tell me about turbo chargers

[Durango]

Hello to all,

I'm thinking on getting another car and was wondering about turbo chargers in general. It appears everyones going back to turbos again in order to make power.

How hard is it to take care of a turbo??

Durango

 

[horse123]

Cars built since ~2010 have had fairly idiot proof forced induction systems. Especially ford's "egoboost", a brain dead blonde bimbo could take care of one of those. That is, if they don't decide to fail suddenly, you know, being ford. But all manufacturers are a lot better about it now.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Not hard to take care of, Just more expensive to repair because of the added complexity.

 

[wemay]

As with anything in life, more complexity always increases the possibility for issues. But i would agree, the late model turbo charged applications being brought to market now appear to be very reliable and stout units, my Santa Fe Sport being one. Many models don't even have a recommendation for "synthetic" oils - see signature.

 

[skyactiv]

Turbos in VW's and Audis have been proven reliable for a longtime now. If VAG can do it reliably, so can the other automakers.
Some turbos weren't water cooled from yesteryear. And oil was typically group I
back then which is horrible in a gas engine equipped with a turbo.

 

[KGMtech]

Turbo's are easy, however pay attention to the oil that is spec'd by the OEM and change intervals to prevent issues with sludge.

As said above, it VAG can get this right (my own experience supports that observation) then it is easy tech for others.

 

[Olas]

Use a good oil and live by the mantra "spool, then cool" and you'll be golden.

 

[CT8]

+ 1 to all the above info.

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted By: Durango
Hello to all,


How hard is it to take care of a turbo??

Durango


Simple, change the engine oil on a regular basis and IMHO severe interval they last fine. Also check oil level.

My experience is wife's car 2005 Legacy GT(turbo) wagon with 5mt with 190k miles and on OEM turbo. She does not believe in idle down and never has. I think idle down is from real old days when turbo's were cooled by oil only.

We use conventional oil Mobil 5000 5w30 changed every 3750 miles which is spec'd in manual.

 

[Lolvoguy]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
Originally Posted By: Durango
Hello to all,


How hard is it to take care of a turbo??

Durango


Simple, change the engine oil on a regular basis and IMHO severe interval they last fine. Also check oil level.

My experience is wife's car 2005 Legacy GT(turbo) wagon with 5mt with 190k miles and on OEM turbo. She does not believe in idle down and never has. I think idle down is from real old days when turbo's were cooled by oil only.

We use conventional oil Mobil 5000 5w30 changed every 3750 miles which is spec'd in manual.


BINGO

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
Turbos in VW's and Audis have been proven reliable for a longtime now. If VAG can do it reliably, so can the other automakers.
Some turbos weren't water cooled from yesteryear. And oil was typically group I
back then which is horrible in a gas engine equipped with a turbo.


Originally Posted By: KGMtech
As said above, it VAG can get this right (my own experience supports that observation) then it is easy tech for others.


You guys make it sound like VW is some sort of a retard that just discovered that 2+2=4, while it's common knowledge for others.

Fact is that the reason today's forced induction seems easy is because of companies like VW, Volvo and Saab and their persistence on using it despite industry's trends in the past.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: KrisZ

You guys make it sound like VW is some sort of a retard that just discovered that 2+2=4, while it's common knowledge for others.



Well... I'll just walk away from that one without comment. ;-)

But seriously, turbocharging is now a VERY mature technology especially paired with gasoline direct injection and modern lubricants. Chrysler used it on millions of vehicles in the 80s and early 90s with port EFI, and it was rarely a problem because both the engine and turbo systems were well-designed with adequately cooled bearings... even considering the oils of the era. These were just everyday commuter cars, not just the sporty models. The cars around the engines... well, the 80s weren't kind to vehicles in general, let alone Chrysler.

 

[KGMtech]

LOL, I can attest that VW is not dumb, but they are often guilty of releasing tech that is half baked or their own cost cutters cheapen the recipe for manufacturing.

Ask 2006+ owners of the 2.0T Engine about oil usage, high pressure fuel pump failures, e-brake failures, water pump failures, Cat flange failure etc.

My 2004 Passat Wagon GLS has never failed me, but I am hyper vigilant about maintenance and use of OEM spec fluids. VW are sensitive cars, if you ignore, you'll pay

 

[double vanos]

No need to bash Fords' Ecoboost engines, Ford is laughing all the way to the bank! Reading Automotive News weekly doesn't seem to reveal any untold warranty costs either - they are in line with everybody else.
But then I could biased; I've had 3 EB trucks and have had zero problems with them.
And then there's the way that 3.5 can waft a 5800 lb 4x4 truck up to 100 so effortlessly ......

 

[Durango]

Thank you all for your postings. I haven't fully decided yet but down the road if my Impala tranny issues doesn't go away I may just give it up. Only the future will tell.


Durango

 

[Thermo1223]

Ya with watercooled turbo's idle down isn't as important as it once was. They will continue to thermo-siphon and add to the fact that a lot of car markers now provide constant power to the radiator fans for this reason as well. They will cycle on/off to deal with the latent heat after shutdown.

Simple list to go by:

1. Use a good spec oil and change as required
2. Same for cooling
3. Don't race the engine then shut it down immediately.
4. Do not ignore ignition issues, fix asap.
5. Enjoy

Then again I could say that about any car.

This can and does happen on any production turbocharged car. So be mindful when pushing the car and shutting it down immediately.

 

[Jetronic]

Watercooled turbos are far from universal as of now, the majority still has an oil supply only.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic
Watercooled turbos are far from universal as of now, the majority still has an oil supply only.


Considering Ford sells the majority of the turbocharged light duty vehicles in the USA (every one of their products offers one, many as standard equipment) theirs are all water cooled.

That being said, we own 2 Ecoboost 3.5's. No issues and I don't do anything special to them either. One gets dealer oil and filter the majority of the time, changed at 7.5k. That one has 92k on it and runs perfectly. The other gets its oil changed 2x a year either at the dealer or by me. It's got 60k. When I do oil changes it's Pennzoil Platinum. When the dealer does it, it's whatever they use.

I don't idle down, even the F150 when towing. It is what it is and there may be a few minutes of low speed driving but nothing special.

There will be a 3rd Ecoboost in the near future too. No need to fear the turbos.

 

[stephen9666]

I own a Cruze with the 1.4T.

The only negatives I've had so far are that the mileage barely lives up to the ratings and it runs poorly in hot weather on 87 octane.

Some of the new turbos say they run on 87, like the 1.4T, for example. But the 1.4T runs horribly in hot weather on 87.

I'm not sure if these other new turbos that claim to run on regular have similar issues.

 

[horse123]

They run on 87 in the sense that you could put 4 octane in it, if it existed, and the knock sensors would do their job, keeping the engine from destroying itself. It's on the user to use premium all the time which you should in a turbo. 93 instead of 91 is just a bonus, although around here the 93 at BP is the same as the 91 at any other gas station, so why not get the 93?