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Yep, my turbo died tonight. On my way home from work I noticed it wasn't boosting at all so I pulled over and looked under the hood and I saw my turbo was glowing orange, not good.

creel wrote:Yep, my turbo died tonight. On my way home from work I noticed it wasn't boosting at all so I pulled over and looked under the hood and I saw my turbo was glowing orange, not good.

You should have taken a picture. Sounds like that baby was getting 0 oil and coolant.

Good thing you've got Matt's, right?

J-money - It had to be getting both, since the turbo is in the path of both oil and coolant flow.

The turbo probably just seized.

I think it siezed because I was able to drive it another 15 or so miles to home.

That sucks!

Was it glowing bright orange? They all glow dull orange when working hard.

I know a lot of old-school Volvo turbo owners used to just keep driving their cars after the turbos died. They just never bothered fixing it, and as far as I know they never really experienced any problems other than less power.

BAC5.2 wrote:Good thing you've got Matt's, right?

J-money - It had to be getting both, since the turbo is in the path of both oil and coolant flow.

The turbo probably just seized.

So, does the turbo's compressor and exhaust turbine act as a pseudo "fan" to cool the turbo or something? What I mean is: Why is it glowing bright orange if it's just exhaust gases flowing though it? . I would assume that if it's spinning and making heat though the spinning process then it would get to the point of glowing hot.

Without oil circulating through the assembly. . . it go "fry fry" rather quickly.

I'm so confused. Why does it glow? A downpipe which is the portion after the turbo, sees relatively the same temperatures that the turbo does(maybe?). There is no oil going to that, and it doesn't glow.

I believe it glows orange because it is a cast metal......like rotors.

Ah. So it is less tolerant to heat then mild steel, or whatever our dowpipes are made of?

Pipes are a rolled steele. Cast is usually a mixture of metals to make one really strong metal that can take the heat.

If it's stronger, then why does it glow and the exhaust pipes do not?

Wouldn't that have to do with the chemical or physical make up of the material more than its integrity?

The exhaust pipes can glow too. It was neat in my bmw. Exhaust is like 1400 degrees i think. Thats rather hot. The turbo acts as a restriction, so you have a bunch of pressurized hot air slowing through it.

10 bucks goes to the first person who can post a pic of them sticking their tongue to a glowing turbo!

To some extent. If you've ever put a tortch to a thin metal it heats red faster then a thick metal. My point is that, the exhaust should be glowing too if the turbo is glowing red because it's on the same flow of gases and is of a thinner metal.

To my knowledge cast alloys are porous. They are a stonger metal built to take the heat becasue they hold the heat. Hence the coolant and oil lines.

Nah, I'm pretty sure all steels glow about the same, no matter the process. If you could see the pipes under full load, they'd be glowing just as much. It's just the pipes are so thin they lose all of their heat by the time you can open the hood.

I see. Someone link me to some reading material, so that I may better myself.

Edit - I've seen that pic.

It's hot enough under the hood as it is......most of the exhaust is in the path of some cooler air.

www.ststurbo.com

That was, and is, the stupidest idea I've seen.

it's not a stupid idea, just poor execution.

BAC5.2 wrote:That was, and is, the stupidest idea I've seen.

+1.

The turbo lasts longer because it doesn't stay hot like the under-hood versions. It moves coller air too.... It is a genius idea. This means almost any car can have a turbo. The big problem has been where to put the turbo and how to get a manifold for N/A cars.....this way those are eliminated.