Does anyone have any good results from upgrading to water cooled? Has anyone with turbo seal problems see any good results? Please tell your story here.
I tried digging through the 75 page mess of taurrens experience but didn't see many reviews or such.
- Has the water cooling option alleviated any problems with white smoke?
- Is it worth the 400-500$ upgrade fee by turbonetics?


There has been little talk on these forums about the benifits.
I have a TN kit awaiting install however its equipped with an old (but never used) style non-water cooled bearing.

Lets consolidate.

 

I'm starting to think I should just install as-is and see if something comes up...As in if I have to send out my turbo for a bad seal get it installed then.
Even so, I am interested in seeing peoples results from going from non-water to water.

 

I have never had a problem with the original version, Saber. You should be okay.

I currently have the water-cooled version on right now but changed over because it was availabel when i had to reinstall my system. Not because there was somethign wrong with the first-generation turbo.

 

I didn't have mine long enough to give you an honest opinion of it. It's more of a longevity thing than anything. The turbo should be fine as is, IMO.

One thing I'd suggest rather than focusing on the water cooling is the oil return. I'm not sure if you're tapping into a spacer or into the upper oil pan, but either way you'd go I'd suggest using a 45 degree fitting to go into the tap. You could even go out and find a 1/2" to -10an fitting and get a stainless steel return line with a -10an fitting on one end. (the one that comes with the kit is a 3/8" to 5/8" slip fitting) The SS return line will have to be 5/8 inner diameter.

The 5/8 inner diameter SS return line to a -10an 45 degree fitting with a 1/2" tap into the upper pan would be perfect for oil circulation, IMO...

 

Thanks for your suggestions.
I suppose I was just worried about getting the white smoke issue, but I hypothisize that usually white smoke problems are byproducts of another problem (sometimes but not always return oilflow), hence your new turbo still smoking even with the water lines. If thats the case then I imagine focusing on the oil return would be a cheaper and possibly more effective precautionary act.
Have you already taken this measure when you had your TN kit and white smoke was an issue?
I have always been weary about using the pretapped hole in the oilpan spacer...

I will certainly look into your advice as my kit is used, and I think I would have replaced the return line anyway. Will look into the -10 braided. Is the inner diameter of a -10 connecter 5/8"? Wouldn't want to unintentionally create a bottleneck.

 

I never had any problems with my TN kit and anything smoking. I was VERY cautious to run the TN supplied return line into my JWT oil pan spacer very straight and with no kinks, excess bends, etc. Of course my set-up only lasted 3000 miles lol...

 

^^ lol shhhh! I hate hearing about TN blowing engines so quickly

 

My car just recently started smoking after 15k miles on the kit. I just sent my turbo in though so I can give any results as to how it adds performance or not.

 

Fantastic, keep us updated!
For referance, are you running utec or reflash?

 

A water cooled jacket on the bearing housing won't change the performance of the turbo at all.

 

yup yup, however we can now see if it does anything for the little white smoke issue, curing or prolonging its return.

 

Much of the smoking issue is due to incorrectly routed return lines. Even shops somehow fawk that up. Water cooled turbo's wont smoke less.

 

Yep. They just tend to coke less when not allowed to cool down. Turbonetics seals are particularly touchy when the return line is not routed properly and oil isn't flowing properly. This is the reason why I mentioned the ss braided oil return earlier.

 

Gotcha.
However I could have sworn I saw someone mentioning that even when they changed from the oilpan spacer to the tapped upper, It still had white smoke. Also what about this fellow a couple posts up who has been running his car fine for 15k miles before white smoke shows up? Perhaps just a straight shot oil return isnt enough in the long run? I guess the oil return line is the most important factor, but I imagine the water cooling would help prolong both the turbo and the turbo seal's life. 15k is a pretty short life for a turbo seal, nevermind all the people who blew them after only thousands.
Allmotor z, how is your return line run? to the oilpan spacer?

 

Blowby due to oil pressure and blowby due to fried seals are two entirely different things. But ultimately, trapped hot oil blowing by the seals for a long enough period will eventually lead to a fried seal.

In those cases the hot oil and an improperly draining return trapped heat in the turbo and cooked the seals. Remember that oil is meant to cool the turbo as well (before water). When oil can't drain out of the turbo properly, it builds up excess heat internally and fries the turbo seal, which makes it impossible to get rid of smoke from burning oil becuase it never properly forms a tight seal agian.

If you install a turbo and it's simply building pressure from not draining oil, the seal may still be good. You just need to route the line properly to keep it from backing up. If this is the case the seal should stop blowby once the drain issue is fixed.

Water cooling will help prolong the seal's life in both situations, but it does nothing to stop burned oil due to blowby caused by an improperly routed return line.



Also, the tapped upper pan is more idea for allowing gravity to drain the oil return line. It's just harder to route it properly because it's higher up. You want it to go at a downward angle at all times. Any horizontal flow will cause oil to back up in the line. This is why I recommend a 45 degree elbow into the upper pan or spacer as opposed to the straight fitting that is included with the kit.

 

Cool, thanks for helping me understand. Much appreciated.
Would still like to see allmotorz chime in with more details on his situation.

 

Exactly. It is only for the purpose of keeping the bearing cooler.

 

Yes, that was established.

 

I just went strait to the bottom of the thread when I wrote that.

 

did you read my origional post? I wasn't asking about performance increases, but reliability issues.

No harm done