It's been about forever, but my F250 is once again on the road, having had the turbocharger replaced. During the downtime I also completed several little projects. I've taken it down the road and picked up a yard of dirt, so I know it's working. I still need to deal with two or three more things and then I can attack the Mercedes again.
One day I came out and found the Ford's crankcase full of water, so I embarked upon a massive quest of repair. Taking the turbocharger off resulted in some center section damage, and I still have yet to separate the center section and exhaust housing, so I wound up getting a rebuilt turbocharger from Blaast Performance in Canada. Unfortunately, it came completely unclocked, and I'm not sure I got the compressor side clocked right. There seems to be some air leakage at the entrance into the intake snail.
In the bargain, I also integrated my headlight relay kit into the main harness. I eliminated the plug between the stock harness and the headlight harness, and ripped out the excess wiring. I relocated the vacuum sensor and can to the driver's side, where they are located on the 6.9 liter trucks — most importantly, removing them from the passenger side plastic fender, to which Ford attached them. I still have to relocate the fuse I added when swapping to the 3G alternator in lieu of the fusible link removed with the original alternator wiring to the battery tray stay. I also added in a wire for driving lights, but I haven't installed them yet. I have a nice pair of Bosch units that will mount to the bottom tray of the core support.
I also flushed the cooling system with filtered water, and washed out the overflow tank. The system was contaminated with some oil from the vehicle which donated the radiator; soaking it with soap several times was inadequate to remove it, but I think most of it is gone now. I replaced the cracked overflow hose with a piece of silicone tubing.
Finally, I also finished my intake upgrade, and the GM 6.5 CDR is now safely plumbed into the intake system without leaks. There's no oil leaks at the turbo either, though there is some oil spatter through the air leak at the turbo.