How To Maintain Your Turbo: The 3 Essentials You Need To Know

how does a turbo work

A turbocharger or what is commonly known as a turbo is a device installed in an engine to induce forced induction. It is made up of two fans known as the impeller and the turbine, which are connected to each other by a shaft. The turbine is connected to the exhaust system and is rotated by the exhaust gases, which is its main difference from a supercharger that is connected to the engine itself. Normally, an engine draws in air that combines with fuel in the combustion chamber and is heated to produce power. Therefore, a turbo is introduced to increase the rate at which the fuel-air mixture is burned and this results in increased engine power. This effect is produced by its rotation, which creates a partial vacuum that leads to greater air suction and therefore greater combustion (the pressure created is greater than 1 atmosphere). However this is a bit harsh on fuel bills and will only work at high revs over 1500. One point to note is that a turbo is not dependent on clock speed but on how fast it spins the motor. Now let’s see how it should be maintained:

how to keep it

Having understood what a turbo is and how it works, we will now look at how to take care of it. Regular visits to the mechanic won’t help if you’re saving up for that new car or house, nor will replacing the entire turbo kit.

• First, be sure to use a good quality synthetic oil of the correct grade and viscosity index. Different oils will suit different turbos and for stock turbos, most oils will do. However, if your turbo is high performance aftermarket (HKS or Greddy maybe), you’re better off using a high performance oil like Shell Helix, Castrol GTX, or Mobil 1 to better maintain it. These are very expensive but if you can fit a Greddy turbo kit then you should know better.
• When you start the car for the first time in the day, let the engine idle for about 3 to 5 minutes before driving. This ensures enough oil pressure builds up and gets hot enough before flowing into the turbo, as cold oil is more viscous and will not lubricate properly. The same case applies when you turn off the car: the sudden turn off stops the pressure pump and the oil pressure drops. However, the turbo does not stop spinning immediately and this means that it will continue to run on insufficient oil, leading to deformation and brittleness of components which will then break. This is commonly known as heat discharge and also damages the oil.
• Since oil also acts as a coolant, the heat generated by a turbo is “cleaned” by it. A sudden shutdown means the oil level will drop and not be enough to take care of all the heat produced by the turbo. This means that all the heat is “charged” into the remaining oil, leading to oil breakage, resulting in poor lubrication and poor quality oil that will need to be changed sooner than expected. This is known as oil hammering.

Maintenance of turbochargers is not difficult. They will give your engine more power and torque, but getting the best out of them requires proper care. Even Jordan knew that executing a polished dunk required proper preparation beyond normal practice.