hi all you knowledgable types in drivetrain

question 1 (most important)

i've gotta watercooled turbo on my celica GT4, seem to have a problem with the sealing inside it, turbo pressure getting into the cooling system... definately not h/gasket as no CO or CO2 reading on the radiator, so this seems the natural suspect, especially as it pressurises massively on throttle lift off (no dump valve)

has anyone run a turbo car with the watercooling bypassed? i know i can expect a shortened turbo life at the very least, but that's not such a concern... i've not got the cash to rip the turbo apart at the moment, that's all!

question 2... speculative...

any reason an LPG conversion cannot be fitted to a turbo car?

any input would be appreciated!

thanks

Owain

 

1. Much reduced turbo life as you have stated, best thing to do is to bypass the turbo water feed and return (disconnect from turbo and join) and check for pressurization again. Water cooling was not available years ago and turbo's were oil only... in the 18th century ..

2. there are plenty of turbocharged vehicles running LPG..

Rob

 

do imprezas run a watercooled turbo?

o.

 

Yes mate

Rob

 

ah... so i guess it is important then.

a mate runs a hybrid on a turbo'd vauxhall engine... but then he only uses it for 12 seconds at a time...

...and it is only a vauxhall

o.

 

It is Important as it cools the core down..
However, IMHO it isnt going to cause damage for testing purposes..

R.

 

hmm.... that's scuppered my plans then... but as ya say, i'll give it a go, either way the turbo is gonna need lookin at i suppose...



o

 

hmm.,


now, do i trust them or not?

 

hmm...

just been thinking a bit laterally and there's not really any way the pressure can leak into the water system unless the iron in the turbo had gone porous....?

now i'm really confused...

o.

 

Go back to the head gasket idea I think.

fensport always used to be the expert on the Toyoto Turbo engine when I had one.

JGM

Edit to correct url

[Edited by Jolly Green Monster - 12/19/2003 8:27:37 AM]

 

Oil cooled turbos have larger oil galleries, and bigger bearings than the later water cooled ones.

For example, from 1984 to 1986, Renault 5 GT Turbos had an oil cooled Garrett T2. But after 1986, they had a water cooled T2 (and a much revised cooling system layout). If you run a water cooled T2 without the water feed, the bearing generally fries and disintegrates within about a month. But then - the little T2 is generally running at 1.2-2.0 Bar, it's hardly surprising they get a little warm.

LPG is fine on turbos - but you can get problems running boosts higher than 0.8Bar or so due to the pressures involved. But it can be done.

Rich.

 

Personally am not a big fan of it, but some skylines run with no water feed, I know the HKS 2835 kit doesn't use water even though the turbo cores are designed with a water gallery. Keiths R32 (sub 10 second car) doesn't use water, and that has done a few 200mph runs so it has definately had chance for them to get VERY hot. If this is on a road car you must make sure you have let the turbo cool sufficiently before turning the engine off.

 

I used to run the turbo on my westfield without water cooling, the main diference is that you have to let the turbo cool for longer after a run. Ideally you should block off the water inlets with some blanking plugs as the core can distort when you get it very hot without the bolt/blank in place.

If you can run with water, then do so, as every little helps reliability wise. I dont think your problem is the turbo though, i have never heard of the water core being compromised in this way.

 

The other thing with LPG is -- surprise surprise -- Gordon Brown is intending to raise the duty on it now that enough people are using it to make it worthwhile / because it's "not as clean as originally envisaged

Basically, soon it won't be a big money saver.