of a unit that was damaged by foreign material in the exhaust system and continued to run with no problem to the scheduled overhaul date. The turbocharger was repairable and no unscheduled downtime was incurred.
Welcome to the first Alamo newsletter, where we hope to keep our customers informed of changes at our company and provide helpful information on new products, as well as maintenance problems and solutions that we become aware of.
In September we will be releasing our “extreme duty” turbocharger for the 3600 series Cat® engine. This unit is designed to eliminate the catastrophic failures that occur from time to time with the first generation turbochargers and extend service intervals to more acceptable levels. This will provide a very viable alternative to “upgrading” to the second generation turbochargers.
Meanwhile, sales of our 3500 series Cat® “extreme duty” turbochargers are going well and the units have proven themselves in the most severe service conditions for more than one and a half years. With more than 50 units in the field, we have had no failures of the kind that used to plague some of these units. Photographs are attached
of a unit that was damaged by foreign material in the exhaust system and continued to run with no problem to the scheduled overhaul date. The turbocharger was repairable and no unscheduled downtime was incurred.
I have also attached pictures of the latest “upgrade” from our competitor, which shows the same type of failure as before, after a short running time.
Maintenance Tip of the Month:
One of our customers has alerted us to a cracking problem on 3600 Cat® air filter casings. This would help to explain the mild foreign object damage to the compressor impellers and the dirt on the air side of the turbochargers that we see all too often. You may want to check your units for this problem.
New Products:
We have developed a new water jumper for the 8 GT series White Superior engines. This is the connector for water from the block to the head and has been a source of chronic glycol leaks for many customers. The new design has been tested for over a year with no leaks. Give us a call for more information if you are interested.
Some of our customers have requested a seminar to discuss failure analysis of turbochargers. If you have an interest in this or any other subject regarding “charge-air” systems, please call Lorraine Mikkelson at (403) 295-4614 or email lmikkelson@alamoturbochargers.com so that we may set up an appropriate meeting for this fall.
Thank you for your support.
