torxxx Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 so I finally got my turbo project car running at work today. After all the cooling problems it was having, it runs. I was revving it up to 5 grand or so, cleaning out the antifreeze from the cylinder from the head swap, and my buddy noticed the turbo was glowing bright red. I know nothing about how hot turbos run, but this seemed way too hot. Anyone have any ideas on what would be making it heat up like that? I think the cat is plugged up, my boss says the wastegate is stuck.. help please.. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
northguy Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 I don't know squat about torbos myself, but isn't part of the purpose of an intercooler to aleviate the problem you cite? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 It seems to me, for the unit to get that hot that the water cooling to it may be blocked somehow and possibly the oil passage. The oil may have been cooked also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 Revving the snot out of it literally is not a recommended procedure in my book. Of course your's may read differently. Getting the waste gate to open with the car not moving is very unlikely. Even building boost is difficult. The cat could be plugged but that much exhaust gas passing through the turbo with no air moving around it may allow it to glow. You could try driving it and checking it. A boost gage would help with the diagnosis. Congrats on getting it running good luck with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanislru Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 getting red hot is normal if you're on the throttle hard, but from just revving it up in place no load? Definately check to make sure oil/coolant is getting in and out of it. Check the wastegate by moving the arm on the side of the turbo towards the back of the car with pliers, if it moves mor than 1/4" or so it's fine. As far as your cat being plugged, you will have barely any power, if it is pull it off and bang the sh-t out of it to break up the bits inside and shake them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torxxx Posted January 9, 2005 Author Share Posted January 9, 2005 alright. well I'll check that stuff out.. its hard to drive the car, because it has no power when the tranny is in gear. IT revs about the same as my N/A EA82. They problem is my boss let his monkey of a step son work on the car when I was gone at xmas, and he messed it up pretty good. the old turbo had a bad bearing rattle, so he has the monkey change the turbo out. Skip - where would the boost gauge plug it to? The only reason why I was revving the piss out of it, was to try to get all the crap out of the cylinders. she was smokin pretty good during the inital start up. I did notice that I cooked the metal gasket between the turbo and the downpipe, so I'm gonna have to order another 20 dollar gasket from the dealer. goin to pull the down pipe off now, and beat the hell out of the cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skip Posted January 9, 2005 Share Posted January 9, 2005 torXX The best places I have found are 1) the line that comes off the turbo housing just above the large opening going to the intake plenum. This line goes to the boost control solenoid and then to the waste gate. This point shows the turbo boost output. 2) If you add an intercooler, I would change it to the connection behind the TB. This point will show true manifold pressure. I put a "T" in the line and run the new line to the cockpit through the grommet under the brake booster . Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torxxx Posted January 10, 2005 Author Share Posted January 10, 2005 k, well the turbo is boosting like it should.. It didnt glow red today, but its still smoking on the front side of the turbo. I think theres a coolant leak on the intake side of the turbo thats blowing antifreeze into the intake. The car runs like crap until the turbo kicks in and then it boosts great. wont rev past 5500 though. I'm gonna go pull a turbo unit tonite and slap a different one on there and see if that makes any difference. I disconnected the downpipe pounded on it, nothing came out so I hooked the air hose to it, air blew threw it fine. So I think that rules out plugged cat. The wastegate moves like it should, but when its running and I moved the wastegate linkage, nothing changed. Is this normal? Oh yea, dont touch the turbo after the cars been running...:mad: burned the hell out of my wrenching hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 IF the cooling & oil lines are flowing correctly (check this first) the prob is probably caused by a late or slow burn of the mixture. A lean mixure will cause the combustion process to slow down, without the cooling effect of a rich mixture (wich will also slow the combustion down). Because of the slowed combustion, less heat is converted to work and more goes out the exhaust - this could be your prob. A similar effect happens when your ignition timing is too far retarded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanislru Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Yeah I was out wheelin and had my muffler fall off as I came cookin out of the trailhead onto the road. Well not wanting to cause harm to other motorists I jumped out and grabbed the thing to throw it in the back of the ru. Big mistake, uhm yeah that's right mufflers get real hot. Oh well chicks dig scars lol. Your car will idle fine with the wastegate disconnected but please don't drive it as you will harm the motor with crazy high boost levels. I'm confident the wastegate is fine. As for coolant is there alot of white smoke out the tail pipe when it's warm? Does it chuff? Missfire? I think maybe your TPS might benefit from a quick look. That woul explain the surgeing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torxxx Posted January 10, 2005 Author Share Posted January 10, 2005 yeah its got a lot of white smokin comin out the back.. Acting like a blown head gasket, I checked the heads before I put them on, they didnt have any cracks (none between the valves) new head gaskets, torq'd to spec. No misfires, it just has no power until the turbo is at full boost. My N/A EA82 will outrev this turbo on the bottom end.. Another thing is that the engine flooods it self.. I went to start it today, and it wouldnt start. when I unbolted the turbo, gas poured out of the turbo. Something there is making me wonder. So advance the timing some and try it? and/or richen the mixture a little bit? that would be the screw at the back of the intake manifold correcT? screw it out to richen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanislru Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 Did you reuse the old intake gasket? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted January 10, 2005 Share Posted January 10, 2005 So advance the timing some and try it? and/or richen the mixture a little bit? that would be the screw at the back of the intake manifold correcT? screw it out to richen? I would suggest testing oil & coolant flow first, as they are much more likely to be the cause. After this, the yes, try adjusting as you mentioned. Note that the timing or mixture would have to be out by a considerable amount to cause this. Check the timing with a light and set it to spec. If you suspect the mixture, i'd say it would be a computer prob rather than an adjustment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torxxx Posted January 10, 2005 Author Share Posted January 10, 2005 yeah it definatly could be a computer problem. The block I used was from a manual tranny. it went in a automatic tranny car. I dont remember what all pieces I used from what, but everything looks like the same year car that I used as a model for building the motor. I ran into a bunch of problems with the intakes because they were different years. The intake gaskets are new. Now about the Turbo unit. There is two coolant lines on the top and one on the bottom correct? And then one oil line coming from the bottom of the engine, bolting the top of the turbo correcT? To check for coolant and oil flow I'd just unplug the coil wire, unhook the lines and crank the engine over? Timing light.... damn this means I might actually have to go buy one.... I usually just time then by turning it up til the valves rattle and then back it off a lil bit.. These turbo motors are sure harder to work on then my good old carb'd ea82. I wanted a EA82T for a long time.. dont think I want one now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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