Is water cooling really necessary?

[Gaboost]

Are the coolant lines on the msp turbo absolutely necessary, or can they be bypassed? The reason I'm asking is mine are leaking and my car smells like coolant all the time. I would take it to the dealer, but that means I would have to remove all my aftermarket stuff. The last time it was in for service, it was stock, and they gave me a hard time about my vacuum lines being changed!

I can see another benefit of doing this also. Without coolant running though the hot turbo, temps would be decreased in an already hot running engine. I've also noticed on cars with aftermarket turbo kits, sometimes they do not use the water cooling capability. I always let my car cool after driving(tt) if that is any concern.

[Super Matty P]

the coolant lines running to and from the turbo are they to make it cooler by pulling heat off the turbo. I know you're theory but it's backwards in this situation....

If it was something cool normaly like a throttlbody, there might be a gain from taking away the coolant lines but in this case I think you'd be severly shortening your turbo's lifespan.

[Puckpimp71]

I don't know anything about the dealership you'd take your car to, but if the mods in your sig are what you really have on your car then the only thing you'd need to worry about is your boost controller and the Injen since you have to move the overflow tank to install it. Nothing else on your car is even remotely near the cooling system.

[rocketspeed]

Removing the coolant lines from the turbo would kill it in short order. Some turbos are oil cooled rather than water, but they need to be cooled somehow.

[pdhaudio83]

the stock MSP turbo is oil cooled and water cooled... I am not running coolant on mine right now, and the only way that you'd "kill it" is if you got coked oil in the lines... and the remedy to fix that is a turbo timer.

[jeffmsp]

but wouldnt that mean you are only cooling your turbo at max 50% of what it would normally get making the oil even hotter and the turbo really hot?

[Gaboost]

That's what I'm thinking, I helped out my friend who is installing the MAM ss turbo kit on his mp3, There is no coolant lines on his turbo, just oil lines. I have a blitz turbo timer, so I should be alright then. I always let the engine cool before shutting it off.

[pdhaudio83]

There are however, places to hookup coolant on the turbo, he just isn't utilizing them. Mine are plugged right now.

[Super Matty P]

on something as hot as a turbo I'd give it every cooling device I could get on there.

[mp5jeff]

just oil cooled with work fine, but removing that might reduce the life of the turbo, especially on shut down, you can let the car run for a while before shutting it off and that will suffice as long as something is cooling it off. In short, i wouldn't remove it if it was on my car, but rather fix your leak....

[rocketspeed]

Seems like a lousy solution to me given how hot the turbo already runs even with the benefit of water cooling. I know our cars have an oil cooler, but it seems to me that oil temps might run off the charts given the puny 3.7 quarts we hold if the turbo was solely reliant on oil to cool itself. If you could get the volume of oil up with a larger oil cooler it might be a more viable solution, otherwise I don't see any way that longevity of the turbo wouldn't be seriously impacted by the excess heat. Sure you're letting the turbo cool with the timer, but that's not going to help operating temps when you run the car hard- they will unquestionably be higher without the benefit of the water cooling.

[Demonic-Speed]

OK I am not a motor nut so bare with me...But since when is oil used for cooling? Last time I checked Oil=Lubrication and water=Cooling....Your radiator is not filled with oil....Oil will start to break down faster when it is heated up...Hence the half ass oil cooler we have...

[Kooldino]

ball bearing turbo = you'd better water cool or you'll fry the bearings.

[Gaboost]

Sounds like I'll leave it on there, new lines from the dealer shoudn't be too expensive, I hope not anyway. There must be a reason they put them on in the first place. With cooling the turbo won't be as hot, causing the oil to be cooler and not break down as quickly. It makes sense to me now.

[Gaboost]

What about my friend with the MAM kit, should we utilize the water cooling ports on the turbo just to be safe?

[jeffmsp]

why not its just a few lines.

[MPNick]

OK I am not a motor nut so bare with me...But since when is oil used for cooling? Last time I checked Oil=Lubrication and water=Cooling....Your radiator is not filled with oil....Oil will start to break down faster when it is heated up...Hence the half ass oil cooler we have...
We have a winner, none car nut or not you are spot on.

Years ago none of the OEM turbos used water cooling. Oil sucked and people did not change the oil as soon as they should have. With our ball bearing turbo some think the water cooling is not needed. Most if not all race cars do not use water cooling. They can run much hotter then we will ever see. As it stands the roller bearings seem to not last as long as the old bushing style turbo anyway.

[rocketspeed]

Race cars are also running engines built with better parts to tighter tolerances with much larger oil capacities and more effective oil cooling systems than the MSP, with higher quality lubricants than (most) of us are using. They're also rebuilt much more frequently than any of us probably care to. That all makes oil cooling of high temperature parts like a turbo a more reasonable proposition. Ours is just a bolt-on. Water cooling will make our whole engine cooler and happier, I think.

[MPNick]

Race cars are also running engines built with better parts to tighter tolerances with much larger oil capacities and more effective oil cooling systems than the MSP, with higher quality lubricants than (most) of us are using. They're also rebuilt much more frequently than any of us probably care to. That all makes oil cooling of high temperature parts like a turbo a more reasonable proposition. Ours is just a bolt-on. Water cooling will make our whole engine cooler and happier, I think.
Not the case at all. Take your normal rice rocket, Honda or Toyota. You have them running very fast with just Mobil 1 and the stock oil pump. ome run year before teardowns.

[rocketspeed]

I interpreted race cars as "race cars", not hondas or toyotas with bolt-ons.

Anwyway, I think the MSP's turbo would be much happier with the benefit of water cooling. Do you agree or disagree?

[MPNick]

I interpreted race cars as "race cars", not hondas or toyotas with bolt-ons.

Anwyway, I think the MSP's turbo would be much happier with the benefit of water cooling. Do you agree or disagree?I do not know for sure. You would think that the water does cool down the center section some. However you also need to look at the way things have changed. Oil for one is much better now. The new roller bearing turbo do not seem to last as long as the old style bushing bearing turbo. They do spool up faster but they are not lasting longer, in fact they do not last as long. I have seen the old oil feed only turbos last over 100,000 miles on some cars. Idled before shut downs and Mobil 1 oil changed every 3,000 miles goes a long way for saving turbos, not only engines.

OK I got some info from Garrett. The cage in the roller bearing that keeps the bearings spaced does not like heat. The cage will fail from not having the coolant lines installed, it may take few miles but it will fail and then take out the bearing. So I gues that this means you cannot/ should not run without the coolant lines.

[wiredone]

from what i know of forced induction and from everything i have heard from both representatives of IHI and Garret on most turbo's coolant lines are not necessary. The guys at IHI i know for sure say that i will prolong life a little bit bit simply because not for cooling, but because when you start the car they bring the turbo up to operating temperatures quicker, causing less shaft play and less damage etc...

the guys at garret at haisy because they say that some of there premium turbo's for passenger cars use it more for the same purpose but they say that without the coolant flowing through the empty space for the coolant lines can create hot spots within the housing..

the end ploy i spose is "its up to you"

my IHI has run without coolant lines from day one, as most other Hiboost peoples has but i can't give people definitive advice on the garrets as i dnt run one without coolant lines, havent had one without coolant lines blow and therefore can't say whether its a bad thing or not...

my 2c

[mspdfreak]

I say bypass the coolant. I'd love to see the performance gains.

[Demonic-Speed]

How are you going to see performance gains from the lack water?

[rocketspeed]

Here is the performance gain: 0

[mspdfreak]

I was being sarcastic.

[rocketspeed]

I think someone disconnected your coolant lines. ;)

[Demonic-Speed]

I was being sarcastic.

Just checking;)