Are stock turbos as week as people think?

[Renthorin]

I have been on the Turbo Dodge forum seeking advice on my turbo Daytona and I came across a posting saying how GN turbos do not last because they are only oil cooled and not water/oil cooled.

It was said that they do not hold up to repeated abuse. Is this really the case? I disagreed as there are lots of people I know on this board that beat the snot out of their stock turbos and have no problems.

I would think that there would be many more complaints as all our turbos are oil cooled, not just the stock ones right?

So, before I make a fool out of myself and declare to the world how strong our tubos are (kind of did that already) please set me straight about it.

If you folks are replacing turbos because they are dead, not because you are speed junkies, let me know.

 

[FlyinGN]

This is not true. All factory turbos that I can think of are only oil cooled..even th eaftermarket turbos for 7 second TR;'s are oil coooled. Whoever told you this really don't know what they are talking about.

 

[TurboDave]

Originally posted by Renthorin
I have been on the Turbo Dodge forum seeking advice on my turbo Daytona and I came across a posting saying how GN turbos do not last because they are only oil cooled and not water/oil cooled.

It was said that they do not hold up to repeated abuse. Is this really the case? I disagreed as there are lots of people I know on this board that beat the snot out of their stock turbos and have no problems.

I would think that there would be many more complaints as all our turbos are oil cooled, not just the stock ones right?

So, before I make a fool out of myself and declare to the world how strong our tubos are (kind of did that already) please set me straight about it.

If you folks are replacing turbos because they are dead, not because you are speed junkies, let me know.

Not true at all, and why would you believe the Dodge forum would know more about these turbos than the Buick guys????

Oil cooling/lubrication are more than sufficient if the other parts of the equation are kept up to snuff.
Regular oil changes every 3,000 miles
Extra cooling for the engine oil, either built in or external, doesn't matter, but the extra cooling is very important. It's why Buick adopted it in the 86/87's

 

[Renthorin]

Dave, I didn't believe him which is why I challenged his comment. I, however, am relatively new to these engines so I admit I could be wrong. That is why I am asking all of you.

The guy on TD.com doesn't have a GN but a 'friend' does and he fried his turbo at 40k miles after beating on it for only 2 months. He also killed his motor at 40k when the nylon timing gears broke and chewed up his engine. That is all fixed now but he still has a problem with headgaskets popping all the time.

I suggested that perhaps he needs to learn how to tune his engine and that perhaps his turbo misfortune was becuase the oil line was clogged and/or the engine had 'issues'.

Glad to hear our tubos are as stout as I believed them to be.

 

[UNGN]

Sounds like his "friend" bought a car with 140K miles and he only THOUGHT it had 40K.

If our cars had 5 speeds, our turbo's would probably live less than 1/2 as long as they do. But we don't, so with proper maintenance they can live about forever. Frequent oil changes using a coking resistant oil and not allowing the oil to coke (by circulating oil through the hot turbo until it is cooler) goes along way towards making a turbo live a long and happy life.

 

[strikeeagle]

What you're hearing is nominally an old wives tale.

I'm sure that "way back when" turbos went to hell at an alarming rate. This mindset (that turbos are problematic) still prevailed in the 80's, when our cars were produced, helped along by a few folks who didn't maintain their cars (inferior oils, infrequent oil changes).

Chrysler's answer to this was the water cooled turbo bearing, although it was hardly their invention. I mean turbos, all kinds of turbos, good, bad, and indifferent, have been around forever in aircraft, automotive and other applications. Nonetheless, the water cooled bearing made for a nice bullet in Chrysler's sales literature.

Your guy is spewing a good camp fire story, that's about it. Most GN guys, hell, most car guys in general, don't let their oil go to hell.

Tell your guy the moon is made of green cheese. He'll probably regurgitate that one too.

 

[Turbojorge]

My stock turbo went 110K before It was removed. It was still running great, even after taking numerous abuse with .150 shot of NOS . The only reason why I sold it was because I needed to get me a Scanmaster and needed the money. Other wise I would have kept it for future experimentation .

The only Turbo's that I know off that are both water/oil cooled are the one's on the Calloway Twin Turbo Vetts of the early 90's. They were actually Airplane Turbo's and are no longer made.

BTW, I never ran the car with the NOS, just in case your wondering. The previous owner did, but he was a street racer and never really ran it down the track. It was the first thing I removed when I bought the car.

Later

 

[pwrhws]

I think that someone should enlighten the guy with the 40k mi car, Give him the address to the board. He needs help.

 

[GNVAIR]

My stock turbo had 125k on it before I installed the TA49. I just reinstalled it to service the oil seals in the TA49 and the stocker still works great.
I know where the Dodge guys were aiming at. The early 2.2 turbo's did not have the water cooling that the later models had and as such they were prone to failure. This was true of the early Ford 2.3 turbo's.
The problem as I see it is placement of the turbo. The Dodge was mounted on the back side of the engine between it and the firewall.......not much air movement there and as such they would get plenty hot. The 2.3 Fords were the same way. To prevent premature bearing failures, water cooling was added and really worked well for them.
On the Buicks, the Hot Airs would most likely benefit from water cooling with their placement on top of the engine. I remember a friend of the family that bought an 85 brand new and the stock turbo lasted 15k miles before it seized.
The 86-87's dont have the failure problems because the turbo is out in the air stream in front of the engine........think of all the air coming through at high speeds.
Well, thats just my $.02

 

[BlackBeauty]

To add to the topic, the WRX Imprezas have water-cooled factory turbos.

 

[FlyinGN]

wow, I did not realize that Chrysler and Subaru had water cooled turbos. Lean something everyday

 

[Steve Wood]

The original Chrysler turbos failed at a very high rate. Its answer was the watercooled center section.

Harry H gave a detailed answer on here once as to why our cars do not benefit from watercooling the turbo. A Limited from California passed thru my hands last summer. The turbo on it had been replaced at 170,000 miles.

 

[d0n_3d]

hey bill i am going on 90k miles on my stock turbo and i beat the piss out of it and it still runs great! just don't run any higher than 22 psi on it or you will KNOCK! too much heat...

 

[REDS HOT AIR]

stock turbo's are ALOT stronger than 51 turbo's..

my stocker has over 100'000 miles on it and its on the car now catching pure hell and it hasent lost no blades yet

 

[YGETV8]

Well, the one on my GN was seeping a little oil at 140,000, so I replaced it with a lower mileage stocker. A local buddy, Dave Davis, went 240,000 miles on the stock motor, trans, and turbo!

 

[Red Regal T]

Originally posted by UNGN
Sounds like his "friend" bought a car with 140K miles and he only THOUGHT it had 40K.

THANKYOU !!! A VERY COMMON PROBLEM.