Are there any instances where the coolant to the turbo is cooled by the AC unit, or in a similar way? I know about air/water intercoolers, but I vaguely recall a system where the turbo used coolant that had its temp reduced with the AC unit in the car. Didn't one of the Dodge engines use the AC to cool the air intake charge?
Cooling the turbocharger
- Thread starter Shel_B
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My old Merkur (believe it or not) had a Garrett turbo on it. It also was cooled by coolant from the radiator. Not sure of the exact plumbing setup, but it worked well and never leaked.
If it worked well, it might have been the only thing to work well. I bought a used XR4Ti and it was such poorly engineered junk.
Most modern turbos have coolant passages to keep the turbo temperatures in check and prevent coking. There are aftermarket solutions for what you are asking:
https://www.frozenboost.com/
https://www.frozenboost.com/
I think you're mixing two different things. There's cooling the charge air (air-to-air, air-to-water) and cooling the turbo itself via engine coolant.
I don't think anyone has used the air conditioning system to cool either the charge air or the coolant. It would be very complex to implement in either situation. For example you would need an additional radiator which would be placed downstream of the evaporator core along with all the additional long run piping leading from the turbo to the evap coil. How would you modulate cabin temps when the system would always be adding heat to the air entering the cabin?
I suppose theoretically you could add an additional A/C compressor in place of the typical intercooler but that would be expensive and you would have to contend with a boost leak because condensate would have to go somewhere unless you let the engine ingest it.
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That is how I see OP also.
My old '92 Volvo has an intercooler and is linked to the cooling system to cool the turbo itself. I believe the turbo is made by Mitsubishi. This is nothing new.
Cooling down the Charge temp is probably what you are thinking of which is way different than "Cooling the Turbo Charger".
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I believe Hellcats (or maybe just the Demon) used the AC to cool the inlet air.
Looks like this is just the Demon. Here's an article: https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-ca...2887/dodge-demon-air-conditioning-power-tech/
This is called an "interchiller" and can be found aftermarket.
I'm thinking this is what the OP was remembering. It's cooling the intake charge, not chilling the coolant to the turbo (I think that would probably be a bad idea).
There was some confusion in this thread with water-to-air intercoolers.
Water-cooled turbos (also mentioned in this thread) are very common. I think it was only in the bad ol' days when turbos weren't water cooled (and thus had short lives).
So with the Demon you can either have cabin A/C or use the A/C to chill the charge air. Not both which is not ideal for every day driving.
Don't think you need to chill the charge air in every day driving...
My Passat has plastic coolant lines in close proximity to one of the radiator fans. These lines serve the turbo coolant return and also the auxiliary run-on coolant pump, so in theory, could be cooled when the A/C fan is activated. But no, the turbo is not directly cooled by the A/C system.
my 2001 Audi TT turbo uses oil as well as water to cool it + its afterrun pump continues to circulate the water-coolant until a preset temp when it shuts off. after a hot drive opening the hood for a while if in a safe environment. better real synthetic oils are a plus as well.
He means cooling the charge air with the ac system. Not just using a intercooler.
If looking for the AC to cool the intake charge from a turbo or supercharger, a few concept cars had this but as previously mentioned, the Demon might be one of the only production cars with it. There are aftermarket systems that can do this but a skilled installer / fabricator would be the only way to get it done.
Here is a good video of how it is/can be done aftermarket:
Here is a good video of how it is/can be done aftermarket:
I think modern turbos are cooled by the engine's cooling system, and are lubed by engine oil. In the case of the BMW B58 engine, the oil goes through a cooler/heater where the oil is either cooled or heated by the engine's coolant. Additionally, the intake manifold is cooled by a separate cooling system which include a separate radiator.
Most modern turbochargers (20+ years) have a coolant circuit through the turbo center section to keep bearing temperatures in check, battling heat soak from the turbine housing.
The new ford powerstroke HO routes coolant through the compressor housing, to help keep it from getting too hot during sustained high load. (Note, that's also an engine where the charge air cooler is liquid coupled to a secondary, low temperature cooling system.)
On my 2006 duramax, the coolant circuit to the turbo used a third thermostat, positioned such that it did not open until the engine began dispatching hot coolant to the radiator...and then stayed open for the remainder of the drive cycle. IE, the turbo cooling circuit was inactive during initial warmup.
The new ford powerstroke HO routes coolant through the compressor housing, to help keep it from getting too hot during sustained high load. (Note, that's also an engine where the charge air cooler is liquid coupled to a secondary, low temperature cooling system.)
On my 2006 duramax, the coolant circuit to the turbo used a third thermostat, positioned such that it did not open until the engine began dispatching hot coolant to the radiator...and then stayed open for the remainder of the drive cycle. IE, the turbo cooling circuit was inactive during initial warmup.
If you want to prolong the turbo life yeah cool the turbo.
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If you want to lower your IAT meth injection will be several orders of magnitude better for your goals per dollar spent.
