i just finished up my engine swap... i killed my last engine due to a boost spike at fuel cut so i bought a 89-91 J-spec engine, installed it, removed all the emmsions, tb mod etc... and got the car running great, i drove it around town for like 30 minutes to make sure all was well... i drove the car home parked it for like an hour while i put away my tools and cleaned the wheels. When i restarted it was fine for like 300 feet then it started acting up... i pulled over an dthe turbo and part of the down pipe was red hot, so i let it idle for a minute to circulate oil through the turbo (the turbo visibly cooled while i waited) then i killed the engine.... I started it back up after like 10 minutes, all was well, so i killed it, waited another 10 minutes and it did the same thing. I tend to think the car is jelous that i spend too much time with my gf and not it...

OR whatelse could it be?
I have come up with:
Incorrect timing,
running too lean (although the af gauge said rich)
bad T-stat (when i turn the heater on, it does not blow hot air/
water bypass( bypassing the TB and BAC) from back of black to water pump

I am worry that i toasted the engine, so don't reply, yeah man the engine is toast. The engine is still running fine, but above 3K it gets pissed and tries to melt my downpipe.

please help me out here...

Thanks in advance,
Chuck

 

If your exhaust is running really hot and you're not running lean you might want to check to see if your cat is clogged.

 

yeah sounds like clogged cats

 

Leaning out could be the problem, but check the cats first and foremost. Too much backpressure would cause a lot of heat, causing the turbo to get too hot. Oil lines ok?

 

could be a clogged cat as stated above but its normal for the turbo to glow. mine does, especialy after making boost or interstate drives

 

I had straight 3" all the way back and my turbo still glowed red. I would personally not worry about it. At first it bothered me too but trust me its normal.

 

hot potato, hot potato....

 

Yeah I was thinking it was a back pressure issue as well. I've got full 3" exhaust to a 2.5" wye pipe to dual supertraps with no cats. I'm thinking I have the supertrap discs on too tight which will create too much back pressure.

What do you guys think?

I've seen turbo glow before, but this was a bit out of the ordinary.

 

Although I know nothing at all about what you guys are talking about, when metal glows it's usually not good.

 

what color glow are we talking about? dull red is nothing to worry about, but steel turns to silly putty at temps that make it glow orange. if you're running very rich you could be having gas burn in the turbo, if you hear a sharp metal clang thats detonation, which is of course very very bad. i'm dealing with this problem right now too, and have yet to figure it out but take a look at the rod on the waste gate valve, mine is bent, and check the vacume hoses to it.

 

Hmmm, sounds like some people removed their all important mazda turbo heat shields. I suggest that you promptly attempt to put the stock rubik's cube/heat shields back, thus hiding any silly red turbo. If you can't see it, there's no problem.

LOL Sorry, I had to poke fun.

My turbo loves to run red :-)