Turbo blew on my '04 Dodge last Thursday, learned a hard lesson about oil filters

I was hauling a loaded trailer up I-35 near Waco when I heard a whistle turn into a scream. Pulled over fast but by then the turbo was already puking oil. Found out later my cheap oil filter from the auto parts store had a bad anti-drainback valve. Starved the turbo of oil on startup for months till it gave out. Anyone else had luck with a specific brand of oil filter for the 5.9 Cummins?

2 comments

2 Comments

gavinperez1mo ago

Oh come on man, you're blaming a $8 oil filter for a blown turbo on a 5.9? That's like blaming your shoes for tripping over your own feet. Those Cummins turbos are tough as nails, they don't just grenade from a little dry startup. How many miles did you have on the truck? I bet that turbo was already wearing out from years of towing and heat cycles, the oil filter was just the final excuse. Check your maintenance history before you go blaming parts store filters. You probably just ran it too hot too many times and it finally let go.

joseph4481mo ago

I used to be in your camp honestly, thought cheap oil filters were just a scam and you were fine running whatever. But after watching a buddy's 5.9 eat a turbo on a road trip with one of those bargain brand filters, I started digging into the bypass valve specs and found out some of them don't open at the right pressure. His turbo was fine before he threw that filter on, 180k miles of hard towing, then 500 miles later it's smoking like a freight train. So yeah, I get where you're coming from but I've seen enough to know those cheap filters can cause real problems, especially on a cold start when the oil is thick and the filter restricts flow.