Water cooled turbo without water (Merged 9-8) coolant lines oil

[JoeGSX]

Just seeing what everyone opinions on the use of water lines on turbos.

 

[TALONTRAX]

I recommend running the oil feed from the filter housing. There is more oil volume available that way. Also, if not too heavily modded, you can run without coolant lines to the compressor housing, which leads into the oil feed situation. With no coolant circulating through the housing, the primary turbo cooling will be the oil feed, meaning that without cooling lines installed, you will want as much oil circulation as possible . . .

 

[slick06emp]

ok so if i run it from the ofh then will the stock orifice coming off the ofh be enough to keep from over oiling?

 

[TALONTRAX]

I`ve never heard of over-oiling being an issue. I run a direct feed from the filter housing to the compressor housing with no restriction, & the motor has 65 psi oil pressure cold & 25-35 psi hot & never had a problem . . .

 

[lacroixdp]

I`ve never heard of over-oiling being an issue. I run a direct feed from the filter housing to the compressor housing with no restriction, & the motor has 65 psi oil pressure cold & 25-35 psi hot & never had a problem . . .

It's a very common problem, especially with MHI and ball bearing turbos. With those you need to feed off the head usually, as well as having a restrictor installed.

 

[TALONTRAX]

Wow . . . That`s interesting - I never heard about that before.. I know that more oil volume (not pressure) will be available directly from the filter housing for guys running without cooling lines hooked up for better cooling. Maybe then it`s better to run from the head feed & go ahead & re-connect the coolant lines to be safe . . .

 

[knochgoon24]

Talk to jusmx141. He's been rebuilding turbos for quite some time. He'll tell you first hand about over-oiling. It is especially important to chose the correct location if your balance shafts have been removed, since this causes higher oil pressure.

For Garrett journal bearing turbos, like the T25 and T28, you can run them from the OFH. The one adapter that screws into the OFH between the oil line flare fitting and the OFH has a restrictor built into it that should be the correct size for Garrett journal bearings.

You can run without the coolant lines, but you will want to make sure you let the car run to cool off after a hard run. A turbo timer wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

[slick06emp]

thanks guys, youve both been alot of help. im going to run from the OFH. it does have the oil restrictor built in the connecting piece. i do have a turbo timer that will be hooked up as soon as i get it ready to put on the road. i put it all back together tonight hoping to take it for a run and im not getting spark.......i did do some wire tucking and made my injector wires 2.5 inches longer so that i could reroute them, so ive got to tear through that mess tomorrow and see what the problem is. im thinking it might be a connector issue or short.

another question, the T28 uses a dynamic seal kit or carbon seal kit? the previous owner used a carbon kit and the turbo didnt last, i tore it apart and the screws were loose and one was almost completely back out. i put a dynamic kit in it this time and found that the shaft spins better and doesnt have the friction that the carbon seal created. any ideas?

 

[AndrewD5418]

I recommend running the oil feed from the filter housing. There is more oil volume available that way. Also, if not too heavily modded, you can run without coolant lines to the compressor housing, which leads into the oil feed situation. With no coolant circulating through the housing, the primary turbo cooling will be the oil feed, meaning that without cooling lines installed, you will want as much oil circulation as possible . . .

Compressor housing.... What? You mean center section.

I`ve never heard of over-oiling being an issue. I run a direct feed from the filter housing to the compressor housing with no restriction, & the motor has 65 psi oil pressure cold & 25-35 psi hot & never had a problem . . .

Again... Center section.. But also I believe that I heard the stock lines have a restrictor built in. I am not 100% sure on this though.

 

[knochgoon24]

The 2g has it's restrictor built into the adapter that connects the flare fitting to the OFH.

The 1g has it's restrictor built into the banjo fitting (not the bolt) on the turbo end.

 

[DeadsEvolution1]

I agree with the person whom said " They put the water lines on it so it can be shut off right away on a daily driven vehicle." IE a person whom just drives the car to work and back not to race or anything. We all know it's there to reduce the temps in Turbo especially when the car is off but why worry about how hot your oil is when we have an oil cooler? I am running a 90 oil cooler in my 91 Laser and it seems to work much better than the stock oil cooler with coolant running through it.
My own opinion and please don't be rude about it but I say if you have a turbo timer and you want to remove the lines why not??? If it causes issues than you can just put the lines back in.

 

[Kapok6]

Any update on this? How did oil cooling only end up working out?

 

[JusMX141]

It does nothing. The last few 16G's I installed were done without water and they're still working perfectly. The coolant is only in place for hot shutdown and has nothing to do with the turbo's function during operation.

 

[kchaazz]

Just a little info, I bought a TD05H 18G from Forced Performance about 7 years ago, and the center section for this turbo doesnt even have provisions for water lines, just the oil inlet on top and the return on the bottom, and its just fine, which is proof that water lines arent necessarily required on an MHI center section by design. In my opinion, the water lines are there only to help cool the turbo to prevent the oil from coking up when you shut the motor off after a hot run. The E316G was factory equipment on those cars, but the E3 did not come with a turbo timer, the use of which would certainly negate the need for water lines. I will however point out that the use of a good engine oil is key. I had to rebuild my turbo because the oil I used for a few years had basically glued the bearings to the turbine shaft, and I always had a turbo timer. So, use good oil if youre pushing 20+ psi (Forced Performance has a list of the oils we should be using) and use a turbo timer, or just make the last couple minutes of your drive before you shut the motor off a "gentle" couple minutes and youll be fine.

Edit: ^^What he said!!

 

[BoyRacerBlu]

TECHNICALLY- coolant lines are on smaller turbos to prevent coking of oil on the shaft and oil passages

smaller turbos have a smaller specific heat- ie less material across the turbo to absorb/handle the temperature/energy to resist deformation/adverse chemical effects, ect ect.

in the case of turbos, especially smaller ones with a smaller exhaust port which raises egts due to increased cyl temps vs a medieum/large frame, and friction of already super heated gasses- the coolant is there to keep temps in check to avoid trashing the shaft/bearings from oil failure due to chemical breakdown from the heat, or mechanical breakdown from oil coking. Larger frame turbos have a larger heat capacity and higher fatigue point than smaller frames, and are usually large relative to the exhaust volume that flows through them. Hence why more are found oil cooled for the bearing assembly vs something smaller like a gt30/20g/gt35 variants

However this coking process is usually slow, as is the metal fatigue process of the bearings and will take years of constant day to day running to create negative effects.

In a nutshell- running without coolant will just shorten the turbos lifespan in the end, most turbos are engineered to last 100-150 thousand miles before service work should be considered- all conditions in optimal ranges of course. Without coolant and increased temp's, bearing wear just becomes more appearant. That's all there is to it.

 

[Kapok6]

Thanks for the informative responses gents.

 

[TSicktalon]

I picked up my Spyder about a month ago and had to replace the head gasket. I noticed the other day that my MHI 20g has water ports on the CHRA but no lines hooked up. Question is, should I reattach them?

Car is a (semi) DD, I don't drive it hard very often. Running 20-50 VR1 in it. Will it be alright with just the oil cooling, or is there a great benefit on these turbos from the water cooling?

 

[Talyn]

I would if only because somewhere an engineer thought it should be watercooled, watercooling it certainly won't hurt it. Although I wonder what they did about sealing everything, or if the car even has the water ports to cool it for that matter. And idk if it can run cool enough on just oil seeing as it was designed to be watercooled, similarly, idk that the factory oil cooler is sufficient to take all of that additional heat out of the oil, because again, it wasn't designed for it. This isn't to say it will have any problems the way it is, but if it were my car I would hook it back up for peace of mind if nothing else.

 

[TSicktalon]

The factory water ports are still available on the water pipe. In fact, that's how the PO blew the head gasket. His piece of paper balled up inside a rubber hose with a hose clamp over it didn't hold up to the 14-16psi and drained all the coolant out. He was a real genius.

I'll probably start working on getting the lines together and hooking them up. Gotta pull the turbo off anyway and reseal the compressor housing, its leaking boost.

Still interested in more opinions.

 

[1G Eclipse94928]

The factory water ports are still available on the water pipe. In fact, that's how the PO blew the head gasket. His piece of paper balled up inside a rubber hose with a hose clamp over it didn't hold up to the 14-16psi and drained all the coolant out. He was a real genius.

I'll probably start working on getting the lines together and hooking them up. Gotta pull the turbo off anyway and reseal the compressor housing, its leaking boost.

Still interested in more opinions.

I think they should be on there for the same reasons as Talyn, and I think it helps your oil cooling and therefore helps everything else run cooler as well. Do you run a/c? If so i bet the turbo would love the extra cooling.

 

[TSicktalon]

Currently working on getting the a/c put together. But I do run the a/c fan most of the time to help it chill.