Help! Removal of Rear Turbo

L

lotusnotes

New member
Hi folks! In need of a some knowledge here.. Recently picked up a 2015 Explorer Sport Ecoboost that was a bit of a mechanic special. Symptom was heavy smoking... and discovered that both turbo's were totally shot. Front one lost its turbine rear unit has huge play in it. Already Replaced front easily, and now moving onto the rear or "right" turbo as it's referred to. Where I'm at is I have it totally disconnected, however so far I can't actually REMOVE it from the vehicle.

I can maneuver it in it's little cavity that it's in, coming out the bottom it hits the front passenger axle/subframe, and trying to come out the top its hitting coolant lines, gets hung up trying to shove it back by the PTU / rear driveshaft..  the upper portion of the exhaust manifold, what the hell is going on? It seems like it should come out the bottom and it almost fits but not quite. I tried jacking the engine/trans up a little with a jack and block of wood on oil pan, and it almost clears, it really seems like it should come out the bottom, but due to the size and shape of it seems nomatter way I twist or reverse it gets hung up somewhere.

I saw this post which appears to be Taurus SHO and they hint that the lower subframe needs to drop which makes sense. I'd rather get it out without this but is any good ideas of how best to lower the subframe? Do I have to mark it for alignment before this, pull any steering components first.. ?

https://www.ecoboostperformanceforum.com/index.php?topic=9106.0

At least on the Flex forums these guys say it can be wiggled out by turning the long pipe of the turbo inboard but still not really sure what that means. I tried this last night and still couldn't get it out. Anyone do this on an Explorer Sport 3.5 ??

https://www.fordflex.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17751

Would really rather not remove more components or the subframe if I don't have to.. To anyone who's done this on an Explorer, how the hell did you get this unit out of here?

Thanks!
 
It's hard to say... I see that that front axle goes in and then there is a boot and CV about half way in, and it is there secured to a secondary mounting bracket where then from that bracket it goes into the PTU. It's not clear to me how exactly those pieces disassemble, this secondary mounting point for the axle is really what is in the way. It his that, the subframe and then if you slide it over trying to squeeze it by it hits the PTU itself.

I just spoke to a Ford dealer Foreman here and they said that they have done one and found they had to lower the subframe to get at it.  I don't have the FSM for this vehicle, does anyone know  how to do that, do I have to pull steering, the sway bar, etc?    I was trying to avoid this as I'm thinking if I touch the subframe I then have to get the vehicle aligned so way hoping for a better way
 
I removed my passenger axle and knuckle/rotor/wheel bearing assembly and was able to fairly easily maneuver the rear turbo out, also put it back up that way as well.  I did this with the front of the car on jack stands from my back.  I didn't drop the subframe.

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Plenty of room. 
c9d99c73faa936e3294db7797b7963b2.jpg


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Yes!!  This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

I have a good impact so Axle bolt shouldn't be an issue... Anything out of the ordinary or I should look out for pulling those components?
 
LOL. Looking at it last night it didn't look like it would make a difference to me... but I've been convinced!

Will give it a try and report back. Thanks you guys
 
lotusnotes said:
LOL. Looking at it last night it didn't look like it would make a difference to me... but I've been convinced!

Will give it a try and report back. Thanks you guys
Click to expand...

You are in good hands.  Please report back with your progress. It will help another person in the future.
 
Thanks will do. Just to post the carnage of the front turbo, it lost the turbine on the hot side completely. Rear did not catastrophically fail like this but is still very very bad. When I investigated the top Wastegate control line to charge pipe had popped off, I assumed it was this that led to their demise. Have about 115k miles on the truck, filter screens inserts within the oil feed lines were very bad as well. Will replace with all new lines.

Also finding the oil return lines are VERY stuck in the block. Got the front one with PB blaster and twisting it and pulling. Any other tips for that? 

Should have some time to get under there tonight after work

 
We were able to get mine out with nothing removed on my Flex back in 13 just by flipping the turbo around a few times like tetris :)
 
Well, lucky you! I've got the studs off mine, oil line removed, loosened the actuator, and I've played tetris with it for about 2 hours and there looks like no F'ing way to me!  At least on the Explorer. So I'll pull the axle and to me that's a much better option than the subframe...
 
like 802 said you can pull just the half shaft and no need to pull the stub shaft. Also you can leave the knuckle attached to the strut so you don't need an alignment but you will need a large pry bar to push down on the A arm. I just did the GH turbos and the back one took me 3x longer than the front.
 
76fomoco said:
like 802 said you can pull just the half shaft and no need to pull the stub shaft. Also you can leave the knuckle attached to the strut so you don't need an alignment but you will need a large pry bar to push down on the A arm. I just did the GH turbos and the back one took me 3x longer than the front.
Click to expand...
Yeah I pulled the knuckles on both sides to replace my front struts.  Cool that there's isnt any tension on the H&R Springs so it didn't require any special tools to swap the springs out.

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You guys are awesome. Turbo is out, Axle removal was not at all difficult and as pictured loads of space, just a slight rotate on the way out and it comes right out.

I called 2 different Ford dealers (before posting to this forum....)  and was told by the shop Foreman that you must lower the subframe, it's impossible without and the Ford FSM states it that way. And the second dealer told me that I had to remove the transfer case, which makes far less sense than the fist answer. So I think I know where to come to for advice now!

Being totally new to this platform it wasn't obvious to me that the axle which had that intermediate mount point would just all slide out in one piece which it totally does, and that made all the difference.

I ended up pulling the top 2 bolts on the strut to knuckle, but I marked them for rotation to the strut for alignment top and bottom prior to removal.  They don't 'look' like eccentric bolts to me at a glance, unless they are very slightly oval'd.  Do you think I will be OK for this on re-installation or is alignment very necessary? 

This turbo was also in very bad shape, oil line screen was pretty black, and the turbine has seen many better days..

Thanks everyone for your help!

 
Forgot to mention oil return line was very seized in place (truck was from Alberta) but pulled out with Penetrating lube and a pair of channel locks for grip while twisting, prying on the channel locks to force it out.  Now just waiting on new turbo and lines and should be in good shape
 
Yeah just slide that axle back in.  I found it interesting myself how simple and easy pulling it out and putting it back in is.  I wondered about marking it but it doesn't need to be aligned any kind of way. 

Not an easy task bc of the tightness of everything for the rear turbo but its not super complicated either.  Nice work.

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Thanks to you guys for all the tips. I wasn't sure about the knuckle-to-strut bolts which I marked in case it had a bearing on alignment but they went out in exactly the position they went back in. Drives very straight so I doubt this affected anything at all in terms of alignment.  Truck is now back together and running great, no leaks, heaps of power for a 3.5L!
 
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