How HOT does your TURBO get?

[altaski]

I pull a seadoo trailer, 1800 lbs GTW, which is under the limit of 2000, and I drive on a fairly level road, slight inclines and some downhill, stop and look under hood at turbo, and its entirely bright orange. That is HOT!

My old turbo toyota supra never got even close to that hot pulling the same trailer. Maybe a dark faint red on a 8 mile uphill. It was a 6 cylinder though.

I'm afaid of a melt down of the turbo. Or super oil cokeing and ruined bearings.

 

[Gasological]

A quick google says that orange is going to be ~1700F. That is friggin hot.

I hope you had the engine on when you stopped to take a look. Otherwise, yes, you probably did just hurt your turbo.

http://hypertextbook.com/physics/waves/color/

 

[SuperStretch18]

http://www.turbobygarrett.com/turbobygarrett/tech_center/faqs.html

15. Should my turbo/exhaust manifold glow red after driving?
Yes, the turbo/exhaust manifold can glow red under certain driving conditions. The exhaust gas temperature can reach over 1600F under high load operating conditions; i.e. towing, extended uphill driving, or extended high rpm/boost conditions.

 

[erhayes]

Any exhaust header/pipe or turbo with run a red/orange under load. Nothing to be concerned about. Just remember to let the engine idle for 1-2 minutes before shutting down.

 

[altaski]

In the end it turned out to be the fan modules. They were intermittent. Improved version with new part number available. Mazda did step up and pay me back for them. So far the company has been good to me, the dealership in Bend is another story.

 

[erhayes]

About the same temperature as the exhaust valves or 900 to 1700 degrees F.

 

[Chico6911]

How do you know when the turbo is hot and you need to leave the motor on to cool down? Sometimes i think it doesnt and when u shut off the car you hear the fan and intercooler working to cool down the sucker. So why would we have to leave it running if the intercooler and fan work when we shut off the car?

 

[erhayes]

We do a cool down to keep oil flowing through the turbo bearings. The harder you load the engine the longer the cool down. Remember the turbo is spinning at up to 120,000 rpm and is at 900-1700 F. Just off a highway run, I let my engine idle for ~ 2 minutes but, if local driving in residential @ 30 mph, I let my engine idle for 20-30 seconds. PS. the cooling fans are only cooling the radiator and not the turbo.

 

[Chico6911]

Thx man I will make sure I do that. I used to do it and then I heard the fan and intercooler and thought I was just wasting my time letting it idle. Do you know if there is a temperature gauge for the Turbo so we know how long to let it cool down?