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Turbo Return idea

BrodeeSmith

Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2012
Location
Brooklyn
HEY,
im installing a turbo into a NA 240 B230F. INstead of doing any drilling into the block or the oilpan, i was thinking, why not just install a oil cooler and run the Oil return from the turbo into the filter to be filter and back into the engine block.....

the flow would be:
block... to cooler... to turbo... to filter, back the to the block by way of the oil filter adapter...

maybe im trying to make life too easy....
share your thoughts....
 
If you route the way you want the oil return will have too much restriction and cause the turbo to smoke and leak.
 
HEY,
im installing a turbo into a NA 240 B230F. INstead of doing any drilling into the block or the oilpan, i was thinking, why not just install a oil cooler and run the Oil return from the turbo into the filter to be filter and back into the engine block.....

the flow would be:
block... to cooler... to turbo... to filter, back the to the block by way of the oil filter adapter...

maybe im trying to make life too easy....
share your thoughts....


The drain is gravity powered. The oil is under no pressure, you have to ask yourself why the oil would bother going all that way down the forward and why would it go thru the cooler and drain back..

It won't.

Study how every OEM does it. Simple straight downward drain. Minimum ID around 3/4".


Ask yourself why they always do it that way. Every turbo motor: car , truck, marine.

And then ask why you are trying to cook up really weird ideas when you have excellent samples/examples of how all kinds of people with so much more resources and experience have done the same operation..

To me its scary to think that you would risk a obviously more complicated and potentially risky way of doing something so easy---they were nice enough to give you that big fat boss just begging you to drill and tap it...just drill and tap it..:e-shrug:
 
lol....i overstand you John V...drill and Tap..
thanx for the feedback...i'll be sure to let you know how things turn out....
 
Look at one that has the hole in it.... Copy that exactly if you're going to use OEM style parts for your turbo drain.... Otherwise do it for whatever you will be building. Just has to drain to the sump and be able to seal up for no oil leaks as that is bad form.
 
i appreciate all the advice dudes....i'll go crazy on this project in the next few weeks...just gathering parts at the moment...
 
Your original way also does not allow any oil to flow through the turbo as the pressure will be the same on both sides.
 
i figured the oil would be under some sort of pressure until is reaches the oil pan.... so currently to my understanding, i get oil pressure coming to the turbo via the oil pressure switch next to the oil filter... and gravity feed to the oil pan by way of a welded bung or tapped... -10AN thread, with a 5/8 braided hose connected with a compression fitting to the original turbo drain pipe.....
 
If you really wanted to get creative and not drill the pan/block, you could have the oil drain (freely and downward) into some sort of catch can, then have a smallish electric pump pull it from there and return it to the motor at some easier spot (like a fitting added to the valve cover).

But the incredibly simple gravity drain is the best option by far.
 
Scavenge pumps are great in applications where the turbo is mounted really low, like down at oil pan level, or remote mount where there's no hope of gravity drain anyways. But on a turbo redblock this would just be a waste of money and added weight/complexity.

Pretty much every turbo (ever) is designed to gravity drain at zero oil pressure. The oil enters the turbo under pressure of course, but after being squeezed through hydrodynamic journal bearings or whirled around in ball bearings (whatever the case may be) it enters a large cavity in the center housing. This is just an integral funnel inside the turbo that collects the "used" oil and directs it back down through the drain into the pan.

Pressurizing the drain line in any way or restricting it will cause the nice oil drain cavity to fill with oil. The "seals" in either side of the turbo are actually little mini piston rings, with gaps and everything. They are dynamic seals and won't handle static oil pressure. They are only meant to cause a positive difference in air pressure from the outside of the piston ring to the inside, and the air pressure difference is what keeps oil from leaking past the rings.

Ask me how I know...
 
Ask me how I know...

Duder.jpg
 
Haha, subtle.

I re-read my post above and realized it could be construed as a bit prickish. Sorry if it came off that way. Just trying to help prevent needless frustration if at all possible.

As complex as a turbo system can be, the beauty of turbos themselves is that they are pretty simple devices. Usually when you think the turbo is at fault for some issue, the root cause is somewhere else and just makes itself apparent at the turbo, but the turbo itself is fine. Oil leakage is the perfect example. I'd say 90% of the turbos I've torn down because of the typical "blown seals" hypothesis were actually 100% OK. It's those piston rings that mess with people's preconceptions...I think most folks imagine there is some kind of positive oil-tight seal in there. The dynamic seal piston ring system is really more of an oil barrier than a seal per se.
 
i found your post to be very insightful Duder.....thanx for your input and sharing of knowledge... i currently have a garrent TB03 disassembled on my work bench now, so i do respect the minutiae of your craft.....im replacing all the seals, as there was nasty leak, there was oil dripping out from the compressor side of the turbo....
 
No problema. On your TB03, was the compressor side piston ring still springy...i.e. did it still have a visible gap? Or was it collapsed, with the gap closed?

Oil dripping out doesn't necessarily mean the piston ring seal was bad, for reasons mentioned earlier. Oil leakage on the comp side can be caused by something as mundane as a dirty air filter causing an inlet pressure drop that sucks oil out of the center section when the engine is under vacuum (part throttle, overrun, or idle).
 
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