Turbo Glow

[jamal]

I have another question for you guys. Seems I've been asking alot of them lately Thanks everyone for the help, I'm still new to these cars.

Ok my setup is:

91 Talon Tsi AWD Automatic
Upgraded to a 14b Tubro from a 13
Stock 390cc from a automatic/13 turbo
3 inch downpipe, 3 inch full pipe to a Magnaflow muffler, No Cat...

Ok now the problem is the turbo always glows bright red. Even under normal driving. I dont even have to get on it. It seems to be the section under the manifold. The o2 housing correct? Its always so bright red.

My first thought was its too lean. I do get fuel ut everytime I get on it so i figured it was just too lean. I got an autometer 30/30 boost gauge and an autometer air fuel gauge. The a/f gauge is reports normal conditions though. It bounchs back and forth between lean and rich like it should. When i really get on it, its in the rich. When i hit fuel cut it bounchs in the rich section pretty bad but thats normal as the injectors are maxed. When I hit fuel cut, let off the gas too.

Any thoughts?

 

[RaysTsi]

Check your coolant and make sure you have plenty of water/antifreeze.
Not sure if that will help but it won't hurt.

 

[jamal]

Not sure what that has to do with the turbo but um I have plenty of anti-freeze/water.

 

[DSMJim]

Why not try poppin in a set of standard 440cc in there and see if it helps cure a bit of the glowing. It would richen you up just a bit. I wouldn't leave larger injectors in as a perminant solution, however it might give you an idea if your running rich or lean.

 

[jamal]

I have a set of stock manual trans/14b turbo 450cc injectors laying around. The only reason I never put them in was due to the ECU being that of a automatic car.

 

[LandoAWD]

Not sure what that has to do with the turbo but um I have plenty of anti-freeze/water.

Oil AND water cooled

 

[set3422]

Clotted cat convertor can cause too much exhaust back pressure. Too much back pressure can make manifold/02 housing glow cherry red.

 

[nothing stock]

Why don't you guys just tell him that this is very normal for a turbo? Hello! Push it at night and pop the hood, bright red manifold, turbine housing, and O2 housing. Nothing special.

 

[madmax]

Get an EGT, that'll tell you exactly how hot your exhaust gases are, the a/f gauges are worthless, from what ive heard

 

[jamal]

Originally posted by LandoAWD


Oil AND water cooled

I guess you didnt read my whole post. I said I have a full 3 inch exhaust with no cat.

 

[jamal]

Originally posted by nothing stock
Why don't you guys just tell him that this is very normal for a turbo? Hello! Push it at night and pop the hood, bright red manifold, turbine housing, and O2 housing. Nothing special.

Well I took the car down to Team Rip Racing here in Michigan, they own like the fastest Talon in the state. There company customizes street cars and other #@%#@%#@%#@%.

Anyway I had there Turbo tech take my Talon for a ride. He drove it in stages and checked things as we went. Under normal driving not even getting on it the Turbo was glowing cherry red. He popped the hood and was like HOLY #@%#@%#@%#@% thats red. It shouldnt be that red for the driving we just did. I didnt even get on it. Blah Blah..

When he really got on it, it was super mega red.

Anyway he told me to get a Boost gauge and an A/F gauge and a EGT and come back and he would see what its doing. I got the gauges but he is now in Las Vagas for some Car show for 2 weeks.

 

[jamal]

Ok after looking closer tonite it seems to be mostly the turbine housing thats glowing. Cherry bright red!

The manifold and the o2 housing get a lil red if like i get on the highway and push it hard (5000+ RPM/110+ MPH)... However the turbine housing always glows red even if I dont push the car hard. Normal city driving will get the thing glowing red. I talked to 2 people who are like mega into cars, one of them works for this place called Team Rip Racing and specializes in turbo's and he tells me its it NOT normal for it to glow like that.

Problem is, I dont know who to listen to, got one group of people saying o its ok its normal for them to glow and then i got others saying bullshit its not normal. Both groups of people say the others dont know what there talking about. I already had one turbo with a melted turbine housing. the whole inside of its all messed up. You can see where it got way to hot too many times.

Hrmm

 

[Bohrn]

TRE knows what they are talking about.

 

[insane147]

ive seen this happen when a cylinder or two is not firing porperly and blowing the unburned fuel in the exhaust manifold and burning it there. a crap set of plug wires was the problem for that car, or you may have an ignition problem somwhere else. a frozen injector would also dump way too much fuel in.

 

[jamal]

Originally posted by insane147
ive seen this happen when a cylinder or two is not firing porperly and blowing the unburned fuel in the exhaust manifold and burning it there. a crap set of plug wires was the problem for that car, or you may have an ignition problem somwhere else. a frozen injector would also dump way too much fuel in.

That makes sense but I have a question for you. Wouldnt the manifold also glow red then too? My manifold has never gotten red. Even when I push the hell out of my car at night and pop the hood, the only thing ever glowing red is my turbine housing.

 

[jamal]

Originally posted by Bohrn
TRE knows what they are talking about.

Ya the guys from TRE (Team Rip) seem to know a #@%#@%#@%#@% load about DSM's
One of my friends is friends with there owner so I have been able to get him to help me out on my car a lil bit without charging me. Very nice guys down there at TRE.

 

[insane147]

since the turbine is the hottest point because it represents the restriction in the exhaust and becomes the heatsink for the whole thing. the fuel charge MAY be getting blown out the exhaust down the smooth and relatively fast flowing primaries, running into a jam at the collector, where all the heat is by the turbine causing the fuel to ignite there, creating more heat there and so on....like i said, the kid here that had this problem changed his plug wires and solve his problem, but yours could be a component of the fuel system or anything else for that matter. good luck.

 

[Ghettoraid]

What kind of oil are you using? I've heard that full synthetics are bad if the oil is involved in cooling something,, say, a turbo..

I'd suggest getting the entire engine flushed out completely...

could be a blockage in the oil sending/return lines from turbo...

Are there like... carbon deposits/a black patch on the underside of your hood?? rofl.

 

[BatmanGSX]

95% of all the advice in this thread is wrong.

Glowing red turbo is normal. I've even seen orange with some hardcore tuning runs.

To the dork who said, "just put 450s in": Dork, putting 450s in an auto is the same as putting 550s in a 5sp. You still need an AFC, it won't just magically work on an auto because 450s are "normal" on a 5sp. The auto ECU is setup to work with the 380s or whatever just like the 5sp is setup to work with 450s.

 

[LandoAWD]

I guess you didnt read my whole post. I said I have a full 3 inch exhaust with no cat.

WTF does this have to do with an oil/water cooled turbo You expressed that you didn't know what antifreeze/coolant has to do with your turbo. Well, I answered.

 

[jamal]

Originally posted by Ghettoraid
What kind of oil are you using? I've heard that full synthetics are bad if the oil is involved in cooling something,, say, a turbo..

I'd suggest getting the entire engine flushed out completely...

could be a blockage in the oil sending/return lines from turbo...

Are there like... carbon deposits/a black patch on the underside of your hood?? rofl.

The only oil thats ever been used in the engine sence it was rebuilt is Moble One 10/30 Synthetic...

No carbon build ups on the underside of the hood.

 

[jamal]

Originally posted by LandoAWD

WTF does this have to do with an oil/water cooled turbo You expressed that you didn't know what antifreeze/coolant has to do with your turbo. Well, I answered.

No I didnt say I didnt know that the oil or antifreeze didnt have anything to do with cooling the turbo. I ment why would that be a problem if nothing was wrong with my oil or antifreeze.

The oil lines not clogged and the antifreeze levels are fine and flowing normal. I still get BAD turbo glow.

 

[jamal]

Originally posted by BatmanGSX
95% of all the advice in this thread is wrong.

Glowing red turbo is normal. I've even seen orange with some hardcore tuning runs.

To the dork who said, "just put 450s in": Dork, putting 450s in an auto is the same as putting 550s in a 5sp. You still need an AFC, it won't just magically work on an auto because 450s are "normal" on a 5sp. The auto ECU is setup to work with the 380s or whatever just like the 5sp is setup to work with 450s.

I get glowing turbine housing even if I'm not running it hardcore though. I can let the car warm up for about 10 minutes, jump in and drive to Subway at 35 miles per hour which is about 2 minutes away and I have GLOWING RED turbine housing.

As I stated I took the car to Team Rip Racing (TRE) www.teamrip.com
and there turbo guy took my car for a ride and said the glow wasnt normal like that.

I dont know who to listen to, everyone tells me something diffrent. My heads about to pop

As for the 450cc injectors, yes I know I cant just put them in. My ECU is the automatic one. I have 2 Apexi Digital Super-AFC's just sitting here on my desk. One for my car and the others a extra one I got really cheap! Been trying to trade it for a copy of Pocketlogger.

Anyway. this cars given me a headache.

 

[insane147]

you wouldve thought batman would read the whole thread before blurting that one out. ive never seen my turbo turn any color even after going down the strip. if i was trying to go for a landpeed record for 3 minutes, maybe then.

 

[2bar4g63t]

i kno this isnt te place for it but how do you create a new thread? and if u cant is there already a thread about having 2 4g63 turbo motors one in the front and one in the hatch like the 1st gen in superstreetm and if not again does anyone know a tuner in mid america or on the east coast that could do this, thanks a lot