by Purchasing a car with a turbocharged engine is a profitable investment. Even with a small engine displacement, it will deliver excellent dynamic performance and allow you to enjoy quality driving both in the city and on the highway. However, if you previously had a car with a regular naturally aspirated engine without a turbo, you will have to change your driving habits a bit to avoid breaking the turbo in the first hundred thousand kilometers.
Experts from the turbocharger repair plant “TurboSTO” say that with proper turbo operation, it will last without replacement as long as the engine. They have prepared several important rules on how not to break it on your own fault and which habits from working with a naturally aspirated engine should be abandoned.
Warm up the engine for a couple of minutes even in summer
The first and most important note is the engine start and stop mode. It’s important to understand that during operation, the turbo accelerates to very high speeds.
To prevent the shaft on which the impeller rotates from deforming due to frictional forces, it must always be in an oil bath. The necessary oil pressure in the turbo is ensured by the engine’s oil pump. This means that the oil is supplied to the turbo from the common lubrication system.
From this, several conclusions can be drawn:
- when starting the engine, lubrication cannot immediately reach all the units and mechanisms. It takes a couple of minutes for the pump to ensure proper circulation. You need to let the engine run at idle or minimal revs during this time;
- after stopping the engine, the turbo will continue to spin due to inertia for a few more minutes.
And since in most cars, the oil supply stops after the engine is turned off, the turbo operating on inertia can overheat. Therefore, before turning off the engine, you should wait for idle revs.
On the “Turbocom” website https://turbosto.com.ua it is written that if the turbo does not receive the necessary amount of oil, it will suffer from oil starvation, deformation, and increased clearances. This can later lead to oil leakage and a rapid loss of working lubrication level in the engine. This in turn can cause the failure of the piston system and other important engine units.
High and low revs are detrimental to the turbo
At the “Turbocom” plant, they emphasize that drivers who have just switched from naturally aspirated to turbocharged cars often violate the operating mode of such engines. Riding at high revs and prolonged idling or low revs are detrimental to the modern turbo.
What this entails:
- 30 minutes of idling can lead to turbo impeller contamination and jamming;
- prolonged driving at high revs leads to overheating of the turbo shaft, and if low-quality oil is used, to the formation of carbon deposits.
Optimal driving involves moderate revs, which do not cause discomfort in any usage scenario. However, a couple of times a month, it is recommended to accelerate the turbo to almost maximum for a short time, 5-10 minutes. Hot exhaust gases under high pressure will clean the impeller from accumulated deposits.
Turbocharged engines are a great solution for comfortable and economic driving. The main enemy of the turbo is the car owner themselves. If it is operated in a gentle mode and the engine is serviced on time, no problems with the unit will arise until the complete overhaul of the engine.
If a breakdown occurs – send the part to “Turbocom”. They have been repairing turbos for 20 years and have the necessary equipment. The work is carried out in Odessa – https://turbosto.com.ua/remont-turbin/remont-turbin-v-odesse, Kryvyi Rih, Kharkiv, and Kyiv. If you are from another city – you can send the turbo for repair by post.
