Turbo Temps?

[buster]

I was just in PepBoys buying a few things and noticed on one of the end caps a new Mobil 1 product brochure. They listed 4 reasons why Synthetic (Mobil 1 ) is better than conventional. Pictures were included for all 4.

1. Turbo temps of 900F, Mobil 1 protected engine parts.
2. 15,000 mile tear down M1 vs conventional from Las Vegas
3. Wear protection. Two pictures of bearings.
4. Cold flow. -35F.

Do turbo's gett that hot? 900F?

 

[XS650]

The turbine side does, it's running in 1600F exhaust gas. Even the air coming off the compressor is a few hundred degrees if you are making a good amount of boost.

If you shut the engine down right after a hard run (a dumb thing to do, but it happens), it would be reasonable for the lubed area to get that hot.

 

[Turk]

I believe they can, yes.

I had a Turbo in my 1995 Dodge Omni GLH Turbo. 2.2, 5 Speed Caroll Shelby designed. I doubled the Turbo Boost.

It had a warped head probably because the Turbo & engine got so hot.

What a quick car though...

 

[BuickGN]

My headers will get yellow hot, my turbo glows bright red after a 1/4 mile blast. While the headers cool off quickly, the turbo will glow for several minutes. EGTs are close to 1,700 degrees. If I'm messing around on the street, especially when I'm doing tuning runs, the turbo will light up the engine compartment at night.

Luckily most of this heat doesn't get transferred to the compressor side. Compressor outlet temps on my car are just a few degrees above ambient out of boost. The heat in the charge air comes from compression of the air and friction between the compressor wheel and air. The turbine side has a very, very small part of this.

 

[cosynthetics]

I had a Ford Turbocoupe that I got the turbo so hot that it glowed red and caught the surrounding wires on fire. I was playing a little too hard.... : )

 

[buster]

Thanks, I'm not familiar with turbos. Never realized how hot they get.

 

[Steve S]

Syn oil will not protect a turbo if it the engine is shut down with the turbo hot . The temps at which the syn oils coke are well below the temps of the turbo. 300*f or below is a good temp to shut down the engine.

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: tpitcher
I believe they can, yes.

I had a Turbo in my 1995 Dodge Omni GLH Turbo. 2.2, 5 Speed Caroll Shelby designed. I doubled the Turbo Boost.

It had a warped head probably because the Turbo & engine got so hot.

What a quick car though...
GLH = goes like heck!!

 

[Eddie]

A turbo unit will run at a dull red heat(900-1100 F.) when in medium boost. Another surprise is that when I looked at the CX7 factory manual, it appears that our turbos are NOT water cooled. Lways good to let the engine idle for 1-3 minutes (depending on how hard driven before shutdown) before shutting off. Some will say no need but, that is good insurance I think.

 

[hooligan24]

I like to let my car cool down until the oil temps get back down to normal freeway driving temps of 195 degrees. after a 30 minute session on the track, it only takes 4-5 minutes for the temps to drop back down. my turbo is also water cooled and has air forced thru a duct in the hood and onto the top of the turbo. I have seen the exhaust manifold glowing before, so Im sure the turbo was pretty [censored] hot.

 

[Chris142]

I have a Pyrometer mounted about an inch (cold side) behind my turbo on my truck. I have seen it get to 1100.

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,
buster - Well they sure do get very hot. It is quite common to see the oil return line from the turbo up near the 175C mark normally and much higher (see about the pyrometer temps mentioned by Chris142 - very accurate)

When turbos first really become a "goer" on high speed highway diesels (thanks to the Scania (Sweden) & Mack (US) alliance of the 1950s) their placement and construction meant that they had to be replaced at around 80kkms as a service task. This was mandated by Volvo well into the early 1980s (Volvo quickly developed their own lubricant standards)

This was largely due to the lubricants of the time leaving such deposits in the turbo's bearing area that it restricted flow and they "died"

Idle timers were eventually used to help with this problem as a quick shutdown (say, after climbing a long steep gradient) exacerbated this. (Suddenly no oil supply and the impeller unit spinning in a vacuum at 90k revs or so)

This was much the same with the first readily available turbocharged petrol engines

In recent decades turbos have become more durable, lubricants are much better and the turbo's placement is more sensible
They and their lubricants last much longer

In my heavy (your Class 8) trucks I never replaced a (non warranted) turbo and I sold my trucks after they had covered 1m kms

 

[BarkerMan]

About 25 years ago I did some dyno work with a BMW 1.5 turbo engine and in qualifying configuration it developed over 1,200hp and the exhaust headers would get so hot you could see through them and see the shadow outline of the hold down studs and bolts on the other side. I think that modern turbos in the average street car can be expected to last a long time with proper service and oil. The turbos on mid 90's 850 Volvo's I've seen with around 200k+ miles look like they will last the life of the engine, but this is with synthetic oil and good care. Early turbos suffered from poor material, less than the best oil and owners that would as someone above alluded to, drive them hard and put them away hot. Even the highly engineering driven company had a model where the turbo was placed right next to the battery. Early turbos may well have been an after though and stuck anywhere they could stuff it. Some suffered from poor oil return and were hidden away from any chance of radiation cooling and no help from the coolant in the radiator. Maybe the engineer just said, hey Igor, get your hammer we're going to create a new model with a turbo, go find a turbo and I'll get a chisel.

 

[BuickGN]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
A turbo unit will run at a dull red heat(900-1100 F.) when in medium boost. Another surprise is that when I looked at the CX7 factory manual, it appears that our turbos are NOT water cooled. Lways good to let the engine idle for 1-3 minutes (depending on how hard driven before shutdown) before shutting off. Some will say no need but, that is good insurance I think.


I agree, always a good idea to let it idle for a while before shutting it off. I've gotten used to driving very easy when I'm a couple miles from home. If I open it up for some reason, I will circle the neighborhood a few times before coming home.

This is also why I got the pre-luber, so it will circulate oil through the motor, turbo, and oil cooler for a few minutes after I shut it down. I like this method much better than the turbo timers that leave the engine running after you leave the car.