land-speed
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Turbo Oiling

To: Bobbyhotrods@comcast.net
Subject: Re: Turbo Oiling
From: Jon Wennerberg <jon@infodestruction.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:24:17 -0500
On Friday, March 17, 2006, at 02:59  PM, Bobbyhotrods@comcast.net wrote:

> The issue of ceasing to oil a hot turbo is before me. I understand 
> most guys let the engine idle until things cool down, but this might 
> not always be possible. Frying my T4 2000 miles from home would make 
> me sad.
> I can imagine a couple of different supplimentary oil supply deals. 
> Does anyone have any experiance with this and perhaps know an 
> elegantly simple solution? Has anyone seen this problem actually 
> occur, or am I thinking too much?
> Thanks, BJ in Beantown

I've heard those stories -- but haven't had any issues with turbos 
cooking in the 1 1/3 million miles I've put on turbo engines.  They've 
all been diesels, and save for the Duramax in my pickup nowadays, all 
have been on medium-duty trucks (Cummins 5.9L 190 hp in our Ford F700 
went 700,000 miles without issues, the Cat 3126B 215 hp in our '99 
C6500 has about 360,000 miles, the 3126B in the '03 C6500 has 155,000 
miles).

We don't have a "idle before shutdown" protocol -- in fact, we turn the 
motor off at every stop - sometimes 15 stops a day in a 400-mile run.  
Usually those stops aren't more than 15-30 minutes, though, then 
restart and drive some more.  When the trucks leave the office first 
thing in the morning -- and when the return at the end of the route -- 
we've got a 1/2-mile driveway to the main highway, so they get some 
warmup/cooldown during that one or two minutes.  We use Rotella 15W40 
exclusively, changing about every 10,000 miles.

On the pickup -- I've been a little more vigilant on cooling down -- 
for instance, when stopping for fuel on a cross-country run pulling the 
trailer full of racebikes, I'll let the motor idle for maybe one minute 
before shutting off.  The pickup gets Rotella synthetic 5W40, oil 
changes every 25,000 miles.  By the way, the synthetic oil gave me a 5% 
increase in fuel economy -- the oil costs twice as much as 
non-synthetic, and I get my money back.

I've never used any supplement/additive.  I've never had undue starter 
motor replacements due to frequent starting of the engine.  I've never 
had an engine use more than about 10% make-up oil between changes.

One guy's opinion -- YRMV.

                 Jon Wennerberg
Seldom Seen Slim Land Speed Racing
              Marquette, Michigan
              (that's 'way up north)




<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>