the common failure parts for the C13. Go single turbo and you are waiting for parts on the turbo side of things. Notice none of the problems mentioned typically point to the turbochargers being the issue. A tune and backing the IVAs off will alleviate most of the issues.

I know biggy sent me some info on updates to help deal with oil pressure issues. Eric from Michigan CAT told me one of the biggest issues they have encountered was OTR trucks idling all night with low oil pressure.


I know the engines like to do some magical machine work to the sides of the block with a rod hammer in concrete truck apps where they cycle a ton.
 
Last edited:
I've done a bunch with IVA's deleted and hp added and they do great. 550hp to the tires and never get your hands dirty. Some up to 800k miles and never been touched. The single turbo conversions are a solution to a problem that practically doesn't exist. Had some guys want them done because they keep breaking bellows. Blaming the twins when all it is they didn't align the turbo housings when they reinstalled them.
 
jfaulkner said:
I've done a bunch with IVA's deleted and hp added and they do great. 550hp to the tires and never get your hands dirty. Some up to 800k miles and never been touched. The single turbo conversions are a solution to a problem that practically doesn't exist. Had some guys want them done because they keep breaking bellows. Blaming the twins when all it is they didn't align the turbo housings when they reinstalled them.
Click to expand...
If only you could read my text messages.

Repeated turbo failures are almost always due to kinked supply lines and openings in the charge air components.

Bellows are almost always damaged. They can be incredibly subtle, to the point you have to stick your hand in and feel the air charge escaping.

Like others have said, the money is better spent on the oil system updates, diverter valve update, and a tune to disable the IVA's.

After that you're just waiting on a rocker to turn sideways at 600k ?

Sent from my Moto X using Tapatalk
 
jfaulkner said:
I've done a bunch with IVA's deleted and hp added and they do great. 550hp to the tires and never get your hands dirty. Some up to 800k miles and never been touched. The single turbo conversions are a solution to a problem that practically doesn't exist. Had some guys want them done because they keep breaking bellows. Blaming the twins when all it is they didn't align the turbo housings when they reinstalled them.
Click to expand...

This. When bellows are properly aligned, they can live to overhaul.
 
biggy238 said:
If only you could read my text messages.

Repeated turbo failures are almost always due to kinked supply lines and openings in the charge air components.

Bellows are almost always damaged. They can be incredibly subtle, to the point you have to stick your hand in and feel the air charge escaping.

Like others have said, the money is better spent on the oil system updates, diverter valve update, and a tune to disable the IVA's.

After that you're just waiting on a rocker to turn sideways at 600k ?

Sent from my Moto X using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

LOL Bosnians....


Anybody contemplating the single turbo kit in this thread needs to answer one question for me:

How many turbochargers have you had completely fail on your C13? I mean grenade, destroy a wheel, etc...
 
Thanks guys! This is why I started the thread. Where could I locate parts for the IVA deletes? is there CAT part # etc. or a thread on CompD doing this? Every farmer in this area has a C13 and they want better mileage. They come to us for Performance and they go to CAT for the rebuilds since cat wont do performance modifications themselves. Anyone on here tune c13 for IVA delete optimal mileage?
 
vinniehobart said:
Thanks guys! This is why I started the thread. Where could I locate parts for the IVA deletes? is there CAT part # etc. or a thread on CompD doing this? Every farmer in this area has a C13 and they want better mileage. They come to us for Performance and they go to CAT for the rebuilds since cat wont do performance modifications themselves. Anyone on here tune c13 for IVA delete optimal mileage?
Click to expand...


Just want to clear some things up. Deleting IVA's does nothing for performance or fuel mileage. When they're working like they're supposed to there isn't really any reason to turn them off. However some trucks are plagued with issues from cracked housings to countless solenoids and sensors and turning them off is usually the best fix.
 
vinniehobart said:
Thanks guys! This is why I started the thread. Where could I locate parts for the IVA deletes? is there CAT part # etc. or a thread on CompD doing this? Every farmer in this area has a C13 and they want better mileage. They come to us for Performance and they go to CAT for the rebuilds since cat wont do performance modifications themselves. Anyone on here tune c13 for IVA delete optimal mileage?
Click to expand...

I can tell you with confidence that this sort of information isn't TYPICALLY given out. There may be a good soul on here that will but most have to spend hours in the CAT engineering software or sorting through files to find their tuning and tend to guard it a little closer than that.
 
zfaylor said:
I can tell you with confidence that this sort of information isn't TYPICALLY given out. There may be a good soul on here that will but most have to spend hours in the CAT engineering software or sorting through files to find their tuning and tend to guard it a little closer than that.
Click to expand...


This... I wish I could figure out how to sort through and find the files I'm after. It's a long process.
 
What exactly ARE you after?

Sent from my Moto X using Tapatalk
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top