Just thinking out loud here. Any feed back?

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1985 300D burning WVO using 26 FPHE, half gallon heated fuel filter,glow plug heater,home made injection line heaters. Home made cold air induction. ALDA full out.
2003 F350 7.3(the last of the great motors)
1987 Paint Horse-non running too, just walks!

It is used on turbines. I guess the question would be how much temp drop would be a benefit?

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1987 300D (230,000 mi on a #14 head-watching the temp gauge and keeping the ghost in the machine)
Raleigh NC - Home of deep fried sushi!

Very interesting idea! I guess more numbers are needed... like the ideal temperature for the oil (from the mfgr?) and the temperature it is entering the turbo under load (oil squirters if nothing else will make the oil hot under load).

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John Robbins
'05 E320 CDI - 240k
'87 300TD - 318k

I am not sure what the objective in adding a dedicated cooler to the turbo would be. For the turbo and the engine there is an optimum oil temperature that should be maintained. Too cold and too hot is a problem. I am not aware of the turbos on the MB's suffering from a short life span due to bearing failure. I would also think if there is a benefit in cooling the oil for the turbo it would also benefit the other bearing surfaces and therefore it would make sense to place an oil cooler on the entire system.

TimK

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EPA 609 & 608 HVAC Certified
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83' 300D Turbo - 300K + Miles
00' 1.9L TDI Beetle
85' 6.5L Turbo, GV-OD, GMC Suburban,
67' 2.5L Diesel NA - Land Rover Series IIA

Here's what you do if it's so cold your diesel fuel gels. Smear some on some toast and stay inside until it warms up outside.

Cold oil is thick oil. It could restrict the flow to the turbo if you don't control it's temp.

Turbos have no bearings as such, since none would work at turbo speed (100,000 RPM). Instead, a film of oil under pressure acts as a bearing. Since the turbo has to work regardless of oil viscosity (which changes with temperature, even in multi-grade oils) it must have a wide tolerance.

It's likely that oil hot enough to cause a turbo malfunction would have already caused the engine itself to fry. Thus, the important thing is the engine oil cooler. If it is working correctly, the turbo will be happy too.

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

That's incorrect. A number of turbos have ball bearings.

My thinking is prolonged life of the turbo. Everything I know about engines and turbos up to now, is that heat is bad. I would not think that a small cooler would lower the temp. to a point of being too cool or cold. Like I said, just thinking a bit and wanted to see were it would go.

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1985 300D burning WVO using 26 FPHE, half gallon heated fuel filter,glow plug heater,home made injection line heaters. Home made cold air induction. ALDA full out.
2003 F350 7.3(the last of the great motors)
1987 Paint Horse-non running too, just walks!

How about water cooling the turbo, as has been done since long ago-except for Benz.

That would require a different turbo (or at least a center section).

I think thats mostly a gasser thing.

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John Robbins
'05 E320 CDI - 240k
'87 300TD - 318k

Now, I am by no means an expert on turbo's, but I seem to recall, there are three lines entering the turbo, I thought one was oil in, and two were water in and out, NO? I think there is also a oil return line somewhere... obviously.
maybe it is only on the gasser turbo's I've seen.
John

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

All of the bearings in your engine (including those of the turbo) are journal bearings, meaning the shaft (cam, crank, turbine, etc) spins in a pressurized film of oil. Conversely, none of them are ball-bearing type.

Heat is not across-the-board bad. Actually, up to the point that you start causing mechanical failures, heat will assist your engine in running more efficiently. If you want to decrease your fuel economy, then cool the engine too much. If the oil does not get hot enough, condensation will not boil off and your oil will degrade very quickly.

Water-cooled turbos are not a "gasser thing". The water cooling is simply another method of cooling the center cartridge and has been used effectively on many engines, diesel or gas. The VNT-25 I will soon be fitting to my 300TD is from a 3.0L Opel TD and has a water cooled center cartridge.

Andrew

Garrett (and probably others) have come out with ball bearing turbos.

I guess they're just more predominate on gassers because gassers have higher EGTs and suffer from heat soak moreso than diesels (which is why a 'turbo timer' isn't really necessary on a diesel 90% of the time).

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John Robbins
'05 E320 CDI - 240k
'87 300TD - 318k

I wasn't trying to say that there aren't ball bearing turbos. I was saying that the engine bearings (crank, rod, cam) are not ball bearings. They are pressure-oiled journal bearings just like the turbo bearings of the stock turbo.

Andrew