Deer Valley Diesel in Phoenix Arizona, owned by Rick Cortez. I had just put on my turbo, which was rebuilt by typ4. The overall system wasn't performing as well as it should, and I took it into Deer Valley Diesel, and asked for them to go over it looking for primarily intake side leaks, and also look for exhaust leaks.
10 hours later, I get the truck back, they claim the wastegate actuator was bad, and that was the problem. I couldn't get a hold of typ4, but talked to Joel at Conestoga, he was kind enough to call the shop, and talk with them; where they gave him the 'bad actuator' story. The temporary solution was to wire the wastegate shut.
That night after I got the truck back, and noticed zero boost(instead of the 3psi I was getting). I studied up on how the actuator works, and realized it should've even bad held the wastegate shut, as it's spring loaded. I played with the 'bad wastegate', and it was absolutely good. The spring was holding the rod in, and if pulled out, and released there was a healthy blast of air out of the diaphragm. The next day, I took a squirt bottle of soapy water to the exhaust crossover pipes, as well as the uppipe. I found 3 leaks, and repaired them in under 30 minutes; the turbo really started howling at that point, but still no boost.
I took the wastegate actuator back to Deer Valley Diesel Repair to see what they had to say, and Rick Cortez personally looked at it, and verified it was good. I also pointed out that I found 3 leaks, and that's what I brought it to them for to find, and repair; his response was they charged me for a 'starting point' of troubleshooting. Back to the actuator, since it was good, the story from Rick changed from it being bad, to it not adjusting at all, and was holding the wastegate open a smidge. While explaining this to me, Rick actually was spinning the rod inside the actuator; which I've read it's a no-no to do. I told him not to do it, and hand it back as that would ruin the diaphragm. I also told him the rod adjustment was pinned by Ford.
He then said, 'well it was holding the wastegate open'. I took it, and left. Later that day, I reinstalled the wastegate actuator, and I've got boost. It spools up fairly fast, howls, and I easily hit 5psi of boost. I think there's still an intake side leak, and will be pulling it apart soon enough to install new o-rings.