Improving turbo cooling
04-08-12, 01:24 PM
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Improving turbo cooling
I've been single turbo for a few years now but the turbo I went with is not water cooled. Im currently planning a rebuild of the car and am revisiting a couple of ideas.
It looks like coolant isn't actually forced into turbo in stock form. The in and out for the turbo is in the water pump housing just after the the radiator, if you're looking at coolant flow. The upper line is angles where it goes into the housing, so im guess its just using the venturi effect to "suck" coolant through the turbo.
So how can this be improved? Lets look at how VW cools the turbo on it's 2.0 turbo engines. The water pump is in the block and the turbo has a short coolant line from the block to the turbo. Then coolant goes out of the turbo to a small electric water pump. Then out of the EWP where it gets tee'd in the radiator line coming from the head. The EWP has an afterrun function where it will continue to run if the coolant is above 60c. And this is where I think the FD's system can be improved. Adding a small coolant pump to feed the turbo by getting coolant post water pump and returning it to the radiator. Only problem is where to get the coolant from? Water will take the path of least resistance and im worried it will bypass some coolant that is needed to cool the motor. But this will allow the turbo to keep cooling after the engine is shut off, which will increase turbo life.
I have thought about taking coolant pre waterpump and returning it at the same location, so there will be 2 coolant circuits (each with it's own pump, stock and the EWP) with a common radiator. Anyone have any input?
(I'll see if I can get a picture of the VW set-up from the training material)
It looks like coolant isn't actually forced into turbo in stock form. The in and out for the turbo is in the water pump housing just after the the radiator, if you're looking at coolant flow. The upper line is angles where it goes into the housing, so im guess its just using the venturi effect to "suck" coolant through the turbo.
So how can this be improved? Lets look at how VW cools the turbo on it's 2.0 turbo engines. The water pump is in the block and the turbo has a short coolant line from the block to the turbo. Then coolant goes out of the turbo to a small electric water pump. Then out of the EWP where it gets tee'd in the radiator line coming from the head. The EWP has an afterrun function where it will continue to run if the coolant is above 60c. And this is where I think the FD's system can be improved. Adding a small coolant pump to feed the turbo by getting coolant post water pump and returning it to the radiator. Only problem is where to get the coolant from? Water will take the path of least resistance and im worried it will bypass some coolant that is needed to cool the motor. But this will allow the turbo to keep cooling after the engine is shut off, which will increase turbo life.
I have thought about taking coolant pre waterpump and returning it at the same location, so there will be 2 coolant circuits (each with it's own pump, stock and the EWP) with a common radiator. Anyone have any input?
(I'll see if I can get a picture of the VW set-up from the training material)
04-08-12, 05:37 PM
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This is quite interesting but I think you're fixing a problem that really doesn't exist. What will this gain you?
Dale
Dale
04-08-12, 08:10 PM
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Dale - looking to keep the turbo cooler after hard runs. While the egine is running it wont make much, if any, difference but having the EWP run for 2 minutes after the engine stops will let the turbo cool and not heatsoak. Same idea as a turbo timer but the eninge doesn't have to stay running.
04-09-12, 09:33 AM
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VW's aux coolant pumps are nice, and one of those plumbed right on a FD would be great for whole-engine post shutdown cooling, but it is overkill for just the turbo center sections.
The water jacket is there mostly to keep the oil in the turbos from overheating and breaking down post shutdown, and as long as there's coolant present it should accomplish that, even if it boils.
Configure the water plumbing so that it can set up a thermal siphon after shutdown, and you should be good. Remember, the water jacket is only going to pull heat out of the center section, not all the really hot bits like the turbine housing, manifold, etc.
The water jacket is there mostly to keep the oil in the turbos from overheating and breaking down post shutdown, and as long as there's coolant present it should accomplish that, even if it boils.
Configure the water plumbing so that it can set up a thermal siphon after shutdown, and you should be good. Remember, the water jacket is only going to pull heat out of the center section, not all the really hot bits like the turbine housing, manifold, etc.
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