Turbo water cooling fittings - or should I even bother???

poison · Post by **poison** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:18 pm

Has anyone got a water hose fitting/connector pipe for a Garret Turbo sitting around? Probably a standard fitting for any turbo?

I’m looking for one with at least 100mm of pipe, I have some silicone radiator hose, but it’s probably wise to not directly connect them to the turbo. They are good up 230°C, but I imagine the turbo body gets hotter then that once the engine is stopped.

I think I’ve asked this before, but it was too long ago so…

are there any boosted guys who have added water cooling? And what were the benefits?

The benefits I’d guess were…
Cooler turbo bearing temps – longer turbo life?
Maybe better for the oil temperatures when using water to keep the turbo cool?
If you didn’t have an intercooler it would reduce inlet air temps.

Costs…
Greater load on Radiator.
Hassle 

A couple of guys have freaked out when they saw my set-up and said “OMG no water cooling” you’ll cook the turbo… so I went to the turbo rebuild place and the guy there said it does not harm the turbo at all to run without the water cooling.

2low2c · Post by **2low2c** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:21 pm

I have never run water to the turbo,in my opinion all it seems to do is raise the water temp.
A lot of top end turbos don't have anywhere to connect water to

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:04 pm

water cooling to turbos began when the old non synthetic oil couldnt cope with the temps and would burn (coke) in the turbo galleries....this is easily fixed by using fully synthetic oil to stop this from happeneing....the ONLY turbo you MUST use water cooling on is the roller bearing core types of garret turbos, as they use very very little oil through the bearings and most of the core cooling is via the water.....so if you have the old sleeve bearing turbo then running synthetic oil will give you 90% of the life of a full water cooled/dino oil setup with A LOT less hassle and complexity.

Habanero666 · Post by **Habanero666** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:41 pm

Hi there,

Have a read of the book " Maximum Boost" By Corky Bell.

Anyone heard of Begi? This guy is the owner of that company.

Synthetic oil doesnt help prevent coke build up on bearings, regular oil changes do!

The truth about mineral vs synthetic is always in the answer of the major car and bike manufacturers of the world who design and test their powerplants to run with .....either.

Synthetics last longer and are more stable at higher operating temps. Excellent for track use, but I prefere to use a good mineral oil and change more often ( 5K ) even for occasional track use.

The choice is purely personal. I have rebuilt engines that have been used with synthetic and they look much the same as a mineral oil lubed engine.
Although a lack of control in these examples can bring about bias.

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:44 pm

synthetics can operate at a higher temp before degredation occurs. this is the very reason you should use it in a turbo application....turbos run exhaust gas temps around the 1600 degrees F and that transferrs to the oil via the core causing localised oil breakdown. running mineral oil in a turbo that was designed to run water and oil cooling is asking for trouble....tests have shown that the oil flow for a water cooled turbo are around 1/3 that of its oil cooled counterpart. i wouldnt expect that 1/3 of oil to absorb all that heat without coking

Habanero666 · Post by **Habanero666** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 9:23 pm

Corky Bell
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In my view, the formation of "coke" begins after the high temperature additives in the oil have begun to get injured due to the high temps. Without the presence of good additives, a certain amount of oil (very small amount) will char when left in the center of a very hot turbo. When enough is charred and collected in the bearing cavity of the turbo, it becomes just a matter of time until the oil flow to the bearing is sufficiently inhibited to cause a failure.

The key to avoiding such calamities is to use good oil and change it often. The "good" part has abundant high temperature additives, the "often" part gets rid of the old oil before the good additives are suffering any serious degrade.

Again, just my view, but I'd suggest limiting oil useage to 5000 miles for synthetic and 2500 for mineral.

Without the benefit of a cooler center section, the additives will start to deteriorate sooner. In that case, 2500 and 1500 out to keep the turbo safe.

A "hot shut down" originally meant turning the engine off under boost at max load conditions. This is truly a bad thing to do to journal bearing turbos, and still a bit rough on ball bearing ones. It is, however, not related to any "hot shut downs" while stopping for fuel or pulling into your own driveway.

I have never practiced cooling the system before turning it off, other than making sure the last 30 seconds of motoing were done w/o boost. In 34 years, I've not failed a single turbo on my own vehicles.

Also, in my view, turbo timers are a joke and so are the "after" and "pre" luber devices.

I have not actually looked, but it would be interesting to check out what Porsche does.

Yep no timer on a Porsche! Pretty interesting stuff!

Psycho_Dad · Post by **Psycho_Dad** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:15 pm

anyone remember the old gt4 celicas? water seals on the turbos used to crap out, then drain the radiator water... then pop...

expensive little problem toyota overlooked

PEAce
Psycho_Dad