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turbo housing glowing red


bmwmike
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(i have a stock turbo and manifold) when i parked the car i looked under my hood when i arrived home and the back part of the turbo houseing and the exhuast manifold where the turbo bots up was glowing brite red. does this mean my coolent line is clogged or somthing? or its not getting oil?or i just drive a bit to aggresive?
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Could be several things: One, your precat is clogged and causing that problem. Two, you running lean. Three, (and this is my guess) you have a serious problem with PB, 82....in other words, too much lead....in your foot!!

 

:lol:

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Could be several things: One, your precat is clogged and causing that problem. Two, you running lean. Three, (and this is my guess) you have a serious problem with PB, 82....in other words, too much lead....in your foot!!

 

:lol:

 

i think running lean is the answer i have a *DM down pipe with 2.5 out the back. this car seems to go threw fuel pumps once a weak it wil be good when i put the pump in for a weak and then it wil start dying out in the high rpm band. everyoen swares its the secondery injeector but i think there 2 quick to judge. i think im gonn atake the tank downa nd wash it out . my car sat for 8 years so i think the tank has sludge in there clogging the pump.

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still have jetvalves. how do i check vacum advance?

 

 

seriously dude, why do you think something is wrong? the glow is normal after boosting if it's dark enough to see it. Most of us have enough ambient light around that we don't see it, even at night. If it's good and dark though, the turbo's always glowing after boost, always.

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still have jetvalves. how do i check vacum advance?

Take the vacuum hose off the Vac. Adv. on the distributor, suck through the vac. line and see if you can suck through it. If you can, it's bad. If it gives resistance against you sucking on it then it's still good. Takes 10 minutes to do. Simple and easy. :biggrinumbrella1:

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seriously dude, why do you think something is wrong? the glow is normal after boosting if it's dark enough to see it. Most of us have enough ambient light around that we don't see it, even at night. If it's good and dark though, the turbo's always glowing after boost, always.

 

 

it depends. I had a daytona Z and I put the timing belt on a tooth off. the car felt doggy though it still boosted, when I stopped and popped the hood the turbo was glowing red and I dont mean just a little it was quite hot.

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After a long highway drive my 88's turbo will have a faint glow visible only at night... and it's gone after a minute or two of idling. During the day I've never been able to see the glow even after many laps at the track.

 

If you can see the glow in the daytime, or if it looks bright (dull red=faint, pink or blood red=bright) then the car has problems (listed in order of likelyhood):

* exhaust is plugged, especially the first cat conveter (aka "pre-cat")

 

* engine is running lean which leads to excessively hot combustion. That burns pistons, cracks the exhaust manifold, and bakes the turbo.

 

* Lousy ignition timing is leading to lean-like symptoms, detonation, etc.

 

* engine is running very rich... raw gas is burning in the exhaust manifold and/or turbo.

 

The water coolant line is NOT to cool the exhaust end of the turbo. All the water cooling does is keep the center section of the turbo cool enough to not bake/dry-out the oil. The early StarQuests didn't even have water cooling so having a totally dead water cooling loop will NOT lead to cherry red turbos. It can lead to premature bearing failure though as hot oil "cokes" and hardens to lumpy, hard deposits inside the turbo bearings. The eye bolts on the ends of the coolant pipes (the bolts that hold the pipes to the turbo) tend to plug up... worth checking next time the cooling system is drained.

 

mike c.

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My turbo was BRIGHT red when I went up to the Dragon last year. I drove it for about 2-2.5 hours (no problems) and then stopped to eat dinner. Came back out and drove it about another 45 minutes and it would not boost past 1-2 PSI. I got to the base of the Dragon and popped the hood with the car still running and it was beyond red. I let it idle until it went away.

 

The next morning, it still wasn't boosting and the first thing we thought of was a clogged exhaust (precat or something). So I vented the down pipe (left about half an inch on the top half) and it went back to full boost. Drove it that way while I was up there (NOT recommended as it causes multiple other issues when you vent that heat in the engine bay!) and when I got back home, I gutted the precat and put it back together and she's good to go now.

Edited by Daily Interlude
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