Turbocharger maintenance?
 

Is there any maintenance required for the turbocharger? I thought the K04 in the SS/TC uses engine oil from the main system, as well as engine coolant, thus negating the need to change its own independent supply.

Is there a special procedure for changing the engine oil besides changing the filter and draining the pan?

You don't have to do anything special, just don't shut down the car after spirited driving and change your oil/filter every 5k or whatever you prefer.

Awesome. I started a new habit of idling for about 1 minute before shutting down the engine. I'm starting to do that with my other n/a cars just so I get used to it.

GM didn't put any turbo timer in the engine computer?

I don't believe so. I test drove a SS/TC and had just gotten back from a WOT thrash session and shut off the car in the lot w/o a timer keeping it running.

its built in, you hear the fan running after you really push the car... all the turbo cars now have their own way, and our turbo is oil and water cooled... water keeps flowing throw after you shut the car off...

i however just let it idle becuase if you plan on swapping turbo, thats only oil cooled. youll get used to the habbit...

I am a newb... but even then, I find it VERY hard to believe that GM built my 2009 SS/TC unable to just shut down after "spirited" driving.

I drive THE SHIT outta my SS...and I never idle .. shut that shit right down all the time... flame me for it, call me dumb...maybe the jokes on me, who knows.

I don't have 2-3 minutes all the time to sit there in a parking lot or driveway and idle.

I just don't think shit is going to happen to my turbo from this.

Wasn't this something you had to do with older turbo'ed cars?

How exactly does the coolant keep flowing when the water pump isn't spinning?

LAWLZ you do know my 2.2 when it was stock did that.... its the electric fan on the radiator continuing to cool off the radiator after you shut the engine off if the engine temp reach 212 or higher.
LAWLZ

well get a turbo timer... cheap easy to install and no downsides or draw backs.... guarenteed to keep ur coolant/oil flowing so you dont get caking in ur turbo.

also if its water and oil cool'd it dont matter if it cools off it matters that u want oil to keep running through the turbo so it does not cake/ bake to the inside of the turbo( sitting on the hot surface b4 it cools down enought will cause the oil to cake up on the inside) BAD just get a turbotimer( EBAY is cheap and affective)

No need for a turbo timer and for most people you don't need to sit and let the car idle after you come to a stop before shutting it off. Just drive easy and stay out of boost the last couple minutes of your drive and you'll be fine. One of the single biggest things that will help extend the life of the turbo is running a fully synthetic motor oil and GM made the smart move of requiring synthetic be used in the LNF.


In normal operation while the car is running the turbo's center section bearings are mostly cooled by the motor oil. The water cooling is primarily to help cool the center section down in a more controlled manner after you shut the car off. There isn't a pump or anything physically moving the water, but there is a small amount of circulation of coolant through the center section of the turbo via a convection-like effect with the water boiling off, cooling down, and transferring heat out of the turbo's CHRA (center housing rotating assembly). Chrysler explained it very well in one of their SAE papers for the old 2.2/2.5 turbos.



It depends. If you're going from max boost, extended hammering of the car and then immediately pull into somewhere and shut it down that is not good for the turbo and you may be degrading service life. If you're just driving around town and in boost a lot but take it easy the last minute or so of the drive you don't need to cool the turbo down by letting the engine idle. The general rule of thumb I use is if I'm carrying a heavy load and under boost a lot, driving up something like a mountain pass or other similar driving where the engine is under sustained boost, or driving at some type of track event with high loads on the engine it is a good idea to let it idle for a couple minutes when that type of driving is done and if you need to stop the car.

For daily driving the biggest thing you can do to ensure a long life is continue to use quality synthetic motor oil as required by GM. I'd venture to say that even if you were under high boost and hammering the car and stopping quickly after that driving and shutting it off, you'd be less likely to see a premature failure than if you didn't give the engine time to warm up. Starting a cold car and going right into boost will kill the bearings way faster than shutting down hot if you're running synthetic.

This thread reminds me of the same question that would come up on the Eclipse/Talon digests/forums many years ago. The 2.0 Mitsh turbo engine is very similar to the LNF in that it uses an oil/water cooled turbo. Many people initially put timers on their cars, but as the years and miles wore on, there were no greater number of failures on those that didn't use timers.

The sad fact is that if you live anywhere that road salt is used during the winter months, the body of the car will root out long before the turbo fails. My Talon has over 145k on the original turbo (no timer) and still boosts to 15psi with no shaft play, cracks or leaks.

Blackbird hit it pretty much dead on:
- "the biggest thing you can do to ensure a long life is continue to use quality synthetic motor oil .."

If you're driving an old 80's turbo Buick, you should use a timer, but it's really not needed on the modern turbo cars with water cooling.

Of course if you still want one on an SS and have the time and money....get one... it's your car and at least you'll have the piece of mind.

Interesting, but i still wouldn't rely on that since wet bearing turbo's still fail due to oil coking.

And there's nothing like installing a turbo timer and then having the timer's electronics fail or something shorting out that causes issues with your car's electrical wiring.


Yes it has, but not often in newer turbochargers and is extremely rare if you're using a full synthetic. Coking really isn't that big of a concern even with modern conventional oil. Many turbo diesels still use dry center sections (oil cooling-only) and specify conventional oil and have no long-term issues with coking. There's many factors in the design, seals, bearings, etc. that affect possible service life, but if you stick with what's required on the LNF it will be more than likely something else (if at all) that takes down the turbo.



If the specific K04 used on the LNF ends up having bearing or seal reliability issues down the road there's not going to be too much you can do. The shaft size (and therefore bearing size) should be larger than some of the other small displacement engine, factory turbocharged vehicles with small frame turbos so I'm not too worried about the K04 falling apart. If you're worried about that possibility then I would keep your car stock and well maintained. If you crank up the boost with an aftermarket tune and dramatically overspeed past the max recommended shaft speeds you will also probably decrease service life. But oil coking with synthetic causing bearings to fail faster is a much lower likelihood.


To summarize, the answer to the original question is that there's no special procedures or anything you should be doing for the turbo. Change the oil when the oil life monitor indicates, use 5w30 meeting GM's GM4718M standard (which will be one of the half dozen or so full synthetics tested to meeting that standard), use a good oil filter, and ensure you're using a good air filter. If you heavily modify the car and beat the heck out of it, expect that the turbo could have a shorter life but other components will also likely suffer from your severe use. Drive hard and have fun but don't abuse the car and you should be fine unless you happen to experience a manufacturing defect that takes out the turbo, in which case there wouldn't be anything you could have done to prevent it.

And there's nothing like installing a turbo timer and then having the timer's electronics fail or something shorting out that causes issues with your car's electrical wiring.


Yes it has, but not often in newer turbochargers and is extremely rare if you're using a full synthetic. Coking really isn't that big of a concern even with modern conventional oil. Many turbo diesels still use dry center sections (oil cooling-only) and specify conventional oil and have no long-term issues with coking. There's many factors in the design, seals, bearings, etc. that affect possible service life, but if you stick with what's required on the LNF it will be more than likely something else (if at all) that takes down the turbo.



If the specific K04 used on the LNF ends up having bearing or seal reliability issues down the road there's not going to be too much you can do. The shaft size (and therefore bearing size) should be larger than some of the other small displacement engine, factory turbocharged vehicles with small frame turbos so I'm not too worried about the K04 falling apart. If you're worried about that possibility then I would keep your car stock and well maintained. If you crank up the boost with an aftermarket tune and dramatically overspeed past the max recommended shaft speeds you will also probably decrease service life. But oil coking with synthetic causing bearings to fail faster is a much lower likelihood.


To summarize, the answer to the original question is that there's no special procedures or anything you should be doing for the turbo. Change the oil when the oil life monitor indicates, use 5w30 meeting GM's GM4718M standard (which will be one of the half dozen or so full synthetics tested to meeting that standard), use a good oil filter, and ensure you're using a good air filter. If you heavily modify the car and beat the heck out of it, expect that the turbo could have a shorter life but other components will also likely suffer from your severe use. Drive hard and have fun but don't abuse the car and you should be fine unless you happen to experience a manufacturing defect that takes out the turbo, in which case there wouldn't be anything you could have done to prevent it.